Indian Americans win in state primaries

May 15, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Politics 0

As the nation is heading towards the next round of general elections in November this year, four states, Ohio, North Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana kicked off with the primaries on May 8 primaries in four states electing Indian-Americans, with a potential increase in the number of Indian-American lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and several state capitals, in the November election. In these states, several Indian American and South Asian American candidates marched to the generation election, winning in the primaries at the state level emerging victorious.

At least 2 Indian-American candidates won their primaries in competitive races, one in North Carolina running for State Senate against a three-term incumbent, and the other for the Ohio State House. A South Asian (Pakistani-American) candidate in North Carolina made a great showing despite losing the primary; and the fact that several Indian-Americans had no opponents within their parties, two in Congressional races in Ohio, one in a State level race in North Carolina, and another in Indiana, means a potential for come November.

In Ohio, incumbent State Rep. Niraj Antani won the primary by a two third number of votes cast to the Ohio State House District 42 Republican primary. Leading by a wide margin of 63 percent of the vote, Antani handily defeated his closest opponent, Miamisburg Vice Mayor Sarah M. Clark (28 percent), and a 3rd Republican contender, Marcus Rech of Miamisburg (9 percent)

The youngest lawmaker since his first win 3 years ago, Antani, 26, faces off on Nov. 6, against Zach Dickerson, also a youthful Democrat who defeated his opponent with 56 percent of the vote in the primary. “My opponents worked very hard and tried to make it a competitive race,” Antani told News India Times. “The results show I have a strong base in my district and have worked very hard and delivered results,” he added. His selling point, he said, was “the cumulative total of delivering results and solving problems,” adding that his focus has been job creation, workforce development and affordable higher education, as well as building a strong business climate. All these are “important issues for Indian-Americans,” he noted, emphasizing that he “had a strong base in the Indian-American community” and would continue to represent it.

In Ohio, another Indian-American with a fair chance at the U.S. Congress, Aftab Pureval, was unopposed in the Democratic primary from District 1. He will be facing off against incumbent Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, who defeated his opponent Samuel Ronan by a vast margin (83.2 percent to 16.8 percent). The Democratic Party is banking on Pureval to turn a Red seat to Blue come Nov. 6, because it feels the mood has changed nationally and locally to favor Democrats, in an environment where President Trump’s popularity ratings are down.

In North Carolina, while no South Asian American ran for federal office, multiple candidates were seeking spots in the general election for state level offices. Jay Chaudhuri, a state Senate candidate and Democratic incumbent in the 15th Legislative District, won his primary, running unopposed. Chaudhuri will be challenged by Republican Alan Mitchell and Libertarian Brian Lewis, both winning in unopposed elections, in the general.

In North Carolina Democrat Mujtaba Mohammed, an Indian-American public interest lawyer in North Carolina, won a competitive primary May 8, when he defeated a three-term incumbent from his own party. Born in the U.S. to Indian parents, he jumped into a State Senate primary from District 38 in North Carolina, his first foray into electoral politics, to soundly defeat three-term incumbent Joel Ford, winning 51.9 percent of the vote to Ford’s 40.71 percent.

“I appreciate Joel Ford’s service. I felt it was incumbent upon me to run having served the underprivileged all my life, having been in the trenches from where we see the failures of government, a lot of people felt he was out of step with our true democratic values,” the public interest lawyer said. District 38 is Democrat-leaning and Mohammed will probably win the seat to the State Senate Nov. 6, against Republican Richard Rivette, who ran unopposed in his party primary.

Mohammed would then become the 2nd Indian-American in the Upper House, the other being incumbent Democrat Jay Chaudhuri, who was unopposed in his primary from N.C. State Senate District 16. This district is heavily Democratic, so Chaudhuri will be re-elected to office in November, obvious also from his past record.

Dr. Naveed Aziz, a Pakistani-American, made an impressive showing in the May 8 Democratic primary in North Carolina, in her bid for the state senate from District 21 against incumbent and fellow Democrat Ben Clark, making quite a dent with the vote that got behind her. She secured an impressive 44.40 percent of the vote to Clark’s 55.60, indicating her potential to run for future office. Aziz had run for the same seat back in 2016. According to her website Aziz wants to “build the economy of tomorrow” by investing in the people of today, meaningful healthcare, quality public education, and support for women and their families.

Himesh Gandhi wins Sugar Land Council Seat in Texas

May 15, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Politics 0

Himesh Gandhi won the at-large position one council seat in Sugar Land, Texas on May 5th. Vying for the seat unopposed, Gandhi received 100 percent of the 4,353 votes in claiming a fourth and final term. “Thank you to the citizens of Sugar Land for your trust and confidence as I serve my fourth and final term. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve!” Gandhi wrote on Facebook.

Gandhi has held the seat for three terms and, when announcing his intentions to run for a fourth and final term, he said the city he has called home for most of his adult life is a place he is “committed to maintaining quality development and robust city services while following smart spending practices.”

At 35, Himesh Gandhi became the youngest candidate in the history of Fort Bend County, Texas to win an “At Large” Sugar Land City Council seat, receiving more than 52 percent of the vote and leading his next closest opponent by 20 percent in 2012.

He has served on numerous city council committees and was also a member of the task force that spearheaded development of the Smart Financial Center at Sugar Land—an iconic concert and performance hall that opened last year.

Other successes and projects launched by the city during Gandhi’s previous term include the successful annexations of Greatwood and New Territory, the acquisition of a former prison site for redevelopment, the completion of drainage projects, and the return to normal operations after the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey.

Gandhi is an attorney and shareholder with the law firm Roberts Markel Weinberg Butler Hailey PC. He is board certified in commercial real estate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He has served in leading roles in numerous community organizations. In 2015, he was honored by the Houston Business Journal as one of the region’s 40 under 40 young leaders. Gandhi earned a B.B.A. from Houston Baptist University and his law degree from the South Texas College of Law Houston. He, his wife Farrah and their son Jaiden live in the Telfair neighborhood.

“I always had an interest in community service and I grew up here in Sugar Land so it was important for me to make sure that there was excellent leadership. The interest was there and this is just another way of serving the community in this capacity,” Gandhi said.

To Gandhi, “Sugar Land is a great city and I want to make sure it stays that way. I want to make sure it remains as one of the most premier cities in America to live in and I want to make sure I am a part of it moving forward. There are going to be growth issues as it is a growing city. So I want to make sure that I add to that, making sure that the services remain at a high level, making sure it is a safe city and making sure the property values remain very high.”

BAPS holds women’s conferences in 14 cities across US

May 15, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Culture/Religion, Women 0

Unity is strength. This was the simple yet powerful subject of conversation at this year’s annual women’s conference of Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS held at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandirs across North America in 14 different locations on dates between April 21 and May 5.

Held in 14 cities across North America, this conference aims to inspire its attendees to bring about change through dialogue and reflection and this year was no different. At the conferences across the nation, women from different backgrounds and of different ages stressed the power of humility and positivity in creating a unified nation and global community. Organizers said an estimated 2,000 women attended the conference at different centers, including in New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, speaking at the Washington conference, Amita Shukla, CEO of Vitamita, emphasized the importance of the mindset in achieving unity. “Positivity is simply surrendering our fears, humility is surrendering our ego, and unity is becoming one with the elements and seeing everything as an interconnected whole,” she said.

At the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Stafford, Texas on April 21, 2018, the conference dwelt on unity as it is currently on the minds of many in society, and separation due to differences natural, the conference instead focused on the individual’s role in creating a unified nation and world. The speakers delved into the qualities of humility and positivity and their roles in initiating a more unity-centered mind-frame.

At the conference in Robbinsville, New Jersey, the state’s first lady Tammy Murphy, State Sen. Linda Greenstein and New York Assemblywoman Nily Rozic were among the speakers. “It doesn’t make you less powerful to be united. It adds great strength to anything that you’re doing. The unity within us enables and fosters the unity around us,” said Greenstein (DMiddlesex).

The conference covered three key concepts: importance of unity, power of humility and power of positivity and provided an opportunity for attendees to understand the significance of unity as a global concept while also discussing the little steps everyone can take toward this goal.

Another New Jersey speaker, nephrologist Tamanna Kalra used an evidence-based approach to affirm that humility is not a fixed trait, but one that should be practiced and developed. Dr. Priya Patel, a resident in ob-gyn, closed out the conference with a talk on the power of positivity. Her story of a cancer patient’s calm, thoughtful, and positive response to a life-ending diagnosis inspired the attendees.

Naimi Patel, closed out the conference with a compelling talk on the power of positivity. Giving a simple yet practical piece of advice, she said, “You can turn a negative situation into a positive situation through a change in perspective.”

Gauri Chandna, author of the book “Sparks” said at the Westborough, Massachusetts location: “Women play a great role in the growth and development of society making it an advanced and modern society,” and offered a quote often attributed to Brigham Young, a Utah politician and leader in the Latter Day Saint movement: “You educate a man, you educate a man. You educate a woman, you educate a generation.”

Calls for Trump to Get a Nobel Peace Prize Are Getting Louder

May 15, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

Barack Obama won it. So did Jimmy Carter, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Now, President Donald Trump’s supporters are pushing for him to be the next U.S. leader to win the Nobel Peace Prize — a move that’s being met by smirks and eye rolls in Europe, where Trump remains deeply unpopular.

But that’s not stopping a growing list of champions from pushing the Nobel committee to consider Trump for the world’s most coveted diplomatic prize. “I’ve been talking about this for months,” said Indiana Rep. Luke Messer, praising the success of what he called Trump’s “Twitter diplomacy.” He’s one of 18 Republican lawmakers who penned a letter to Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen last week to “respectfully nominate President Donald J. Trump to receive the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his work to end the Korean War, denuclearize the Korean peninsula, and bring peace to the region.”

As is customary, lawmakers in the Nordic region where the Nobel is awarded refrain from commenting on possible nominees. But in Copenhagen, Denmark, there was little appetite for the prospect of a Trump win.

“Trump … the peace prize? You must be joking,” said Lene Larsen, a 46-year-old accountant before bursting out laughing. “Maybe it should be a sex prize or a prize for being unpopular.” Hasse Jakupsen, 52, said the prospects of a win were dim. “I am pretty sure the Norwegians can see through this. Being nominated does not mean that you actually get the prize. It is pretty ridiculous to have such hopes” of getting the prize.

The push comes as Trump is preparing for an historic summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, which will serve as the highest-stakes diplomatic test to date for a president whose unconventional approach to foreign policy has also prompted fears of nuclear winter. Trump scored a substantial win on Wednesday when he announced that three Americans who had been detained by Kim were on their way home to the U.S.

It remains far from clear, however, whether the North will ultimately agree to give up its nuclear weapons and allow independent inspectors to verify their compliance. Polling has shown Trump and many of the policies he’s championed to be broadly unpopular around the globe. The Pew Research Center has also found that the public’s trust in the U.S. president to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs has plummeted since Trump took office. And Sweden saw the largest drop from former President Barack Obama, who won the Nobel in 2009 less than a year into his presidency, to Trump, with 93 percent confident in Obama and just 10 percent in Trump.

But Trump supporters, including British politician Nigel Farage, argue that Obama won after having accomplished far less. “He got the Nobel Peace Prize for what he might do,” Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, said on a London talk radio station last month. Farage, who campaigned alongside Trump, said Trump deserved the prize “for managing to get… talks going with North Korea, something that no U.S. president has ever, ever managed to do.

As a member of the European Parliament, Farage is among those who can nominate people for the prize, and said he would be setting up a petition to bolster Trump.

Nominations can come from university professors, directors of peace research and international affairs institutes, and former recipients, as well as members of national assemblies and national governments, among others.

To be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize of the year, nominations must be sent to the Norwegian Nobel Committee before Feb. 1 of the same year. There are currently 330 candidates for the 2018 prize, including 114 organizations. Nominations are required to be kept secret 50 years.

In January, Henrik Urdal, manager of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, told The Associated Press that Trump’s name had been submitted for the 2018 prize, but said the nomination lacked “a strong academic justification.” The leader of the independent Norwegian peace institute said Trump had been nominated by “an American player with the right to nominate a candidate,” but declined to name who.

And in March, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which selects the prize winners, said someone using a stolen identity had nominated Trump. The Norwegian news agency quoted committee secretary Olav Njolstad as saying it appeared the same person was responsible for forging nominations in 2017 as well.

A Nobel for Trump would be a dramatic end to a confrontation that began with Trump taunting Kim, calling him “Little Rocket Man” and threatening to unleash “fire and fury” to destroy his country.

Swami Vigyananand ji, Chairman of World Hindu Congress Appeals to New Yorkers to participate in large numbers in WHC 2018

May 15, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Culture/Religion 0

Speaking to community and business leaders of New York ,Swami Vigyananand ji said that the mission of World Hindu Congress is to provide a global platform for Hindus to Connect and share Ideas ,inspire one another and impact the common good. It offers Hindus an opportunity to to introspect towards improvement and tap into our collective resources to seek tangible solutions to the most pressing issues of our age.

Virender Patel, Dr Yashpal Arya, Indu Jaiswal , Jagdish Sewhani, Swami Vigyananand ji , Dr Vijay Arya, Urmilesh Arya wer among those who were at the event in New York where Swamiji urged Hindus in New York to participate in large number at World Hindu Congress in Chicago in September 2018.

Held once every four years ,WHC’s seven parallel conferences showcases how the values, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit of the Global Hindu Community find expression in variety of spheres, including economic. education ,media, organizational and political.as well as the unique leadership and contributions of Hindu women and youth.

WHC also serves as the platform to address critical issues impacting Hindus worldwide, including Human rights, discrimination and cultural assaults. Hindus have face insurmountable odds over the last several centuries yet have been able to nourish and sustain Hindu Civilization.

Guided by the Hindu Principle Sumantrite Suvikrante I.e Think Collectively , Achieve Valiantly., WHC is a movement not to be missed. On the eve of 125th Anniversary of Swami VIvekananda’s Historic address to Parliament of World Religions in Chicago, Hindus from all over the world and from all backgrounds are invited to actively participate.

Jagdish Sewhani said that this is once in a lifetime opportunity for Hindus in America to participate in the World Hindu Congress which is going to happen in Chicago from September 7th To 9th 2018. We are expecting around 2000 delegates from all over the world. We are four million very successful Hindus in America, it is our responsibility to donate generously for this
Mahayagya. For further information you can visit www.worldhinducongress.org or contact Jagdish Sewhani at 917 834 8842 or Email at Jsewhani@gmail.com

FIACONA is disappointed at the USCIRF

May 15, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Culture/Religion 0

The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations (FIACONA) is greatly disappointed, to say the least that the USCIRF has chosen to keep India on Tier II of, the Countries of Particular Concern, instead of Tier I countries, in spite of the unprecedented violence against Christians and other religious minorities for the past three years under Prime Minister Modi and his party’s rule in India.

The following statement is issued by the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations in favor of publishing at the occasion of the Annual Report Release Event held by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, (USCIRF) on May 8, 2018, Washington, DC.

“The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations (FIACONA) is greatly disappointed, to say the least that the USCIRF has chosen to keep India on Tier II of, the Countries of Particular Concern, instead of Tier I countries, in spite of the unprecedented violence against Christians and other religious minorities for the past three years under Prime Minister Modi and his party’s rule in India.

The government of India, under Prime Minister Modi, has been drastically restricting the free exercise of faith by Christians. The militia run by the parent organization of Modi’s political party, The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliated organizations like Hindu Munnani, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) are engaged in a pitched battle at the grassroots level to harass, intimidate and punish people for merely following Christ. They are engaged in vicious and naked aggression against Christians in every corner of the country.

Since 2014, when Modi formed the national government, hate crimes, social boycotts, assaults and forced conversion of Christians to Hinduism have escalated dramatically.

FIACONA is deeply disappointed at the level of insensitivity shown by the USCIRF, to the plight of over 100 million people who have chosen to practice Christianity in India. If the level of violence experienced by Christian populations for the past three years is not sufficient to put India in Tier I, we wonder what will.

We are deeply hurt that the Commission has betrayed the memory of the victims of senseless terror in the name of Hindu nationalism perpetrated by groups affiliated with the Modi government. Unfortunately, this report is seen as pandering to certain interest groups while going against the very idea for which the commission was created.

FIACONA respectfully rejects the conclusion of the Commission and hopes that the new Commission to be appointed will be more sensitive to the victims who suffer under the hostile government policies of Prime Minister Modi and not be political in their decision at the expense of innocent suffering people.

Indian Community Outreach Chicago, USA Kick – off Ceremony of Grand India Day Celebration in Naperville Bollywood Rock Star Sukhwinder Singh to set the stage with his Grammy Winning Song Jai Ho in Naperville

May 15, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Naperville, IL – May 14, 2018: Indian Community Outreach (ICO) hosted Kick – off ceremony of grand India Day Celebration for 2018 India Day to celebrate 71 years of India’s Independence Day. The event was attended by over 100 guests including Naperville Mayor, Steve Chirico, DuPage County Member, Naperville City Council Member, City of Aurora Alderman, Schaumburg Township Trustee Nimish Jani, Naperville Park District Chair Mike Reilly, Elected Officials & Representatives, Sponsors, ICO Advisors, Community Leaders and Representatives from Media Fraternity. With many exciting additions, this year’s India Day will again take place at Knock Park in Naperville on August 12, 2018 and will feature a grand colorful parade and a concert by Bollywood rock star Sukhwinder Singh, concluding with display of fireworks.

Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico, Chief Guest at the event, said, “India Day Celebration in a short span of just three years has become a very impressive event showcasing the Indian culture and heritage.” Mayor Chirico congratulated Krishna Bansal, Chairman, India Community Outreach and noted that heights achieved by ICO in just 4 years usually take decades to reach. He congratulated ICO for achieving the goal of educating and integrating the communities while enhancing economic interest of Naperville. ICO has been instrumental in facilitating many Indian American businesses to come to Naperville.

ICO recently received the Illinois Bicentennial Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Award from Illinois State Governor Bruce Rauner for the Significant Community Contributions and became the first Indian American organization to receive this honor. 2018 India Day has also been inducted as part of Illinois Bicentennial celebrations.

While speaking about the history and purpose behind formation of ICO, Krishna Bansal, Chairman of ICO said that 2018 India Day Celebration would be one of the largest and best Indian American event in United States. Bollywood Rock Star Sukhwinder Singh will be the star performer this year. He also said that there would be multiple activities lined up from morning 11:00 am to 9:30 pm that includes International Food Court, Ethnic Indian Bazaar, Children’s park, Local Talent show, Indian Fashion Show, Parade, Bollywood Concert, Colorful Fireworks and many more to be added in the activities. Bansal urged all community members and Business owners to come forward to support and sponsor the event. Maintaining the commitment, event will again be free to attend for everyone.

Alderman at City of Aurora, Rick Mervine, was a special guest who emphasized the necessity of civic engagement for the Indian American Community.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to address AAPI delegates during AAPI Convention In Ohaio

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Over 2,000 AAPI delegates and their families who will attend the 2018 AAPI Annual Convention& Scientific Assembly in Columbus, Ohio will have an authentic experience of yoga and meditation with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on July 5th, 2018. “We are so fortunate to have Sri Sri, who travels the world sharing wisdom and insights on a number of timely and important topics, and is a world –renowned author of books that teach and inspire, has agreed to grace us with his presence and enlighten us all with his wisdom. His talks motivate and encourage, offer comfort and reassurance, and provide insights for daily living,” Dr. Gautam Samadder, President of AAPI said.

During the five day event to held from July 4th to 8th, attendees will engage with an impressive lineup of notable speakers and cutting edge medical and scientific information blended within a rich cultural backdrop of authentic Indian cuisine, fashion, yoga and entertainment from top Indian performers.

The event also includes AAPI’s Got Talent, organized by the AAPI physicians, is a chance for all registered guests of the convention to participate and compete in a talent show. AAPI Pageant, organized and supported by National AAPI – a non-profit organization, is being held for the first time in Columbus, Ohio during 36th National AAPI Convention from July 4-8, 2018. “AAPI Pageant is more than just a title, it’s a movement for empowering women from all walks of life to achieve their dreams. This pageant promotes self-confidence, leadership, poise and public speaking skills as well as the strong presence of beautiful women in our community!” said Dr. John Johnson, Chair of the Convention Organizing Committee.

Dr. Naresh Parikh, President-Elect of AAPI, who was present at the 33rd edition of AAPI’s convention in Florida in 2015, recalled, how the delegates of AAPI were led to meditate after an inspiring address on Yoga and health by global thought and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. “The unique event served as a platform for the AAPI members to discuss the importance of meditation in resolving the nation’s pressing health concerns and how Ayurveda, Yoga, and Meditations, the ancient traditions of India offer solutions to the most pressing health problems of the world,” Dr. Parikh said.

“The secret of meditation is in letting go,” Sri Sri told the gathering, which included AAPI members and their families. “Stress arises when we have too much to do, and not enough energy or time to do it. We can neither change time nor the number of things we need to do. So, the only option is to increase energy levels. And this can be accomplished through yoga, breathing techniques and meditation,” Sri Sri told the delegates at the Orlando convention. A happy mind lets you stay calm; make better decisions and improve the overall quality of life, he told the Doctors, acknowledging that they lead a stressful life. “You live on average ten years less than the patients you treat,” as a consequence of the stressful life you lead, he told them.

Dr. Ashok Jain, Chair of BOT of AAPI, highlighted the importance of ancient Indian traditions and how they sow the way to a healthier life in modern world. He thanked the many sponsors of AAPI who make conventions a success. “The presence of Sri Sri in our midst will not only enlighten us, but will enforce in each of us the important contributions of ancient India to the world, especially in the world of medicine,” Dr. Jain added.

The convention offers an exciting venue to interact with leading physicians, health professionals, academicians, and scientists of Indian origin. Physicians and healthcare professionals from across the country will convene and participate in the scholarly exchange of medical advances, to develop health policy agendas, and to encourage legislative priorities in the coming year.

The convention includes CME and DME accredited courses as well as variety of panel discussions, presentations and a research competition. There are forums for AAPI Young Physicians Group (AAPI YPS) and for AAPI MSRF for medical students, residents and fellows. A nearly sold out Exhibitor Hall includes medical and pharmaceutical products, devices and equipment and medical and dental, practice-related services.

One in seven patient encounters in the United States is with a physician of Indian origin. The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) is the largest ethnic medical organization in the United States, representing over 100,000 physicians of Indian Origin in the United States. Over 2,000 physicians, health professionals, academicians and scientists of Indian origin from across the globe will gather at the popular Convention Center, Columbus, OH from July 4-8, 2018. For more details, please visit: www.aapiusa.org

$1.84 million raised for children’s education in India at AIF’s NYC gala

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Education 0

More than 500 guests, including business executives, investors, entrepreneurs and community leaders, who had attended American India Foundation’s annual gala, helped raise $1.84 million to support AIF’s poverty-disrupting work on the ground in India on April 30, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City.

The fund raised will be used to support the organization’s Learning and Migration Program (LAMP), In India each year, 70 million people migrate from their villages to find work, bringing their children with them to hazardous work sites like saltpans, brick kilns and sugar plantations, where they are vulnerable to child labor and trafficking. These children are pulled out of school for as much as eight months at a time. They fall severely behind, and often dropout – if they are lucky enough to go to school at all.

One of highlights of the evening was a presentation by one of the beneficiaries of the Learning and Migration Program (LAMP). Sunita Koli, who grew up in Gujarat as the daughter of two parents who worked in the saltpans, shared how the program had an impact on her life. As a child, Sunita worked long days on the hot saltpans of Gujarat for up to eight months a year. Because she migrated to the saltpans with her parents, she wasn’t able to go to school and learn.

One day, Sunita learned of an opportunity to stay in her community – and in school – through AIF’s Learning and Migration Program. She found studying difficult at first, but within a few years, had completely transformed.

Sunita became the first girl in her community to graduate 10th grade, and a few years later, to graduate college. Today, she is studying for the Public Service Exam so she can help other girls like herself succeed.

AIF believes that education can break the cycle of poverty and migration that traps individuals and families in menial and exploitative work. Its Learning and Migration Program does just that, by empowering children affected by migration with a quality education.

Sunita Koli said, “I look at this country and all the facilities here and I don’t know if you can understand what it means for someone from my community to go to college. How difficult it is. How many barriers we have to overcome to make this happen. I am proud that I was able to achieve this.”

“Other girls in my community saw me and they realized that there was life outside this village. They wanted to do something and be something in life. My younger sister followed my footsteps and there are other girls from my community who are now going to college,” she said.

Sunita’s story illustrates the impact of the Learning and Migration Program. Now she is a role model and mentor for other girls in her village, said AIF. AIF CEO Nishant Pandey shared the opportunity LAMP has provided to young girls in rural India.

The evening also featured remarks from other prominent leaders who lauded AIF on its continued success in fighting poverty for the most marginalized people in India. These leaders included Raj Gupta, former Chairman & CEO, Rohm & Haas Company, Ajay Banga, President & Chief Executive Officer, MasterCard, and Lata Krishnan, Chief Financial Officer, Shah Capital Partners.

Actress Reshma Shetty engaged the audience throughout the evening as the Master of Ceremonies. The event honored Andrew Liveris, Chairman & CEO of The Dow Chemical Company and Director & Former Executive Chairman of DowDuPont, and Shikha Sharma, Managing Director & CEO of Axis Bank.

AIF Vice Chair, Harit Talwar, Head of Digital Finance at Goldman, Sachs & Co., thanked supporters for their generosity and encouraged those in attendance to continue contributing to the American India Foundation. Talwar said, “With your support, AIF continues to serve as the innovative source of opportunity for those who need it most”.

Prominent speakers included Raj Gupta, retired Chairman and CEO of Rohm & Haas Company; Ajay Banga, President and Chief Executive Officer of MasterCard; and Lata Krishnan, Chief Financial Officer at Shah Capital Partners.

The event honored Andrew Liveris, Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company and Director & Former Executive Chairman of DowDuPont, and Shikha Sharma, Managing Director and CEO of Axis Bank.

58th Gujarat Sthapna Divas held at Indian Consulate in New York

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, India 0

Nearly 200 people representing several organizations from the tri-state area, including members from Ohmkara, the Gujarat Samaj of New York, the Gujarat Samaj of Baltimore and the Vaishnav Parivar of Connecticut, led by the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA-NY/NJ/CT) came together at the Consulate General of India in New York to celebrate the 58th Gujarat Sthapna Divas on Wednesday, May 2nd.

“I think Gujarat is such a state which inspires our country, which inspires many things in India. The National Anthem was composed in 1919 and Gujarat became a state on May 1, 1960, so even in Rabindranath Tagore’s imagination, Gujarat was very much alive and kicking back then,” said The Consul General of India in New York, Sandeep Chakravorty. “When we celebrate Gujarat Sthapna Divas, we are basically celebrating India’s unity, diversity and cultural rituals,” he added.

Dr. Sudhir Parikh, founder and chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media shared with the audience as to how May 1 is not only Gujarat Day but International Labor Day as well. “May 1 is not only Gujarat Day but it is also International Labor Day which is being celebrated since the 19th century. For Gujaratis who are known globally for their entrepreneurship and hard work, it is an honor to have Gujarat Day held on the same day,” he said, adding, “I am very proud and privileged to mention that the founder of the state of Gujarat was Indulal Yagnik, who started his Gujarat movement from my home in Nadiad.”

Dr. Parikh also touched upon the importance of keeping the Gujarati culture and traditions alive by the diaspora. “As NRIs, it is our duty to help Gujarat in whatever way we can. A small philanthropic effort can help change the lives of many underprivileged people, so we should step up our effort to reach out with a helping hand. Gujaratis make up to 33 percent of the Indian population worldwide and the United States has the second largest population of Gujaratis,” he said. Dr. Parikh was felicitated also at the meet, for his contribution to the Gujarati community.

Air India recently launched a new flight from Newark to Ahmedabad, which brought plenty of cheer for the Gujarati community, especially for those on the East Coast. “This is a tribute to your success and support that after decades, we have started a new flight to Ahmedabad from Newark via London. Gujarat is such a vibrant part; when every state prospers then India prospers. Air India is the only airline that operates to the most cities within Gujarat,” said a representative from Air India.

Others who spoke at the occasion included Ramesh Patel, the chairman of FIA; Srujal Parikh, the president of FIA; Yogesh Patel, a BJP MP from Gujarat; Pinakin Pathak, the chairman of Ohmkara; Vishnubahi Patel of the Gujarat Samaj of New York; Rajiv Desai of the Vaishnav Parivar of Connecticut; Rupal Shah of the Gujarati Samaj of Baltimore and Smita Miki Patel of the Indian Performing Arts Center.

Cultural performances including colorful dancers from the Indian Performing Arts Center, Foram Shah and Umesh Bhatt were enjoyed by one and all. A Gujarati dinner was provided by Rajbhog Foods.

Silicon Valley college, called ‘Visa Mill’ for Indian Students, shuts down with millions missing

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEducation, Travel 0

Silicon Valley University, one of the most popular institutions in California for foreign students from South India, was abruptly shut down last month, amid rumors that it was a “visa mill.” Silicon Valley University was seen by some strivers abroad as a ticket into one of America’s hottest job markets, through its ability to back student and work visas. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee recently asked if it might be a “visa mill” — a term used for sham operations where students get visas but a poor education, if any.

In his March 22 letter, Grassley specifically mentioned SVU as a “highly suspect” visa mill. He noted that in 2015, “hundreds” of Indian students, many admitted to SVU, were denied entry to the United States by Customs and Border Patrol.

State regulators have abruptly shut down the nonprofit college in San Jose that until recently enrolled nearly 4,000 students, mainly from other countries, after Chronicle reporters showed that the school had lost its accreditation months ago.

The move came after Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent a letter March 22 to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, complaining about the lax oversight of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which allows students from foreign countries to enroll at accredited U.S. universities. In his letter, Grassley stated that several universities with large bodies of primarily foreign students were in fact “visa mills.”

The SEVP program is designed to offer foreign students three years of curricular practical training, which allows them to get work permits for U.S.-based employment. However, Grassley noted in his letter: “Some institutions offer little, if any, educational opportunities to tuition-paying foreign students seeking work opportunities.”

“These ‘visa mills’ profit from the foreign student tuition and face little governmental oversight when issuing work visas under the program, which is not available to American students. Employers also benefit from hiring foreign student over American workers, as neither the employer nor the foreign students is required to pay payroll taxes for the work,” stated Grassley.

“News reports suggested that the school might be operating as a visa mill, and in candid interviews students admitted to working “at gas stations, retail outlets, and even restaurants as part of ‘CPT’ to earn a quick buck,” wrote Grassley, adding that the school has nevertheless retained its SEVP certification “sponsoring thousands of aliens for student visas and approving unknown numbers for alien-only ‘training’ programs.”

SVU lost its accreditation last December but continued to operate. The accrediting agency, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, is itself under investigation, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report. ACICS noted it was revoking its accreditation of SVU for failing audited financial statements and an annual financial report. SVU had asked for several extensions for both documents, according to the ACICS letter, and had asked for yet another extension, prompting the accrediting agency to revoke the university’s accreditation.

California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education also filed a complaint against SVU Dec. 27 for 15 violations of its accreditation. The founders of the non-profit university have been accused of spending large sums of the school’s revenue for personal expenses, including buying homes. SVU charged a tuition of about $45,000 per year.

In an undated and un-signed letter on the home page of its Web site, SVU noted: “Due to the loss of our accreditation from the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), the Bureau for Private Post-Secondary Education (BPPE) has notified Silicon Valley University not to conduct any classes or exams at this time, effective immediately.”

India sends 2nd highest number of students abroad to study

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEducation, Travel 0

With about 211,703 Indian students attending various American universities, India has become the second largest source country of foreign students in the U.S., according to a PTI report.

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS) of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations have claimed China as number one with 377,070 students.

India sends the second highest number of foreign students to educational institutions in America, said US Consulate General, Public Affairs Officer, and Director of the American Centre, Jamie DragonThe report also states that 49 percent of the female to male student population in the United States is from India and China with interest growing in non-immigrant student visas, the F-1 visa and the M-1 visa.

The F-1 visa is for student who want to attend an American university for academic studies or language training program and the M-1 visa is for who want to attend an American university for non-academic or vocational studies.

From March 2017 to March 2018, both India and China saw a proportional growth of between 1 and 2 percent, with India sending 2,356 more students and China sending 6,305 more students to the U.S. and the level of participation from both countries makes Asia the most popular continent of for international students with 77 percent.

The PTI reports that even though there is a steady growth from both the nations, there was a slight decrease in the number of students coming from Asia to study in the U.S. from countries such as Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Yemen, outweighing the rapid growth from countries such as Pakistan, Myanmar and Cambodia.

The total number of SEVIS records for active female and male students decreased from 1,208,039 in March 2017 to 1,201,829 in March 2018.

Also, the J-1 exchange visitor population has increased from 201,408 in March 2017 to 209,568 in March 2018. The J-1 visa offers cultural and educational exchange opportunities in the United States through a variety of programs overseen by the U.S. State Department.

“Engineering and business are the two most popular subjects among foreign students at our institute. We have about 4,500 international students. Every year we get about 500 to 600 fresh international students. China is number one and India is number two in terms of sending foreign students to our institute,” said Katherine Mangum, coordinator of international recruitment for Iowa State University.

5 Indian Americans named Dell Scholars

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEducation 0

Five Indian American high school students have been named 2018 Dell Scholars by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Sita Bhandari of Richland Collegiate High School of Math Science in Dallas, Texas; Amrit Chauhan and Manjot Singh, both from River Valley High School in Yuba City, California; Harleen Kaur of Sunnyside High School in Fresno, California and Pooja Patel from Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida, were among 500 high school students who have demonstrated the drive to succeed and persist toward achieving a bachelor’s degree.

Dell Scholars has supported more than 4,300 students from across the country over the last 14 years and announced its largest scholars class of 500 this year.

“Our success – 75 percent of our scholars obtain a degree within six years – is primarily attributable to our students’ hard work, perseverance and ability to overcome the substantial obstacles that often derail low-income, first-generation college goers,” Todd Penner wrote on the foundation’s blog.

“As we welcome this new class, we are humbled by working with such amazing students and proud of all they have achieved so far. It’s our mission to provide them with the support they need to complete college and earn their degrees,” he added.

The Dell Scholars program offers $20,000, a laptop and textbook credits along with services and solutions for students and their families, addressing individual and systemic issues that can create major barriers to student success.

The program is looking for students who showed grit “by overcoming personal challenges in your life related to your family, school or community,” potential by participating in college readiness programs, and “seeking out academic rigor” and ambition by “dreaming of obtaining a college degree,” and it will work with students to ensure they have the tools needed to complete college with a degree in hand.

Rajesh Wadhawan Chair for Development Economics at University of Rochester

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterBusiness, Education, Finance/Economy 0

The Simon Business School at the University of Rochester announced the establishment of the Rajesh Wadhawan Chair for Development Economics, according to a report in BusinessWire. The investiture is in commemoration of the WGC Group’s Indian American founder and his vision of economic equitability.

Over the last three decades, the WGC Group has been at the forefront of developing solutions for financial inclusion of the marginalized sections. The Chair is a part of its social investments to enable opportunities for the transformative progress of these communities. It is aimed to be a critical driver of new insights and enabling wisdom in the understanding of development economics. The WGC Group will continue to support the Chair’s curriculum by offering internships and other associations to students across its Group companies’ offices in India and the UK.

“Through the investiture of the Rajesh Wadhawan Chair, the Wadhawan family and the WGC Group reinforce their commitment towards creating a more equitable society. Their generosity will enable us to channelize analytical research towards solutions for inclusive growth. Through this partnership, we are hopeful of deepening our participation in the global dialogue for financial inclusivity,” remarked Dean Andrew Ainslie of Simon Business School.

Kapil Wadhawan, chairman of the WGC Group, said, “The Rajesh Wadhawan Chair reinstates our founder’s legacy of doing business with purpose. As we take our partnership with the Simon Business School to the next level, we aim to shape a future of equitable progress and create a larger impact globally.”

The Wadhawan family, represented by Mrs. Aruna Wadhawan, wife of late Rajesh Wadhawan, and son Kapil Wadhawan, his wife Vanita and daughter Tiana and son Kartik, were present at the plaque ceremony at the campus.

Prof. Gregory H. Bauer, Associate Dean of Full-Time Programs, Simon Business School, has been nominated as the permanent faculty for the Chair. He was associated with the Bank of Canada as the Senior Research Director for Financial Markets. Bauer has taught at the Simon School for 22 years. He is a four-time winner of the Superior Teaching Award from the Simon MBA program and a multiple winner of awards from the Executive MBA program. His research concerns international capital flows and the origins of financial crises.

Simon Business School is the business school of the University of Rochester and one of the world’s top graduate business institutions. It offers an education that attracts students who value analytic bias. The school believes strongly in the value of economics and statistics in the analysis of all business problems, and it is reflected in its ranking as a top five school for economics and finance.

University of Rochester is one of the top-tier research universities in the US. The private, non-profit university was founded in June 1850. It offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and professional degree programs. University of Rochester Medical Center Rochester’s Headquarters are located at 601 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, New York, USA 14642.

Wadhawan Global Capital is a leading financial services group head-quartered in India. The group manages $22 billion of assets through its lending, asset management and insurance businesses. WGC Group has partnered with leading financial institutions such as the International Finance Corporation, Washington, and Prudential Financial Inc., in transforming the lives of millions of customers.

WGC is the parent company for some of the top brands in India such as DHFL, Aadhar Housing Finance Company, Avanse Financial Services Ltd., DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance Company Ltd., Arthveda Finance, Wadhawan Wealth Managers, DHFL General Insurance and DHFL Pramerica Asset Managers Private Ltd. The company has a London-based wholly-owned subsidiary Wadhawan Global Capital (UK) Ltd.

US adds India to currency watch list with China

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy 0

The US Treasury added India to its watch list of countries with potentially questionable foreign exchange policies, joining China and four others, according to a report issued here. US Treasury said the “monitoring list” includes those “major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices.” In addition to India, the semi-annual report to Congress names five countries that continue on the list from October: China, Germany, Japan, Korea and Switzerland. Countries remain on the list for two report cycles “to help ensure that any improvement in performance versus the criteria is durable and is not due to temporary factors”

The report said India, which has a USD 23 billion trade surplus with the United States, “increased its purchases of foreign exchange over the first three quarters of 2017,” although the rupee still rose in value. And while China — which is at the centre of a brewing trade dispute with Washington — remained on the watch list, Treasury said “the Chinese currency generally moved against the dollar in a direction that should” help reduce China’s trade surplus with the United States.

Treasury said the “monitoring list” includes those “major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices.” In addition to India, the semi-annual report to Congress names five countries that continue on the list from October: China, Germany, Japan, Korea and Switzerland. Countries remain on the list for two report cycles “to help ensure that any improvement in performance versus the criteria is durable and is not due to temporary factors.”

While no major trading partner was found to be manipulating its currency, five of those on the list meet two of the three criteria, while China is included because “it constitutes a disproportionate share of the overall US trade deficit.” The US has a deficit of USD 337 billion with China of a total global trade deficit of USD 566 billion, according to government data.

“We will continue to monitor and combat unfair currency practices, while encouraging policies and reforms to address large trade imbalances,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. The Treasury report is required by Congress to identify countries that are trying to artificially manage the value of their currency to gain a trade advantage, for example by keeping the exchange rate low to promote cheaper exports.

Germany also remained on the watch list, even though it is part of the European currency union, which means it cannot independently control the exchange rate for the euro. Even so, the report notes that Germany “has the world’s largest current account surplus” and has made “little to no progress in reducing this massive surplus the past three years.” Treasury called for all the countries on the list to implement economic reforms to address their surpluses.

AAHOA and Polaris Launch New Human Trafficking Awareness Training

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Tourism 0

AAHOA, in partnership with Polaris, a global leader in the fight against modern slavery, launched a new digital training for members and their employees that focuses on raising awareness of human trafficking in the hospitality industry. The AAHOA Human Trafficking Awareness Training (HTAT) is available exclusively to AAHOA’s nearly 18,000 members and the over 600,000 employees at member properties at no cost.

“Hoteliers have a moral imperative to prevent human trafficking at their properties,” said AAHOA Chairman Hitesh (HP) Patel. “Unfortunately, the privacy and anonymity that are inherent in the hotel industry, as well as the frequent turnover of clientele, make hotels an attractive venue for criminals looking to exploit trafficking victims. This new training developed with Polaris will go a long way to help hoteliers and their employees identify the signs of sex and labor trafficking, assist victims, and work with law enforcement to keep this criminal activity out of our communities.”

Patel made his remarks today in Houston, Texas, where he participated in a roundtable discussion about raising awareness of and preventing human trafficking. The roundtable, hosted by House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), also included representatives from the Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign and Polaris.

“This training is a vital tool in the fight against sex trafficking and forced labor,” said Joe Racalto, Director of Government Relations at Polaris. “Education is one of the keys to ending modern slavery and restoring freedom and dignity to survivors. By making it freely available to so many hoteliers and hotel workers, we can quickly raise awareness of the issue.”

The AAHOA Human Trafficking Awareness Training provides an overview of sex and labor trafficking, discusses red flags, and provides case examples. Participants are also informed about appropriate steps to respond to suspected instances of trafficking. Upon completion of the training, participants earn a certificate which may satisfy state and/or local training requirements.

“With a membership that owns about one in every two hotels across the United States, AAHOA is capitalizing on that reach to promote education and awareness of human trafficking. This important training not only focuses on sex trafficking, but also on labor trafficking, which can be difficult to spot. Being a conscientious employer means understanding how labor brokers and recruiters exploit workers and requesting supply chain transparency to ensure that no one is being forced to work against his or her will. Hoteliers are uniquely positioned to disrupt the criminal networks and individuals that exploit society’s most vulnerable through human trafficking, and they can save lives in the process,” said AAHOA President and CEO Chip Rogers.

AAHOA Human Trafficking Awareness Training is available through AAHOA’s website (http://www.aahoa.com/htat/). Non-members can register for and complete the training by either renewing their AAHOA membership or joining the association.

AAHOA is the largest hotel owners association in the world. The nearly 18,000 AAHOA members own almost one in every two hotels in the United States. With billions of dollars in property assets and hundreds of thousands of employees, AAHOA members are core economic contributors in virtually every community. AAHOA is a proud defender of free enterprise and the foremost current-day example of realizing the American dream.

World Press Freedom Day 2018

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Social Media 0

The theme for the 25th celebration of World Press Freedom Day is “Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law,” focussing on the importance of an enabling legal environment for press freedom, and gives attention to the role of an independent judiciary in ensuring legal guarantees for press freedom and prosecution of crimes against journalists..

Only 13% of the world population enjoys a free press, where coverage of politics is robust, the safety of journalists is guarateed, and state intrusion in media affairs is minimal. A partly free press to 42% of the world population. The remaining 45% lives in countries where a free press is non-existent (“New Report: Freedom of the Press 2017”). Political and economic transformations of some countries alongside their technological developments place new restrictions on press freedom.

Governments of these countries tend to implement restrictive laws and censorship on freedom of press, usually justifying these actions as a necessary tool for national security against terrorism. Apart from violating the right of freedom of expression, these restrictions place higher risks of violence, harassment and death on journalists.

Since the year 2000, annual incarceration of journalists has continued to increase globally, with many of them never seeing the inside of a courtroom. In 2017, 81 journalists died whilst committed to their jobs – 66% of them were murdered.

According to the 2017 World Press Freedom Index, violence and restrictions against media freedom has risen by 14% in the time period of 2012-2017. At the same time, since 2016, media freedom in countries where it was ranked as “good” decreased by 2.3%.

Among the countries that suffered the largest declines on the report’s 100-point scale in 2016 were Poland (6 points), Turkey (5), Burundi (5), Hungary (4), Bolivia (4), Serbia (4), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (4).

The world’s 10 worst-rated countries and territories were Azerbaijan, Crimea, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Turkmenistan.

INOC, USA Team is on the ground in Karnataka, campaigning

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

With the critical State Elections taking place in Karnataka on May 12th, 2018, the INOC, USA team has arrived in Bengaluru this weekend to provide moral support and aid to family members and friends of Non-resident aliens to help them participate in the upcoming state elections, where the ruling party (BJP) and the Congress Party are hotly in contest. The Congress party wants to strike a decisive victory to herald the turning point for future successes for the Congress to wrest control in the Lok Sabha elections.

Mr. Mohinder Singh Gilzian led the U.S team consisting of Mr. Harbachan Sigh the Secretary-General and Dr. Dayan Naik, the Chapter head of the Karnataka Chapter of the Indian National Overseas Congress, USA.

Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress Department of the All India Congress Committee, at a prescheduled meeting set the perimeters and facilitated the inter group-discussions of various professionals and representatives from some other parts of the world to maintain the integrity of the elections and fuller participation of voters in the elections.

Following a special meeting on elections logistics held on April 30, 2018, by Mr. Sam Pitroda and Mr. Madhu Yaskhi of several NRI organizations and professionals that had converged in Bengaluru, Mr. Sam Pitroda held a Press Briefing at which the special interest of NRI Congress supporters was discussed. In these connections, the leading members of the US group recounted how they were out there to educate voters ready to vote in the state elections. This Press Briefing was attended by over 25 media representatives and a large group of journalists. The picture shows NY Group at the rostrum of the Press Briefing. Some NRIs who were from Karnataka described how they would encourage their family and friends to vote. Several others would educate on Congress’s past accomplishments, yet others said they would discuss general relevant issues of concern to the local communities. The elections fever was apparently on and excitement was building up.

At the Press Briefing, Mr. Sam Pitroda and Mr. Madhu Yashski stated that NRIs had come home to help or cast their own votes. To a question, Dr. Sam Pitroda made it absolutely clear that there was no money involved in any of the activities by any group and that their involvement was limited in scope.

The USA team participated in both these meetings where Mr. Mohinder Singh Gilzian, Mr. Harbachan Singh, and Dr. Dayan Naik spoke. On the days that followed,, the INOC, USA team, met several candidates who were running for elections at their respective places of operations. In particular, they saw Mr. H.A. Harris and Mr. Dinesh Gundo Rao, who was running to be their representative for the 5th time. They talked to people at campaigns, and they also had opportunities to visit rallies, parades, and campaign and encourage all registered voters to exercise their right to vote.

The US Team also visited offices of several State and Federal Congress Party Chiefs such as Mr. K.C. Venagopal, to witness the processes and get to discuss issues & politics of concern to themselves. The team is set to meet many others as they fly in from other states to aid in the process. Amongst others that they met were retired Party Whips.

The team noted the interactive media in action and saw some IT improvements that were being applied. The savvy voters and the parties involved seemed to be applying sophisticated IT apparatus to boost their respective capabilities.

The enthusiasm and campaign fever in the Congress party was evident and complete confidence was showing on all the faces of the candidates, leaders, advisers and above all in their national President Shri Rahul Gandhi.

Indian American physicians launch inaugural VOAC in Virginia The First Veterans

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

Obesity Awareness Campaign (VOAC) 2K walk was organized by Dr. Bhushan Pandya in Danville, Virginia. The event was based on a First VOAC pilot event organized by Dr. Uma Koduri, leaders of the VFW and VA MOVE! Initiative, in Oklahoma, last year.

The Danville event was hosted by VFW post 647 led by Commander Jeff Crews and Quarter Master Dennis Forslund. The Mayor of Danville John Gilstrap, proclaimed April 21, 2018 as the “Veteran’s Health and Obesity Awareness Day” as more than three quarters of veterans receiving care in VA facilities are considered obese, overweight or struggling with weight-related issues.

Dr. Pandya talked about the medical ill effects of obesity and the importance of staying healthy while Janice Bailey, a dietician at VA clinic and MOVE! Coordinator, said, “it is a negotiation when you come to see me. What are you willing to do to remain physically independent, similar to what you did during active duty?”

Virginia Senator Frank Ruff donated to the event and joined the 2K walk along with Virginia General Assembly Delegate Les Adams. The event also featured a mini Yoga session and a CPR demonstration by first responders.

The event was attended by a number of Indian American physicians and showcased their service to the community, It was supported by Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh, founder and chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media and Dr. Sanku Rao of Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO), WHEELS Global Foundation, Greater Piedmont Triad AAPI and DPAM.

VOAC is chaired by Dr. Vikas Khurana and co-chaired by Dr. Uma Koduri and Dr. Satheesh Kathula. It was launched at the Consulate General of India in New York, on November 4, 2017.

Earlier in November 2017, the national AAPI had launched a similar campaign across the US> “Coming from a nation that has given much to the world, today physicians of Indian origin have become a powerful influence in medicine across the world. Nowhere is their authority more keenly felt than in the United States, where Indians make up the largest non-Caucasian segment of the American medical community,” Dr. Gautam Samadder said adding that one out of seven doctors in the United States is of Indian heritage, providing care to around 40 million Americans.

The AAPI has been conducting awareness campaigns aimed at childhood obesity for several years, adopting more than 80 schools around the country, and that has led to taking up the veterans health challenge.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta wants Medical Marijuana legalized

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

CNN’s medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has taken the unusual step of publicly urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reconsider his opposition to medical marijuana, particularly as a way to fight the opioid epidemic.

The Indian American physician TV show host wrote a public letter to Sessions, saying that he had changed his mind on the use of medical marijuana, “and I am certain you can, as well.”

In his open letter, Dr. Gupta wrote: “I feel obligated to share the results of my five-year-long investigation into the medical benefits of the cannabis plant. Before I started this worldwide, in-depth investigation, I was not particularly impressed by the results of medical marijuana research, but a few years later, as I started to dedicate time with patients and scientists in various countries, I came to a different conclusion.

“Not only can cannabis work for a variety of conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and pain, sometimes, it is the only thing that works. I changed my mind, and I am certain you can, as well. It is time for safe and regulated medical marijuana to be made available nationally. I realize this is an unconventional way to reach you, but your office declined numerous requests for an interview, and as a journalist, a doctor and a citizen, I felt it imperative to make sure you had access to our findings.”

He said he made his plea after Sessions declined to be interviewed for his special on the topic, which aired April 29 on CNN. A spokeswoman for Sessions declined comment April 26.

The CNN special followed football player Mike James and others who say that medical marijuana has both eased the pain of injuries and weaned them from addiction to opioids. Medical marijuana is currently legal in 29 states and Washington, D.C.

Before he began researching the issue a few years ago, Gupta said he was not a believer in medical marijuana and, in fact, thought it was essentially being used as a ladder to recreational use of the drug. But he said he became convinced that research on the issue was intentionally skewed negative, and he spoke to enough people who swear by it.

“The idea that it could work for people, and sometimes is the only thing than can work for people, should give it the respect that it deserves,” he said in an interview. Still, reporters generally tell stories and don’t become advocates the way Gupta has by writing to Sessions.

“I don’t see it, first of all, as a step into advocacy,” he said. “As a journalist, one of the things that we’re obligated to do is speak truth to power and this is a good example of that.” The opioid epidemic lends urgency to the issue, he said.

The special quotes Sessions in a public appearance saying “how stupid is that” to the opinion that medical marijuana could be used to stem heroin addiction. Gupta said the marijuana use needs to be carefully regulated and tested to determine the correct dosages. In his letter to Sessions, Gupta said that if researchers started from scratch to design a medicine to help turn around the opioid epidemic, it would likely look like cannabis.

He said he’s not morally opposed to recreational use of marijuana, which is legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. But he said he didn’t want to confuse the two issues. “People comingle the two issues and I think it’s really hurt the medical marijuana movement,” he said.

“Making medicinal marijuana available should come with certain obligations and mandates, just as with any other medicine. It should be regulated to ensure its safety, free of contamination and consistent in dosing. It should be kept out of the hands of children, pregnant women and those who are at risk for worse side effects. Any responsible person wants to make sure this is a medicine that helps people, not harms,” Dr. Gupta stated.

Project to Transform Cold Storage in India by Duke University Team vying for Hult Prize

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Education, Finance/Economy, India, Science & Technology 0

The mPower student team at Duke University led by Indian Americans Saheel Chodavadia and Harshvardhan Sanghi has advanced to compete for the $1 million Hult Prize with their project that aims to address cold storage in India.

Hult Prize, a global competition, advertises itself as “a benchmark program for social entrepreneurs.” Each year, aspiring social entrepreneurs at Duke get the chance to participate by first competing in Hult Prize @ Duke, which is co-hosted by the Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative and the NET Impact Club at The Fuqua School of Business.

Hult Prize hopefuls are given a different challenge each year, and they must create a social enterprise addressing the challenge. This year, teams were tasked with harnessing the power of energy to transform the lives of 10 million people by 2025. There’s a lot at stake: The final prize is $1 million to fund the winning social venture.

At Duke, five teams were chosen from the semi-finals round to advance to the finals round, held on a recent evening at Fuqua. After each team completed a six-minute pitch and a round of questioning from the judges, a winner was announced.

That winner was mPower, a team of four sophomores that aims to fill India’s shortage of agricultural cold storage solutions by offering a novel product and distribution network that compensates farmers and simplifies the supply chain.

The team, also comprising Sherry Feng and Jason Wang, initially won the university competition and pitched the idea of their business in Mexico City at the regional competition, winning there to advance to the final in London. By winning the regional, the team will take part in an eight-week summer start-up accelerator alongside 50 other teams at Ashridge Castle in London.

Traditionally, Indian farmers must sell their produce to middle men for a much lower price than its actual market value — around 25 percent lower, by some estimates, a Duke University report said.

mPower plans to change this by purchasing produce directly from farmers, storing the produce with its cold storage technology, and distributing it to markets, it said. This can create new jobs and empower existing communities, the team explained during its pitch, the report added.

The team’s cold storage technology is a custom solar-powered modular refrigeration unit. Their units’ design focuses on passive cooling, reducing energy consumption and differentiating their product from others on the market, the university said.

mPower was especially equipped to answer this year’s challenge on energy because of their involvement in the energy space at Duke. Sanghi and Wang both live in the Duke Smart Home, and Sanghi regularly takes part in Duke University Energy Initiative programs, is a member of Duke’s Energy Club for undergraduates, and is working on energy access research through a Bass Connections project, the university said.

Sanghi, who is from India, and Chodavadia, who has family living there, knew firsthand of energy access challenges and inefficient agricultural processes in that country. They decided to target this population with their Hult Prize project, it said.

“Energy access is broader than just giving people energy,” Sanghi said in the report, pointing out that their solution also addresses poverty and agriculture. “Energy affects all aspects of a person’s life.”

Team mPower’s approach has evolved throughout the course of the competition. After winning at Duke, they made adjustments to achieve greater scalability and a more impactful approach. They branched out from a traditional business model scalability and added the modular refrigeration strategy, the report said.

“Our network of mentors helped us flesh out minute details within our business model, clarify logistics, and improve the viability of our proposed technology,” Sanghi added. The experience of competing at regionals was also instructive, the report noted.

“At regionals, we were exposed to different perspectives and made friends from 17 other countries who were gathered to solve similar challenges and make an impact on the world,” said Chodavadia. “It was also extremely encouraging to hear from the CEO of Hult Prize, Ahmad Ashkar, that our idea could be the next big thing,” he added.

The team, according to the report, is eagerly anticipating the accelerator program, where global experts will lead them through an eight-week MBA course covering topics like risk assessment, partnerships, marketing, sustainability and launch strategy. After this accelerator, the top six teams are invited to pitch at the United Nations for the chance to win $1 million.

Sikh Day Parade held in New York City

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

The heart of the Big Apple, at the intersection of Madison Avenue and 38th Street in New York City, turned orange, yellow and dark blue when hundreds of Sikhs accompanied by members of the New York City Police Department, gathered to start the 31st annual Sikh Day Parade in New York City on Saturday, April 28, 2018.

The annual Sikh Day Parade in New York City brings together thousands of Sikhs from the city and surrounding areas for a parade and festival in the heart of Manhattan.

he annual Sikh Day Parade draws Sikhs from throughout the New York City area and usually falls near Vaisakhi, a day that marks when the tenth Sikh guru created the Khalsa Panth, or the community of initiated Sikhs, according to the Sikh Coalition’s website. The day is marked by performing service and providing free meals to all visitors in Sikh houses of worship, according to the Coalition.

Walking down a mapped route, performing martial arts, or atop floats, celebrating Vaisakhi, and the founding of the religion, Sikhs strove to raise the visibility of this religious minority of Indian-Americans which has borne the brunt of post-9/11 hate crimes and is considered among the least understood in the country.

The Parade was headed by a contingent of the NYPD officers on horseback, followed by Sikh police officers from the NYPD; after that came Sikh officers from the New York City Department of Corrections. They were followed by Sikh women and men barefoot, holding long brooms and cleaning the street for the float carrying the revered Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs; The ‘Punj Pyaras,’ first disciples of Guru Gobind Singh preceded the Guru Granth Sahib float.

The Guru Granth Sahib float decorated by the Sikh Cultural Society of Richmond Hill, Queens, NY gurdwara, at the 31st Sikh Day Parade in Manhattan. (Photo, courtesy Harpreet Singh)

According to organizers from the Sikh Cultural Society of Richmond Hill, Queens gurdwara, which initiated the program, there were tens of thousands of people who participated as well as lined the streets to witness the color and pageantry.

“We still have to confirm attendance from the cops, but it looks like the crowd was in the range of 50,000,” Harpreet Singh, chairman of public policy and external affairs for the Sikh Cultural Society, told Desi Talk. He also said numerous big and small media covered the event according to feedback he has received from around the country, including from New York Daily News to Sacramento Bee, and major television channels.

This year, Sikhs had more to celebrate. Their political representation and visibility in the Tri-state area has increased exponentially with the election of the Mayor of Hoboken, N.J., Ravinder Bhalla, and the appointment of Attorney General of New Jersey Gurbir Grewal. Bhalla is the first Sikh to be elected Mayor in Hoboken, and Grewal is the first person of the Sikh faith in U.S. history to be appointed Attorney General of a state.

The lively dances, bhangra or gidda, were noticeably absent. “I would have liked Bhangra and Gidda to be included in the festivities so that we could more successfully portray who we are,” Harpreet Singh told Desi Talk, adding, “That was how it was since we started the parade more than three decades ago.” He did not elaborate further on the reason for the absence.

Speeches were delivered by several leaders, including NYPD Police Commissioner O’Neill, NYPD Commissioner of Community Affairs Nilda Hofmann, as well as Indian-American leaders Mayor Bhalla and Attorney General Grewal.

Some 25-30 gurdwaras from around the Tri-state area were part of the parade, Harpreet Singh said. The 9 floats included those of Guru Granth Sahib, Amritsar’s Golden Temple, Guru Nanak, and Guru Gobind Singh.

The Parade caps numerous events through the month of April in New York City and surrounding areas, as well as around the country, to celebrate Vaisakhi and the founding of the religion by Guru Gobind Singh, and to reach out to the general public. The colorful nature of the Parade, can be partly explained by the call that went out from the Sikh Cultural Society days before the event, on Facebook, saying , “Are you ready? Sikh Day Parade on Saturday, April 28th, 2018. Wear Kesri Color Turban/Dupatta & Dress.”

Smriti Subs crowned ‘World Swimsuit Model of the Week’

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment, India 0

Indian model Smriti Subs has become the first Indian to win the title of ‘World Swimsuit Model of the Week’, according to a press release. This svelte model from Bangalore was chosen as the winner of an online talent hunt platform, sponsored by gaming major Supabets.

After ruling the ramps both nationally and internationally, the biotech engineer now has another achievement to her credit. She is the only Indian to be crowned World Swimsuit Model of the Week, an online talent hunt platform sponsored by gaming major Supabets, the Daily News & Analysis reports.

Her sharp chiseled features, long lean body and brown eyes, distinguishes Subs from the rest, DNA says. She has been featured in the October 2017 issue of the Lifestyle Journalist magazine, as well as in Vogue and Elle India.

After being selected as one of the finalists at the prestigious Femina Style Diva 2015, Subs has modeled for leading fashion events in India and for several leading designers.

A brand ambassador of Bling Vine Jewelry, she was one of the faces of Araaish 2018 – a multimedia campaign that straddled platforms. There’s no doubt that this aspiring actress, who loves meeting new people, will make a name for herself in both modeling and acting.

“Emerging as ‘World Swimsuit Model of the Week’ in the face of intense international competition is a huge accomplishment,” Subs said in a statement. “I am looking forward to winning the grand finale of World Swimsuit 2018 by Supabets as it will open doors for me with respect to several international assignments and opportunities.”

Subs went on to share that she has been blessed with a lean body but to ensure she stays fit and in shape, she exercises regularly and plays various sports.

Her bigger aim, she said, is to “show the world that Indian swimsuit models have the discipline, commitment and professionalism to make it big on the global stage.” She has modeled for all the leading fashion weeks in India, including Lakme Fashion Week, Amazon India Fashion Week, India Beach Fashion Week, etc.

“Yadvi – The Dignified Princess,” to return to NYC in June

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

“Yadvi – The Dignified Princess,” the story of a real-life Indian princess, will be screened in New York City’s Cinema Village for the week June 1-7, producers of the movie announced here. India’s Consul General in New York Sandeep Chakravorty will be the chief guest at the first day of screening, according to a press release. Prior to arriving in New York, the film will screen for a week in Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills, CA, from May 25-31.

How does a real life princess raised in one of the wealthiest families of the world end up losing all such privileges in her middle age? How does she become forced to pick her own food and collect her own wood for the winters? In 1940’s India, before even a hint of feministic equality, how does a woman not only uphold her own dignity but also raise three refined daughters in the face of unexpected adversity? The pure personification of integrity, Yadvi, will take you on her journey through the India of Kings and Queens, of Princes and polygamy.

Directed by New York Based Actress Jyoti Singh with a script based on a real life story/Screenplay of Yaduvansh Kumari, the princess of Patiala, dramatized by Gauri Singh, addresses the dilemmas and constraints that existed in the period right before and after Indian independence. The director and the screenwriter are both granddaughters of the late princess.

A biography, this film is the tale of Princess Yadhuvanshi Kumari (1922-2006) of the Phulkian dynasty, daughter of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala.

According to the British records, she was called Princess Alice and was also known as Yadvi. But her father would fondly call her Flutterfly because as a young girl, she could not pronounce butterfly.

Yadvi is the tale of the beloved daughter of the famous Maharaja of Patiala, the first to own an airplane in India, played by Bollywood actor, Chandrachur Singh. Chandrachur’s son debut’s as a child artist and the actor sings one of the songs of the film, “Rangreeza.”

At a young age, Yadvi is betrothed to marry a Rajput prince from Maihar, Madya Pradesh, to strengthen the political relationship between her kingdom and that of the prince with the caveat and she would only move after a certain age. Unexpected circumstances force Yadvi (Jyoti Singh) to move to Maihar earlier than anticipated, and she faces unforeseen challenges when she meets Prince of Maihar (Rahul Godara).

“It’s a very positive story about my grandmother – of a woman’s journey, a survivor,” Singh told Desi Talk in an earlier interview when the film was featured at the Manhattan Film Festival April 23, last year.. “Ultimately it shows how she even did kheti (farm labor) to earn her living, with dignity, never going back to her father’s house, living her life with humility and grace as she went from extreme riches to poverty,” Singh said.

The film also stars Vibhu Raghav, Nikkitasha Marwaha, Reshaa Sabharwal, Kuvam Handa, Yadvi Handa, Aishwarya Singh, Bernadine Linus, Namya Saxena, Minnie Mandit, Charu Vyas, Gauri Singh, Mariane Borgo (French Actress), and Dina Rosenmeir (Actress from Denmark).

The film is produced under the banner of RVP Productions, executive producer, Sumeet Verma. It is rare to see an independent film made so well.

The film has been screened in several festivals and won awards, including the Dada Saheb Phalke film festival (Best Emerging Female Director); The Peoples Film Festival (Best Cinematography-Jigme Tensing), and a host of others, where different characters as well as film-makers including Jyoti Singh, have received recognition for their work and creativity.

Silicon Valley Startup Introduces Slate of International Crossover Films at Cannes

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

(San Jose, California – May 3, 2018) Invar Studios, a film startup venture with offices in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Chennai, India, is bringing its award-winning Virtual Reality (VR) experience ROSE COLORED to screen at the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival next week. The multi-platform studio creates content that focuses on globally-relevant, inclusive stories that celebrate cultural diversity and authenticity through redemptive themes like LION and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, projects that have Indian roots and international appeal.

ROSE COLORED, the 2018 Lumiere Award Winner for Best Live Action VR film, is director Adam Cosco’s 16-minute narrative short about a woman who discovers her “perfect” boyfriend is being altered in her augmented perception. The film will screen at Cannes on May 9th, 10th and 11th, 12th, and 13th at the NEXT VR Series at Palais De Festivals. NEXT is the innovation hub of Cannes, offering more than 1,200 square meters to showcase innovation, new technology, virtual/augmented reality and more. ROSE COLOREDexhibited as the pilot for an ambitious, longer form VR series in the futuristic, sci-fi style of hit Netflix series BLACK MIRROR, but more optimistic and character-based.

“Virtual Reality represents the ultimate challenge for creative professionals,” said Invar Studios CEO Elizabeth Koshy. “With this project, we took a risk by executing every element at the highest possible level because we believe that innovation to move this emerging industry forward brings the highest possible reward our company can pursue.”

In addition to sharing their VR film with the world, Invar Studios will also unveil its feature film development slate, which establishes a new vision for what ‘international crossover’ can mean. Koshy will speak on a panel organized by the Indian delegation called Co-Creating magic through Co-Production on May 9th at the India Pavilion.

The INVAR business model seeks to capitalize on all potential crossover between hemispheres, such as producing films with Indian subject matter and international flair, bringing the massive Indian market within reach of U.S. film/television streaming trends and developing collaborations between Indian and Hollywood talent.

Their first feature film, currently in post-production, is an art house drama from the most awarded cinematographer in India, Santosh Sivan, and tells the tragic story of a holy man in the ancient world who slips towards evil. A highly visual experience, SIN, will bring audiences a unique cinematic style, one that will easily translate across all borders.

Other projects in development include: COWBOYS AND INDIANS, in pre-production and to be directed by Amy Redford. The story follows an Indian woman shocked to find her daughter marrying a Texas rancher, but soon she finds unexpected solace in the new mother-in-law, both suffering silently through similar struggles. It is a heartfelt drama with strong comedy that prioritizes authenticity in its representations of both cultures, as both character and audience experiences transcend stereotypes.

Invar Studios’ slate also includes: Animated feature BOMBAY DOGS, an adventure of a pampered dog lost in a vivid and enchanting Bombay who teams up with a daring leader of street dogs; mystery thriller PRAANA (currently seeking distribution); DEAN AND JOJO, the beloved true story of a human and animal friendship; the psychological thriller CHASING NIGHTMARES; and MARJANA, a version of “Alibaba and the Forty Thieves” told from the perspective of its real hero, the slave girl who saves the day, and written by acclaimed British writer Farrukh Dhondy.

Renowned Getty Museum exhibiting paintings of Hindu gods

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is showcasing images of various Hindu deities in its “Pathways to Paradise” exhibition, which will continue till August five. It includes “Krishna Uprooting the Parijata Tree” (1525-50) and “The Goddess Shri (Lakshmi)” (about 1475)—both watercolor paintings; and “Pendant with Narasimha” (9th-10th century).

Welcoming the J. Paul Getty Museum for exhibiting artifacts showcasing Hindu deities, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that art had a long and rich tradition in Hinduism and ancient Sanskrit literature talked about religious paintings of deities on wood or cloth.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged other major art museums of the world, including Musee du Louvre and Musee d’Orsay of Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Uffizi Gallery of Florence (Italy), Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Modern of London, Prado Museum of Madrid, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, etc., to frequently organize Hindu art focused exhibitions, thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world.

The J. Paul Getty Museum houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally. Timothy Potts is the Director. “Pathways to Paradise” was curated by Bryan C. Keene. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about 1.1 billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.

Hindu influence tips India’s scales of justice BJP accused of using the judiciary for its own political purposes after a string of suspicious court acquittals.

May 8, 2018 Staff ReporterIndia, Politics 0

For the first time since the British left and India became a free country, its judicial system is being questioned, with opposition and civil society groups accusing the pro-Hindu ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using the judiciary for its own political purposes.

On April 21, seven opposition parties led by Congress met Vice-President Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu and handed him a notice to impeach Chief Justice Dipak Misra, accusing him of misbehavior and abuse of authority.

“We have mentioned in our notice how the chief justice is choosing to send sensitive matters to particular benches by misusing his authority as master of the roster with the likely intent to influence the outcome,” Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters in New Delhi.

Rights activist Ravi Nair says the judiciary is facing a serious threat. “Never in the past has it been tested on its loyalty to the Indian constitution and its adherence to due process of law as it is being done now,” said the executive director of the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre.

Rights groups and opposition politicians claim the ruling BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, influences courts for favorable judgments in cases where BJP members and Hindu groups are accused.

Nair said in several cases where Hindus were accused of cow-related lynchings of Muslims “courts have failed to prosecute the killers speedily.”

Violence linked with cows, a revered animal in Hinduism, has claimed at least 25 lives since 2010, and 21 of them were Muslims, according to a recent report by IndiaSpend, a data website. Most were based on rumors of them transporting or storing beef.

Judges trigger crisis

The crisis in the judiciary intensified in January when four senior Supreme Court judges went public to accuse the chief justice of partisan conduct.

The immediate trigger for the rebellion was a case related to the death of B.H. Loya, a Mumbai-based judge who reportedly died of a heart attack in 2

India, US are natural allies: Ambassador Richard Verma Pitches for UNSC membership for India

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy, India, U.S. 0

The United States and India are natural allies and the two countries need to take full potential of the relation by further expanding economic and military cooperation, former US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said Ambassador Richard Verma, while delivering the 3rd New India Lecture at Consulate General of India in New York on April 23, 2018. Ambassador Verma spoke on “US- India: Natural Allies-Absent the Alliance.”

Verma emphasized that there is need for an international system that reflects India’s role in the world today. He lamented that India is not on the UN Security Council, is not a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and doesn’t play the kind of role that it probably should on the G-20 bloc of nations or in other international Institutions.
“The US needs to pave the way forward for India so that it actually has the seat at the table in this century, a seat that is appropriate for a country of the size and stature of India. We have to be working very hard for that,” he said.

While commenting on Pakistan, the US has made it clear to Pakistani leaders that their “continuing support and facilitation” of terror groups along the border to create a “perpetual state of conflict” with India is “not sustainable”, former American Ambassador to India Richard Verma has said. He stressed that the US can’t lose the connections to all the people and moderate voices in Pakistan that want peace with India and a better future for their children.

During the course of the lecture, he walked the audience through the history, present and future of US-India relationship. Verma, who is currently the Vice Chairman and Partner of The Asia Group, said that both countries should engage each other amidst the “Make in India” and “America First” rhetoric.

P Vaidyanathan Iyer, a Edward Mason Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and a journalist with The Indian Express, moderated the lecture. Iyer said Verma was “brilliant in summing up 71 years of India-US ties in two minutes. A rapid fast forward till 2018!”

Rohit Chopra confirmed by US Senate as FTC Commissioner

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterProfiles 0

The United States Senate voted unanimously on April 26 to confirm five nominees, including Indian American Rohit Chopra, to the Federal Trade Commission, bringing the agency back to full capacity as it conducts a high-profile investigation of Facebook’s data practices, Politico reported.

The other confirmed members are Republicans Noah Phillips, chief counsel for Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Delta Air Lines executive Christine Wilson; along with Democrats Chopra, a consumer advocate, and Rebecca Slaughter, an aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The FTC members will take over the agency’s investigation of Facebook, which follows revelations that the social media giant allowed Trump-linked Cambridge Analytica to improperly obtain data on tens of millions of the social network’s users.

The FTC works with the U.S. Justice Department to enforce antitrust law and investigates companies accused of deceptive advertising.

Chopra is a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America. His work there has focused on consumer protection issues facing young people and military families. He is widely regarded for his expertise in the student loan market. (See earlier India-West story here.)

He previously served as assistant director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he oversaw the agency’s work on behalf of students and young consumers. He was also named by the Secretary of the Treasury to serve as the CFPB’s Student Loan Ombudsman.

Chopra later served as Special Adviser to the Secretary of Education to seek enhancements to student loan servicing and to develop stronger consumer protection standards.

Nikki Haley most popular member of Trump national security team

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

American voters of different partisan stripes don’t agree on much nowadays, but they can agree on this: most of them approve of US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, CNN reported last week.

President Donald Trump’s choice of an Indian-American as ambassador to the United Nations may have been his best decision yet as it relates to his national security team. According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, results of which were announced April 25, Haley scores way above the other members of Trump’s cabinet, for her work as the international envoy at the world body.

A broad 63% of American voters approve of her job performance vs. only 17% who say they disapprove in a new Quinnipiac University poll. Twenty percent had no opinion. Her approval spans party lines: 75% of Republicans, 63% of independents and even 55% of Democrats say they approve of how she’s handling her job.

Her support among Democrats is virtually identical to the share of Democrats who approve of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (56%) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (55%) in the same poll.

From April 20 – 24, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,193 voters nationwide, with a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points, including the design effect. Live interviewers called landlines and cell phones to determine opinions, the press release said.

In other results of the poll, American voters approve 52 – 42 percent of the way President Donald Trump is handling the nation’s policy toward North Korea, and support 61 – 30 percent the military action against Syria after the alleged use of chemical weapons.
As for the work of Congress, American voters disapproved of both parties’ accomplishments — 69 disapproval to 22 percent of the job Republicans in Congress are doing and 66 – 26 percent of the job Democrats in were doing.

Dr. Nana Banerjee appointed as President, CEO of McGraw-Hill Education

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterEducation 0

Dr. Nana Banerjee has been appointed as president and chief executive officer of McGraw-Hill Education. Dr. Banerjee, 47, will be based in New York and succeeds Lloyd G. “Buzz” Waterhouse, who became interim president and CEO in October of 2017 having previously served as president and CEO from June 2012 through April 2014.

“After a thoughtful and thorough search, we chose Nana for his outstanding leadership and stellar management skills. Nana’s deep knowledge of analytics and artificial intelligence, his lifelong passion for education and his demonstrated ability to deliver value for global employees, customers and investors will be instrumental in growing our businesses. He will continue our journey as a learning science company focused on helping students achieve better outcomes,” Larry Berg, senior partner with Apollo Global Management and chairman of the Board of McGraw-Hill Education, said in a press release.

Prior to his appointment Dr. Banerjee was the group president of Verisk Analytics where he had a proven track record of driving global growth and exceptional performance in both public and private companies.

“Nana is a great choice to lead McGraw-Hill Education. His strengths dovetail with exactly what we need as we look ahead – a seasoned leader who understands the critical role that data and technology can play in education. As a learning science company, we are at the forefront of innovation in K-20 and professional education, and Nana’s extensive experience will be invaluable in deepening our relationships with educators,” Waterhouse said in a press release

Dr. Banerjee has also served as the head of Citibank’s credit card business in the United Kingdom as well as the vice president of marketing at GE Capital. He began his career forecasting housing starts at The McGraw-Hill Companies’ FW Dodge unit.

Dr. Banerjee has a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the State University of New York; a master of science degree in mathematics from the Indian Institutes of Technology, Delhi; and a bachelor of science degree with honors in mathematics from St. Stephens College, Delhi.

“I am honored and excited to be a part of McGraw-Hill Education. This iconic brand is founded on the reputation of its people, its content, and its tools, as the finest in the industry. I am looking forward to teaming up with our colleagues and fulfilling the promise of our vision to unlock the full potential of each learner with enhanced access and better quality learning solutions, enabled with scaled technologies and advanced analytics,” Dr. Banerjee said.

Mona Das enters race to unseat Republican in Washington State Senate

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

Mona Das, an Indian American mortgage broker, announced on April 17 that she is running for a seat in the Washington state Senate, aiming to unset a moderate Republican.

Mona Das, a Democrat, said that she is running in the state’s 47th Legislative District, to unseat incumbent Sen. Joe Fain. In an interview April 16 with The Seattle Times, Das said she dropped her Congressional bid earlier this year after facing steep odds in a crowded primary field. But during that campaign, people suggested she consider running against Fain, she said.

Mona Das is a small business owner who has seen the effects of unaffordable housing firsthand. She is joining thousands of others across America who are responding to the call to serve their communities by running for public office.

“I am honored and excited to be running for State Senate as a Democrat. Sitting on the sidelines is no longer an option. It’s time we come together to chart a course for our future that is powerful and inclusive,” Das stated.

Das accused her opponent of voting for big property tax increases, and voted against legislation that would bring taxes down. “As a small business owner who works with families buying their first home, I have seen first-hand how big property tax increases are distressing many in our communities, even as our schools struggle to make ends meet,” said Das on her campaign Web site electmona.com.

“We can make this economy work better and make government work better for families. We can do more to create jobs, ease traffic congestion and make housing affordable,” said the Bihar native, who emigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was just eight months old.

In an interview with India-West last September, Das said she woke up Nov. 9, 2016, feeling a great deal of despair. It was the morning after a hugely unexpected presidential win by Donald Trump.

“I knew immediately that everything that was important to me and my community was under attack,” she said, noting that she was inspired to run for political office by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, the first Indian American woman elected to the House.

“So many of our voices are not being represented; our votes are being under-represented,” said Das, adding: “When I saw Pramila’s poster, I thought: ‘it has taken this long for people who look like us to be represented at the national level.’”

The founder of Moxy Mortgage attended the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University in 2015, which sparked her dreams of running for elected office.

Das is endorsed by King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht. “No matter how tough times had been, the residents of this region are filled with hope that positive change is possible and that our elected leaders can hold themselves to a higher standard, said Johanknecht in a press statement.

“That they can truly represent us, and listen to us, and bring our ideas and challenges and yes, our hope, to the tables where decisions are made,” said Johanknecht. “I firmly believe that Mona Das has what it takes to deliver on that hope.”

Democrats currently have a one-seat edge in the Senate and a two-seat majority in the state House. Das and other Democrats are hoping for a national electoral wave that could extend down to local races to solidify their control of the Legislature, reported The Seattle Times.

Das serves on several boards that promote women entrepreneurship. She also serves on the board of Social Ignition, which promotes entrepreneurship for former inmates.

Dia Mirza ows at Environment Summit in San Francisco

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterEnvironment 0

Actress-activist Dia Mirza, the UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador for India, flew to San Francisco earlier this week to participate in an all-women panel discussion on the environment at the Steve Jobs Theatre.

Mirza brainstormed on stage with three distinguished women — Vien Troung (CEO of Green For All Organization), Alexandra Cousteau (globally recognised for her work on water-related issues) and Lisa Jackson (Apple’s Vice President of Environment, Policy and Social Initiative).

Mirza said: “Thankfully, my world is expanding and I am getting to do, meet and be a part of incredible change. On Friday (April 27), I was in San Francisco participating in an all-women panel environmental discussion at the Steve Jobs Theatre. It was an immensely rewarding experience.”

Back home, Dia Mirza who was formerly a beauty pageant winner is distressed by Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s comments on beauty queens.

“What can one say of a man who claims Internet existed in ancient India? He seems to have a resource of information that the rest of us are not privy to,” she sighed.

Deb had reportedly said in Agartala that international beauty contests were a farce as the results were all predetermined. He also said he failed to understand the “process of judgement” of the crowning of the Miss World contest in 1997, in which Diana Hayden was crowned. Earlier, Deb was widely trolled for saying that Internet existed during Mahabharata era.

Infosys to create 3,000 jobs in Indianapolis

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterBusiness, Community, Finance/Economy, Science & Technology 0

While the Trump and his administration has been anti-immigrants, falsely accusing them of taking away the jobs in the United States, in yet another example of how immaigrants build and create jobs here in the US, the India-based Infosys, a consulting, technology and next-generation services firm, has announced the launching of a technology and innovation hub in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 26, declaring that it plans to establish a U.S. education center in the city as well as expand its hiring by 1,000 more jobs.

According to reports, Infosys has reached a deal to build a technology hub at the former Indianapolis International Airport terminal site, according to sources familiar with the plan. The development will include more than 120 acres and is expected to result in 3,000 new jobs — 1,000 more than previously announced. The Indianapolis Airport Authority, the city and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. reached terms on an agreement with the India-based technology company last week.

The center intends to train American workers and arm them with skills for the digital future. Additionally, the firm said in a news release it has expanded its hiring plans for the state from 2,000 to 3,000 new jobs by the end of 2023.

Infosys will provide an initial investment of $35 million to create the first 125,000 sq. ft. of development to transform the 70.5-acre site at the old Indianapolis airport terminal into its U.S. Education Center. Infosys will break ground on this initial phase before the end of 2018 and anticipates its completion by the end of 2020, it said.

The initial phase will comprise of a training center and will accommodate a 250-person residential facility. The center will also serve as a hub for development of next-generation digital technologies, according to the news release.

“We are excited to partner with Indiana to grow our U.S. presence by building our U.S. Education Center here, which is dedicated to continuous learning and incubating the skills of the future,” said Infosys president Ravi Kumar in a statement.

“At Infosys, we have always invested in advanced technology and skills and bring deep experience from running the largest corporate training facility in the world. Our new Indianapolis facility will prepare our American employees-and those of our clients-to master the kinds of advanced skills that are now required to succeed in our digital future,” Kumar said.

The state and Indianapolis are offering up to $101.8 million in incentives for the project, according to an IndyStar report. Infosys ultimately plans to build the $245 million, 141-acre campus in phases over several years, the report said.

Specifically, the state will offer Infosys up to $56.5 million in conditional tax credits and up to $1.5 million in training grants based on the company’s job-creation plans. The state also will offer up to $6 million in conditional tax credits for the company’s capital investment plans, the report noted.

Indianapolis is contributing $17.8 million in infrastructure improvements and real estate. The state is contributing an additional $20 million for infrastructure improvements, the publication said. The project far exceeds Infosys’ previous plans, both in real estate ambition and hiring, IndyStar added.

The company’s grander plan attracted the attention of Vice President Mike Pence, who changed his schedule to appear at the whirlwind announcement that came together so quickly it caught some state and city officials off guard. Mayor Joe Hogsett also attended the announcement, which culminates a year of negotiations with Infosys, the report said.

Infosys’ initial plan already stood as the second-largest jobs announcement in Indiana, after Honda’s decision more than a decade ago to build a $578 million plant in Greensburg and hire 2,064 workers, it added.

Infosys’ vision for the finished site includes regeneration of the area to feature walkways, green spaces and recreational facilities, the news release added.

Using best practices from Infosys’ Global Education Center in Mysore, India, and partnerships with academia and education providers, the initial training programs at the U.S. Education Center will combine classroom-based and immersive, real-world learning focused on key competencies such as user experience, cloud, big data and core technology and computer science skills, it said.

“Today’s announcement with Infosys is a big win-not just for Indiana but for the nation as a whole, which is why I’m glad Vice President Pence was able to join us,” Indiana Gov. Eric J. Holcomb said in a statement.

“Infosys’ state-of-the-art training facility will teach thousands of folks across America right here on Indiana soil. And, it will help prepare more current and future Hoosiers for success in our rapidly evolving, global economy,” he added.

This announcement is part of Infosys’ commitment to hire 10,000 American workers over the next two years and invest in training to ensure that the U.S. workforce has the essential skills required for the digital economy, the company said.

Vigils continue across US denouncing the rapes in India Contributed By Indian American Muslim Council

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Hundreds of Indian Americans came together in cities across United States for candlelight vigils and demonstrations demanding fair and speedy trials of the accused in the now infamous Kathua and Unnao rape cases. Vigils were held over the weekend in San Jose (CA), San Diego (CA), and Ft. Lauderdale (FL), with hundreds of Indian Americans showing an outpouring of support for the rape victims. The vigils were marked with chants of “Justice for Asifa”, “Justice for Unnao”, and railed the Indian government’s failure to properly investigate the cases for several months after the crimes. In the previous weeks, similar vigils where held in several other cities including Washington D.C., New York (NY), New Jersey, Baltimore (MD), Boston (MA), Seattle (WA), Raleigh (NC) and Minneapolis (MN).

Earlier this year, Asifa, an eight-year old girl was abducted in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir state, imprisoned for a week in a temple, where she was starved, drugged and gang raped repeatedly before being murdered. According to the police charge sheet of those arrested, the rape and subsequent murder was planned and executed in order to terrorize the Bakarwal Muslim community and drive them out of the area. The attempts to file a charge sheet against the accused at a local court was repeatedly blocked and followed by violent protests in their defense by extremist groups aligned with the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Two BJP ministers who attended the protests urged the crowd to obstruct the prosecution of the accused. In yet another incident from Unnao, a powerful BJP lawmaker in the Uttar Pradesh State Assembly, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, is accused of raping a teenage girl, obstructing justice, and then conspiring with his brother to kill the girl’s father after the family filed a police report.

“Words cannot do justice to the terror that the victims of these crimes have had to suffer. The preachers of Hindutva, who are feted not punished, are responsible for an epidemic of hate inspired brutal rapes and mob lynchings. Sometimes these crimes are justified on the pretext that the victims have consumed beef or slaughtered cows. Sometimes simply being a Muslim is enough to invite violence,” said Ahsan Khan, the President of Indian American Muslim Council and one of the organizers of yesterday’s candlelight vigil in San Jose (CA).

“In the four years of Prime Minister Modi’s rule, the intimidation of religious minorities and violence against them have reached levels that have not been witnessed in the history of independent India. In both Kathua and Unnao rape case, we demand speedy trials free of all political interference as well as thorough investigations into the role of extremist outfits like Hindu Ekta Manch in spreading hate and obstructing justice,” added Khan.

Indian American Muslim Council is the largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the United States with chapters across the nation. For more information, please visit our website at: http://iamc.com/

Shri Dwarkamai celebrates 12th Anniversary, Sai Samadhi centennial year

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

Shri Dwarkamai, a center of spiritual excellence, non-profit and tax-exempt organization under IRS code section 501(c) (3) of the USA, celebrated the 12th Anniversary of Shri Sai Palkhi Utsav, Sai Rainbow 2018 cultural event and Sai Samadhi centennial year celebrations on Saturday April 14th, 2018, between 5:00 pm to 10: 30 pm at Eisenhower Jr. High School, 800 Hassell Rd, Hoffman Estates, IL. The event was attended by hundreds of devotees from different walks of life, with their families and friends.

Dwarkamai Chicago Sai Palkhi started 12 years ago in Chicago land by Hari Prasad Valada and Sai Roopa Valada under guidance of Shri Anil Naik. Once in a year Shri Sai Palkhi is conducted during the weekend between Ugadi, Gudi Padava and Ram Navami. 2018 is 12th year of Sai Palkhi Utsav being celebrated in Chicago land area. Significance of Sai Palkhi is Devotees take Palkhi to all other devotee homes. Sai Palkhi is a procession by devotees, for devotees with devotion towards our lord Sadguru Sai. The purpose of Shri Sai Palkhi Utsav is to glorify God residing in every individual, foster the growth and spiritual development.

Event started with Sai Samadhi centennial year celebrations by worshipping the cow followed by cow feeding/bhojan, Brahmin Bhojan to 11 priests. All the family members of Shri Dwarkamai volunteers participated in celebrating Centenary year of Saibaba’s Samadhi. All men wore Dhoti, Palkhi-T-Shirt and Turban while women wore saree with Sai-Inside tag. Honorable Congressman Raja Krishnamurthy and Honorable Indian consul Birbal Anand were part of the evening.

After centennial year celebrations, Mahesh Voora as Master of ceremony welcomed everyone to Sai Rainbow cultural program 2018. Program started by the singing the Indian national Anthem and American National Anthem. “Jana Gana Mana” was performed by Anagha Voora and “Star Spangled Banner” was performed by Gauri and others. Honorable Indian consul Birbal Anand addressed the audience. Trivia questions asked by Mahesh Voora on mythology and significance & scientific reason behind hindu traditions are highlight of the event and got very good response from audience.

An impressive Cultural Programs started by a Story telling combined with singing on Lord Ganesha and Godess saraswati by Anagha Voora. Subsequently following equally spectacular performances followed in quick sequences as follows:

A Comtemporary Medley – Free style with Semi Classical on Lord Ganesha & patriotic songchoreographed by Rina Thakur – Rina Rockers. Semi classical dance praising the Lord Shiva as Nataraja for Nada vinodam song choreographed and performed by Susmitha gunreddy. Musical drama for Jiyo re Bahubali song choreographed by Rina Thakur – Rina Rockers. Bharatnatyam dance in praise of Lord Shiva for Shivashtakam choreographed by Vijaya Lakshami – Natraj Dance Academy. Performance for Gondhal, Marathi song on Goddess Durga choreographed by Sreelekha Sama. Dance performance for govind bolo song dedicated to lord Krishna choreographed by Sridevi Donthi. Bollywood fusion dance for Akar bakar bombay bo choreographed by Garima Singh- Team TAAL.

Indian fusion dance with 4 different dance forms – Bharatnatyam, Kathak, HipHop and Bollywood- Dedicated to Lord Krishna choreographed by Saloni Shah. Girl Power Medley dance for Aarambh hai prachand song choreographed by Rina Thakur- Rina Rockers. Lord Krishna dance based on the movie Bahubali for Kanna nidurinchara song choreographed and performed by Richita Donthi, Ipsa Bijumala, Nishka Bijumala. Bollywood Fusion dance for Nakhra tera ni choreographed by Garima Singh- Team TAAL. Bollywood Fusion for Main bani teri Radha song choreographed by Saloni Shah and Deepa Jani-Thakkar. Patriotic- an experimental choreography based on the grammar of Kuchipudi. This item is offered as a tribute to Mother India and praises her for her principles of equality, love and tolerance dance performance for Jayathi Jayathi Bhaaratha Maatha song choreographed by Janaki Nair-Aananda Dance Theater. Folk Dance for Ghoomar Ghoomar song choreographed by Rina Thakur, Rina Rockers. Curtain came down after dynamic grand finale for the patriotic song – I am India by Rina Rockers and all the devotees of Shri Dwarkamai.

Delicious Maha Prasad served after cultural event. Beautiful decoration by Akshata events. DJ and lighting by Dhiraj gupta of jsm-entertainment The Sai Palkhi Darshan and Procession took place which consisted of taking the Shri Sai Baba Palkhi (palanquin) with the picture of our Guru- Shri Shirdi Sai around the school gym area accompanied by singing of hymns, chanting, dancing and spiritual merriment in the form of a religious procession. The event concluded with the Aarti and the Sai Palkhi Darshan. So many volunteers dedicate their time and effort to make Sai Palkhi successful every year.

Shri Dwarkamai is dedicated to organizing events and conducting activities directed towards personal spiritual development of the community based on Shri Shirdi Sai philosophy. The operations include running Centers of Spiritual Excellence, lectures by Vedic scholars, health and wellness professionals, meditation sessions, yoga, kid’s enrichment activities and giving back to community.

North Korea’s Suspension of Missile Tests Should Lead to ‘Irreversible’ Commitment to Ban Nuclear Testing – UN-Backed Treaty Body From UN News – TRANSCEND Media Service

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

The world’s nuclear proliferation watchdog has welcomed the announcement by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to suspend its nuclear and missile tests and shut down its Punggye-ri atomic test site.

It added that the move should lead to a “sure, definite” and “irreversible” commitment to ban nuclear testing. “Saying is one thing, but until we have a signature and the ratification by the DPRK, to basically solidify the verbal commitment already to cease testing and close the nuclear test site, I think nothing can be for sure, definite, or irreversible,” Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the UN-partner Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), told the media at a news briefing in Geneva today. “I can only welcome and hope for best.”

He also highlighted that the upcoming talks between United States President Donald Trump and DPRK Kim Jong-Un could present a unique opportunity for a lasting contribution to world peace. “It might be through this negotiation […] that we open up a situation where the DPRK ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.”

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, or CTBT, bans all nuclear explosions, by everyone, everywhere. It has not yet entered into force despite having been opened for signature and ratification over 21 years ago.

Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996, the CTBT is nearly universal with 183 signatures and 166 ratifications. But 44 specific nuclear-capable nations need to ratify the Treaty before it enters into force. Of these, eight – China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, DPRK, Pakistan and the US – are still missing. The last country of the 44 to ratify this treaty was Indonesia, on 6 February, 2012.

Since the Treaty is not yet in force, the CTBTO is officially called the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.Go to Original – news.un.org

New Team assumes charge of GOPIO International for 2018-’19

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

In the last two years, GOPIO had organized conferences, public platforms on issues, community celebrations and social service and philanthropic activities. The Biennial Convention held in New York in June 2016 has become a corner stone for GOPIO to be more involved in business, technology, investment and philanthropic activities. GOPIO decided to initiate GOPIO International Chamber of Commerce (GICC) which was officially launched on January 10th, 2017 in Mumbai. In the last two years, GOPIO organized conventions in Paris, Bangalore in conjunction with Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and GOPIO Global Indian Business Summit in Durban South Africa.

With the last GOPIO team ending its term in Bahrain, a new team was elected by an online vote before the convention. Over 70% of the delegates participated in the election. The following persons were elected:

During the convention, Sunny Kulathakal, an Indian from the Middle East was sworn in as the Global President of the organization for the two-year term of 2018-2019. It is the first time in the history of three-decade old GOPIO that an Indian from a country outside the US & Europe was given this position. Kulathakal has been actively involved with GOPIO for more than a decade. He served the Organization as Middle East Co-Coordinator, Executive Vice President & Global Ambassador.

South Africa’s Ishwar Ramlutchman is the new Executive Vice-President while Ram Gadhavi from the US is new Vice President. Dubai-based journalist Issac John has taken on the mantle of GOPIO Global Ambassador. Dr. Thomas Abraham from the US will continue as Chairman. Others elected/appointed are Lal Motwani and Dr. Asha Samant as International Coordinators-at-Large, Mehen Poinoosawmy as International Coordinator for Europe, Jagdish Lodhia as International Coordinator for Oceania, Kurian Abraham as International Coordinator for South Asia, Rita Abraham as International Coordinator for South Africa, Johny Kuruvilla asInternational Coordinator for the Middle East, and Harbachan Singh as International Coordinator for North America.

The Executive Council Meeting also appointed the following persons: Executive Trustee of the Foundation – Inder Singh; Chairman of GOPIO International Chamber of Commerce – Niraj Baxi; Secretary (Admin) – Dr. Rajeev Mehta; Chairman Chapter Review Committee and Automation – Dinesh Mittal; Treasurer – Kewal Kanda; and, Associate Secretary – Jaswant Mody

GOPIO-CT organizes Wellness and Beyond, elects new Team to lead

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Education, Health 0

Since 2017, the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO)-Connecticut Chapter took a new initiative for health and wellness of the society at large. Recently, GOPIO CT hosted the second part of the Health & Wellness Seminar Series titled “Beyond Wellness” for the benefit of its members and communities – a sequence of continuing education on healthy living.

The speakers were Dr. Jaya Daptardar, Dr. Alka S. Popli and Yashasvi Jhangiani, who spoke about understanding of and appreciation for preventive medicine, routine screening, age appropriate immunization, and lifestyle modifications as the key to healthy living and aging. They incorporated their expertise in allopathy, homeopathy, and ayurvedic specialty in their highly informative discussion – it was gratefully appreciated! Dr. Daptadar said, “The goal of this health and wellness seminar series is to provide information of modern medicine, alternative and complementary health and wellness approaches to the community to pick up the least risky treatment menu with the most effective results.”

GOPIO CT president Anita and Health chair Dr. Jaya want to promote health and wellness series for the CT communities and it will be held in different cities.

“Our revered institutions are under severe threat; It is time to wake up”! George Abraham at the AICC Plenary session

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterIndia, Politics 0

“ Many of the Colonial Nations that gained independence from their Colonial masters faltered because they failed to build Institutions. However, India under the leadership Nehru, built institutions that provided security, safety, and justice for all its citizens” said George Abraham, Vice-Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress. He was addressing the All India Congress Committee Plenary session which was held in New Delhi in March 2018.

“Today, these revered Institutions are under growing threat, and it is time for us to wake up and deal with it. Freedom of Conscience is fundamental to all freedoms. It is innate and God-given; nobody has any right to trample it” he was alluding to the growing attacks on people of faith and other minorities in the country. “The NRI community is indeed concerned about these and other issues plaguing the country, and we will work together with AICC to coordinate our actions while working as goodwill ambassadors in the U.S. to help to forge stronger ties” added Mr. Abraham.

Abraham also thanked Soniaji for inaugurating the Overseas Congress in 2001 and applauded the appointment of Mr. Sam Pitroda as the Chairman of the newly created ‘Overseas Congress Department’ under AICC.

#Vaisakhi and Awareness Campaigns Reach Millions of Americans

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

The Sikh Coalition has announced that New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has conferred the state’s first-ever citation in recognition of April 2018 as Sikh Awareness & Appreciation Month. Through the Sikh Coalition’s engagement, the New York citation now joins the outstanding community-driven Sikh Awareness & Appreciation Month resolutions in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

“In New York, we know our diversity is our greatest strength, and Sikh Americans enrich our communities across the state,” said Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. “I extend my best wishes to the Sikh community during Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month.”

Additionally, 40+ bipartisan Congressional and Governors’ offices joined the Sikh Coalition to celebrate Vaisakhi by sharing social media posts on their platforms on April 14th, reaching a potential eight million Americans. These Sikh awareness initiatives join a Vaisakhi resolution introduced in the U.S. Senate and over 40 official Vaisakhi and Sikh awareness resolutions, proclamations, citations and events secured by Sikh leaders across the United States.

These additional recognitions include the following: Tucson, AZ; Union City, CA; Rock Island County, IL; Silvis, IL; Burlington, NJ; Fair Lawn, NJ; Franklin Park, NJ; Franklin, NJ; Glen Rock, NJ; Hamilton, NJ; Highland Park, NJ; Jersey City, NJ; Marlboro, NJ; Middlesex County, NJ; Monroe, NJ; Oakland, NJ; Robbinsville, NJ; Sayreville, NJ; Somerset County, NJ; Trenton, NJ; New York, NY; Houston, TX; Auburn, WA; Burien, WA; Kent, WA; Renton, WA; Tukwila, WA; King County, WA; and in the states of California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Pennsylvania. We acknowledge these and other communities that spread Sikh awareness this April.

“This public recognition demonstrates the power that we have as a community to raise Sikh awareness locally and nationally,” said Sim J, Singh, the Sikh Coalition’s National Advocacy Manager. “It’s inspiring to see so many Sikh community members working together to achieve this outcome as we continue our joint efforts to combat hate and educate the American public.”

The Sikh Coalition would like to thank the hundreds of Sikhs that worked to raise Sikh awareness this month as we continue our organizational work to educate the American public in a sustainable and cost effective way. Another marquee moment is coming this week when the groundbreaking episode of CNN’s United Shades of America, the first-ever hour-long cable episode focusing on the Sikh American community, airs this Sunday, May 6th at 10 pm ET/PT and 9 pm CT.

United Punjabis of America hosts a grand Vaisakhi Mela

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Culture/Religion 0

United Punjabis of America (UPA) celebrated Vaisakhi with a grand mela on Saturday, April 14 at the Sant Nirankari Mission in West Chicago, Illinois. The grey and drizzly day was brought to life by the vitality and energy of the mela.

Sharing the duties of the MC for the event, Om Dhingra and Pratibha Jairath welcomed the attendees and started the program with Lamp Lighting. The dignitaries and guests of honors invited for Lamp lighting included Vice Counsel RP Singh, Congressional candidate J Divankar, Congressional candidate Sean Casten, Grand sponsor Anil Loomba, Krishna Bansal of the Indo-American Business Council of Naperville, FIA founding president Sunil Shah, FIA current president Neil Khot and Mr. Anil Oroskar & Dr. Asha Oroskar, and Mr. Brij Sharma, chairman of UPA..

Shammi wahi and kumkum Kumar welcomed everyone at the Registration desk, while Girish Kapoor, Atul wahi , Vishal Dutt and all UPA team was thrilled to receive all the dignitaries and start the show. “Wow the colorful backdrop and flowers around the stage look great for Vaisakhi theme but stage looks even better with young dancers wearing zazzy outfits” exclaimed Rosey Bhasin.

The audience had a chance to see some amazing dance performances with children from various dance schools performing to Punjabi as well as Bollywood songs. The performers were apparently fired up to do their best in their age group category. The panel of judges included Ratna Kapoor, Shammi wahi, Kamal Man Arora and Yogesh Kamal. The winners in three different categories were from ‘Mayuri Rajesh’ School, ‘Rhythms & Grace’ school and the ‘Dwance’ school. DJ Sid was well organized with all the performance tracks and did an awesome job with sound as well.

“We are gratified to see performances representing not just Punjab but every part of India,” exclaimed Ramesh Malhan, UPA president, as a trio of young women performed a lavni dance, unique to the state of Maharashtra.

In addition to group dance items, there was a singing segment by Pratibha Jairath and Raju Bankapur that brought audience to floor with some new and old popular foot taping numbers. “Yes, Delar Mehndi songs still motivate people to come to floor’, said Madhu Uppal, a trustee of UPA.

Anil Loomba of Home Mortgage Solutions was received “UPA’s Distinguished Punjabi Entrepreneur Award” and Dr Surinder Nand received “UPA’s Distinguished Punjabi Community Service Award” for nearly four decades of service. Dr. Harjeet Singh unveiled his forthcoming book, “Smart Patient Smarter” and presented a copy to the UPA Chairman, Brij Sharma.

It was nice to hear few words from Congressman Raja Krishnamurthy who was able to attend the event in the later part of the afternoon. “This event, or any event of this size, would not take place were it not for the hard work of our executive team and the generous sponsorship of our sponsors like Anil Loomba of Home mortgage solutions, Amrit Mittal of NY Life, Sunil Shah of FIA, Anuja Gupta of Veranda, Luis Garcia of State farm, Jigar from Sai Saffron, Geetanjali and Abir Maru from Raag & Rock, Moin Haque group and many more” noted Dharam Punwani, a trustee of UPA.

Food stalls did brisk business throughout the afternoon as the attendees enjoyed traditional Punjabi foods like saag and makki roti and chana bhaturas, to be washed down with delicious lassi or chai. “I can’t wait for the next mela,” remarked a young woman as she shopped for the latest design in sarees on sale there.

USCIS begins USPS Signature Confirmation Restricted Delivery service to mail Green Cards

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterTravel 0

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that the agency will begin phasing in use of the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) Signature Confirmation Restricted Delivery service to mail Green Cards and other secure documents beginning April 30, 2018.

The first phase will affect documents that need to be re-mailed because they have been returned as non-deliverable. These documents include Permanent Resident Cards (also called Green Cards), Employment Authorization Cards, and Travel Booklets. Applicants who have changed mailing addresses during the course of the application process are more likely to have their secure documents sent with the new delivery method, which USCIS will expand to all secure documents in the future.

As part of the new delivery method, applicants must present identification to sign for their documents upon delivery. They also have the option to designate an agent to sign on their behalf by completing the Postal Service’s PS Form 3801, Standing Delivery Order (PDF) or PS Form 3801-A, Agreement by a Hotel, Apartment House, or the Like (PDF). Applicants can sign up for USPS Informed Delivery to receive delivery status notifications. Applicants will also have the option to arrange for pickup at a post office at a convenient date and time by going to the USPS website and selecting “hold for pickup.”

Signature Confirmation Restricted Delivery increases the security, integrity, and efficiency of document delivery. The Signature Confirmation Restricted Delivery process provides better tracking and accuracy of delivery information, improving service to applicants.

Information on how to track delivery of secure documents is available on the USCIS website. For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Tw

LEGENDS AT THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE FOR 102 NOT OUT “IN CONVERSATION” WITH AMITABH BACHCHAN AND RISHI KAPOOR

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Bollywood icons Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor took a trip down memory lane on Thursday evening as they took part in a very special event at Mumbai’s Royal Opera House. The stellar duo, who are the stars of Umesh Shukla’s upcoming film, 102 Not Out spent the evening interacting with the media, reliving infamous moments from their earlier movies together such as the dazzling 1977 film Amar Akbar Anthony, which won Bachchan the award for Best Actor, and the hilarious 1981 action comedy Naseeb.

Those lucky enough to be in attendance at the glorious Opera House were not left disappointed, as the actors continued to show why they have been so loved and admired for many years, sharing many heart-warming anecdotes that brought smiles on everyone’s faces.

102 Not Out will be the first film both legends have appeared in together for 27 years, and both actors were full of praise for one another with Bachchan describing working with Kapoor “a great honor”.

On a night full of beautiful nostalgia, the actors talked about the magic they have created on-screen, with the two being quizzed about each other’s acting skills with Kapoor saying that “has learnt a lot from [Amitabh] and his craft of acting” and he still continues to learn from him.

Both actors continued to make the audience laugh as time flew by. In light of the event, Rishi Kapoor tweeted about the event and shared a joke that Bachchan wanted to go and watch the cricket so ended the conversation early!

With 102 Not Out bursting with comedy and the toe-tapping song Badumbaa, the actors demonstrate their versatility and skills, which fits the plot of the film perfectly. Audiences will certainly not be disappointed!

A Sony Pictures Releasing International Presentation and worldwide distribution- 102 Not Out is Produced by SPE Films India, Treetop Entertainment and Umesh Shukla’s Benchmark Pictures. The film releases worldwide on 4th May 2018.

Official synopsis: 102 Not Out – is an ageless comedy that brings together Indian Cinema’s two biggest stalwarts – Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor after 27 years, with the two legends playing father-son duo for the first time.

102 years young Dattatraya Vakharia (Amitabh Bachchan) lives life to the fullest and wants to break the record of oldest living man- that’s held by a 118 years old Chinese. Dattatraya wants to live a stress free life in order to become the oldest living man. However, there is only one hinderance- his 75 year old son Babulal (Rishi Kapoor) who has resigned himself to a life of old age stuck in drudgery. Dattatraya now must find means and ways to change Babulal’s sad and grumpy demeanour so that he doesn’t become a deterrent in breaking the record. Little do they realise that this roller coaster ride filled with comedy, emotion and commotion, will change them and their relationship forever. High res video Clean – https://bit.ly/2HxYa81
Audio file – https://bit.ly/2r7WWW6

Hasan Minhaj chosen to get his 1st Peabody Award

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Peabody Awards announced the win on Twitter stating, “To @HasanMinhaj and @NetflixIsAJoke goes a #Peabody for ‘Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King,’ a 2017 standup special that uses comedy to invite empathy, caring, and understanding.” Minhaj responded by writing: “Unbelievable. We did it baby!!!” with an emoji of three hands folded.

Minhaj’s first standup special on Netflix has earned him a big honor. The Indian American actor/comedian has been declared the winner of a Peabody Award in the entertainment category for “Homecoming King.”

The annual awards from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia “honor the most powerful, enlightening and invigorating stories in television, radio and digital media.”

The senior correspondent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” shares personal stories about racism, immigrant parents, prom night horrors and more in this standup special.

Minhaj delivers much more than a hilarious stand-up comedy special, according to the Peabody Awards board of jurors. “‘Homecoming King’ is a deeply personal memoir — part Richard Pryor, part Spaulding Gray — that covers the struggles of the immigrant experience, encounters with stereotypes and raced expectations, and intergenerational acceptance, while using comedy to invite empathy, caring, and understanding,” they said.

The comic who killed it at the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., is readying to host his own 32-episode weekly comedy show on Netflix. This gig has made him the first Indian American to front a show on the streaming site (see India-West story here).

omic Hasan Minhaj of “The Daily Show” shares personal stories about racism, immigrant parents, prom night horrors and more in this stand-up special. Minhaj is also set to host the 77th Annual Peabody Awards Ceremony, which will be held May 19 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.

Mystic Mantra: Hope of the hopeless world

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterEditorial 0

The belief in Jesus’ resurrection actually changed that defeat, that darkness and hopelessness into a new Hope. We have been asked to double our prayers with deeper fervour for peace in the world”, announced the organiser during the social gathering of senior citizens of the church where I serve as priest last Friday. “There is a strange sort of disturbance in the world that needs addressing”, she added. Though she meant the likes of war in Syria where even children suffered due to poisonous gas, my thoughts inadvertently flew farther away from my current location in Austria, to Kathua, Surat, Indore and so on. The organiser having no idea whatsoever of the horrific incidents that shook the nation, causing widespread “disturbance” to the conscience of more than a billion people, was so right. Besides the endless questions that God fearing people raise, along with candle light marches for the ghastly incidents, there is also a strong sense of losing hope in the future — losing faith in human goodness that finds its origin in God’s benevolence.

Reflecting on such distressing situations Christian mystics and theologians contend that God too suffers and feels as much, if not more, helpless as we do. It is such incidents that throw some people out of balance leading them often to abandon their faith in God. “Where indeed is God in such earth-shattering inhuman events”, they ask. And would anyone blame them? Certainly not I! Until of course I am led to the incident that took place 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem with a man named Jesus.

Analysing that whole event from the biblical perspective, the Christian mystics believe that God too writhed in pain when He saw His own son crucified. With all His might and power, He did not intervene to save Jesus. He remained silent and seemingly ignored Jesus’ plea, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”? Completely abandoned by God and by his friends Jesus died a lonely death much like the children in our cruel world.

Suddenly then a new hope dawned as the doubts of the disciples began to slowly change into faith when they saw and

Dr. Babu Stephen, Ajay Ghosh among 7 honored with Excellence Award by NAMAM

May 2, 2018 Staff ReporterBusiness, Community, Education, Health, Science & Technology, Youth 0

A community activist & leader, a successful businessman, an industrialist, a scientist, a renowned musician, two young prodigies, an organ donor, and a journalist were honored at a colorful bi-annual NAMAM Excellence Award 2018 ceremony held at the Royal Albert Palace, Edison, New Jersey on April 28th, 2018.

What stood out at the long-awaited historic event was that among the 7 honorees, two are leaders of the Indo-American Press Club (IAPC). Dr. Babu Stephan, current Chairman, and Ajay Ghosh, founding President of IAPC, were the recipients of the NAMAM awards for their contributions and successes in the business and media world, respectively. IAPC, founded 6 years ao, has been serving as a platform to raise the voice of Indian Americans journalists in North America.

Dr. Stephen is the CEO of DC Healthcare Inc, and the president of SM Reality LLC in Washington, and has been politically well-connected in both Washington DC and Kerala. He has dabbled in media and having arrived in America almost 4 decades ago, and has been among the first generation of Indian community builders here. In his acceptance speech for the award for excellence in business, he recounted the Indian American community’s landmark achievements in all walks of life here – and we have only started!

Ajay Ghosh was chosen for his contributions in media. He has founded the Universal News Network (UNN), a news portal as chief editor, and has been associated with news publications including India Tribute, Indian Express (North American edition), NRI Today and Asian Era magazines. And since 2010, he has been the media consultant of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI). In addition, he has taught Social Work Seminar and guided students at the Graduate School of Social Work at Fordham University in New York City since 2006 and works as a Primary Clinician at Yale New Haven Hospital, serving patients with behavioral health issues. Mr. Ghosh dedicated his award to the journalists of Indian origin, who work tirelessly to inform, educate and create awareness on issues that affect the peoples of the world.

Other awardees included, a world renowned community leader and activist, Dr. Thomas Abraham; T. S. Nandakumar, a renowned and versatile Carnatic music percussionist; Ramadas Pillai, President/CTO of Nuphoton Technologies, Inc; Rekha Nair, who has been an advocate for organ donation; Tiara Thankam Abraham, a 12-year-old soprano prodigy and a child genius; and, Child Genius Tanishq Mathew Abraham, a 14-year-old senior completing his biomedical engineering degree at Univ. Of California, Davis. He will be the youngest engineer to graduate in June 2018.

Dr. Thomas Abraham highlighted the need for bringing together the Indian Diaspora under the banner of GOPIO and how it has become a powerful force in raising our voices against discrimination and injustice. In her acceptance speech, Rekha Nair, who stunned the world by donating one of her kidneys at a young age to save the life of a woman she barely knew at the time last year, made an impassioned appeal for organ donation and blood donation.

Of the two siblings, Tanishq, 14-year-old senior (4th year) completing his biomedical engineering degree, could not come down from California, so his younger sister Tiara, 12, accepted the award on his behalf too. She also gave a performance and showed why she is considered a prodigy soprano.

NAMAM, or the North American Malayalees and Associated Members, founded by Madhavan B. Nair, has been honoring its best and brightest at biennial events. Madhavan Nair, in his welcome address, described it as, “an unforgettable evening as we honor extraordinarily accomplished individuals, who have made valuable contributions to the Indian-American community with the NAMAM Excellence Awards.”

The evening program was studded with dance and live music performances, both Indian classical and contemporary/Bollywood. Among the 350 attendees at the event were many prominent members of the community and guests from India.

Founded in 2010, NAMAM has been reaching out to the community with cultural programs, social gatherings and humanitarian aid efforts. Madhavan Nair summed up the essence of the awards nite and the goals of NAMAM: “It is our priority to pass a deep awareness about our rich heritage, unique customs and eclectic culture of Kerala to the younger generation in the USA, so that they can appreciate and take pride in their genealogy.”

Mukesh Ambani, Indira Jaising, Balkrishna Doshi named Fortune’s Greatest Leaders 2018

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterBusiness, Finance/Economy 0

Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Architect Balkrishna Doshi, and human rights lawyer Indira Jaising have been featured in Fortune magazine’s 50 Greatest Leaders of 2018.

Fortune’s list “of the thinkers, speakers, and doers who are stepping up to meet today’s challenges” also includes Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Ranking Ambani at 24th place, Fortune said that he had “in less than two years, brought mobile data to the masses and completely upended the country’s telecom market”. “Since Ambani, chief of the $47 billion conglomerate Reliance Industries, launched Jio — the first mobile network in the world to be entirely IP-based — in September 2016, the company has signed up a staggering 168 million subscribers.

“The secret? Offering dirt-cheap data and free calls (and plowing billions of dollars into the infrastructure that transmits them). The effect, dubbed ‘Jio-fication’, has driven India’s higher-price carriers to drop costs (if not run them out of business), and it fueled a 1,100 per cent rise in India’s monthly data consumption,” it said.

Lawyers Collective Founder Indira Jaising has been ranked 20. “When the poorest in India need a voice, they find one in Jaising, a lawyer who has dedicated her life to battling injustice,” Fortune said. “She has fought on behalf of victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, helped Syrian Christian women in India win property rights equal to their male counterparts’, and helped draft India’s first domestic violence law. “Her work has recently led her to Myanmar, where she was appointed by the UN to lead an investigation into the persecution of Rohingya Muslims,” it added.

Ranking Doshi at 43, Fortune said he is the winner of architecture’s highest honour this year – the Pritzker Prize – and has spent the bulk of his 70-year career championing accessible housing, earning the nickname of “the architect for the poor”.

“His designs include the Aranya low-cost housing project in Indore, a labyrinth of homes and courtyards that provide around 80,000 residents with a balance of open spaces and communal living, and the mixed-income Life Insurance Corporation Housing in Ahmedabad, where several generations of a family can occupy levels of the same building.

“Underlying all his work is the ideal that all economic classes deserve good housing,” it said. The first rank in this year’s list goes to “The Students” of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other schools in the US that suffered from gun violence.

This year’s list includes Bill and Melinda Gates, tennis star Serena Williams, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Tencent CEO Huateng ‘Pony’ Ma, Chinese environmentalist Ma Jun, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian and Hollywood actor-producer Reese Witherspoon.

Hiral Tipirneni leading in Arizona’s 8th District Congressional special election

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

Arizona’s 8th congressional district hasn’t had a U.S. representative since December – but that will change after an April special election. Republican Debbie Lesko, a former state lawmaker, is facing off with Democrat Dr. Hiral Tipirneni, a cancer research advocate, to represent the district. The seat was left empty after Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican, resigned in disgrace on Dec. 8, 2017, following reports of sexual misconduct. Franks reportedly discussed surrogacy issues with female aides. The special election, will be held on April 24^th.

A recent poll of district voters by Emerson College shows Tipirneni leading Lesko by a 46-45 margin, according to a NYmag.com report. Previous polls of the race had Lesko leading by double digits, it said.

A former emergency room physician, Dr. Hiral Tipirneni has dedicated her career to cancer research after the death of her mother and nephew. And it’s the skills she developed as a doctor – working together with a group of diverse people with different perspectives to help patients – that she wants to take to Washington.

Tipirneni knows that she is running as a Democrat in a conservative district, but she doesn’t dwell on that. For her, it’s not about a political party so much as it is about representing the district.

“One of the big reasons I decided to run is I’m so frustrated by the lack of forward progress, divisiveness and standing solely on a partisan [ground],” Tipirneni told Fox News.

“I’m looking to bring people together to the table to have a conversation,” she continued. “A lot of folks feel alienated. I would fight on their behalf and not fight about ideology.”

Her campaign website pushes for more bipartisan solutions to hot-button issues. For example, on the Second Amendment, Tipirneni says she supports the rights of “law-abiding Americans to obtain firearms through legal channels to protect their homes, themselves and their families, and for hunting and sport.” But she also supports “commonsense gun reform,” such as eliminating certain background check loopholes.

The top of the Second Amendment section on Tipirneni’s site declares: “When progressives and conservatives work together, we can accomplish great things.”

While Tipirneni has volunteered on other campaigns, this is her first foray into politics. She said she isn’t “looking to build [her] political resume” but just wants to help those in her district.

“The reason I’m doing this is because I am a constituent as well in this district, and I’ve spent many years frustrated, feeling that I don’t have a voice in D.C.,” she said.

Aftab Pureval named to DCCC’s Red to Blue List in Ohio race

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval announced his addition to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)’s Red to Blue list March 22, according to a press release.

As the first Democratic Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in over 100 years, Pureval faces a tough road ahead against Steve Chabot (R-OH), the current representative of Ohio’s 1st Congressional District. The Republican incumbent has represented the district since 2011, having previously done so between 1995 and 2009.

The DCCC, which targets highly competitive campaigns, chose 33 races nationwide to prioritize this election cycle. Pureval is the only candidate in Ohio to be added to the committee’s list.

As a result, the DCCC will provide resources for Pureval, including fundraising support and assistance in recruiting staff and volunteers for his campaign.

Following his candidacy announcement in January, Pureval captured the committee’s attention after mobilizing a sizable grassroots fundraising effort. The DCCC added him to their list of “Candidates Leading the Charge” in February, recognizing his former work as an antitrust litigator for the international law firm White & Case LLP.

Pureval later moved back to Hamilton Country, where he worked as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Department of Justice. He then became an in-house counsel at the Cincinnati-based consumer good corporation Proctor & Gamble.

As part of Pureval’s platform, he reiterates his commitment to “defending women who have been hurt and abused and fight for equality for all.” Economically, he plans to “take on patronage, government waste and save taxpayers money.”

Additionally, Pureval voiced his intent to protect Social Security and work on rebuilding the Western Hills Viaduct to create more job opportunities.

Chabot, his opponent, is also committed to revitalizing the economy, controlling government spending and protecting Social Security. Chabot’s specific interests include health care reformation and expanding veterans’ aid.

Though many Democrats are hopeful that Pureval will emerge victorious on Election Day, Chabot has proven his ability to be re-elected for decades, having secured nearly 60 percent of the vote in the 2016 election.

Like most political races, there has been some tension between the two frontrunners. Chabot’s campaign spokesman criticized Pureval’s residence, saying he “lives in a $400,000 mansion in Hyde Park, which isn’t even in the district,” USA Today reported. By contrast, Chabot lives in Westwood on the west side of Cincinnati.

The Hamilton County auditor listed Pureval’s 2,277 square-foot home at $414,250 in 2015. Chabot’s 3,078 square-foot home, by comparison, was estimated at $111,280.

“Steve Chabot and Donald Trump have pursued a reckless agenda to throw millions of Americans off health care and add 1.5 trillion to the deficit,” Pureval said of Chabot in a press release. The statement suggests ties between the president and Chabot, whom Pureval said supported Trump’s efforts in legislature.

Though Pureval’s campaign has picked up steam in recent months, the road ahead is far from ending. Before Chabot and Pureval can go head-to-head, Pureval must win the upcoming Democratic primary on May 8.

Pureval, 35-year-old son of an India-born father and Tibet-born mother, made a name for himself in 2016 when he pulled off a surprising upset in Hamilton County, winning the county’s clerk of courts seat. The Indian American officially announced his plan to run for Congress Jan. 31 at Avondale, the Ohio-based urban agriculture nonprofit Gabriel’s Place.

The incumbent Chabot, 65, has served as the 1st Congressional District representative for 20 years. He was first elected in 1994 and was unseated in 2008 but won the seat back in 2010 thanks to redistricting which put GOP-leaning Warren County into the 1st District.

Pureval said at his campaign launching announcement that he intends to paint Chabot as a rubber stamp for President Donald Trump, according to a WVXU.org report.

The Ohio-born Pureval earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Ohio State University. During his time at OSU, he served as student body president. Later, Pureval earned his law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Nikki Haley Fires Back: ‘With All Due Respect, I Don’t Get Confused’

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley fired back last week against a Trump administration official who said she was suffering from “momentary confusion” when she announced new sanctions against Russia were imminent, saying, “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.”

A striking intra-administration quarrel splayed out in public when National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters during a briefing in Florida that Haley “got ahead of the curve” when she said the U.S. would be slapping new sanctions on Russia on Monday in retaliation for the country’s support for Syria’s Assad government after its latest suspected chemical attack.

Kudlow said additional sanctions are under consideration but have yet to be implemented and said of Haley: “There might have been some momentary confusion about that.”

The feud appeared to quiet down after the economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, called the Indian American diplomat to apologize April 17 afternoon, a White House official said. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.

Haley had said, the U.S. would be slapping new sanctions on Russia April 16 in retaliation for the country’s support for Syria’s Assad government after its latest suspected chemical attack.

Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said additional sanctions are under consideration but have yet to be implemented. Of Haley, he said, “There might have been some momentary confusion about that.” Haley then issued a terse statement to Fox News: “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.”

The White House had been struggling to explain Haley’s remarks amid reports that President Donald Trump put the brakes on the new sanctions. Several administration officials have disputed that characterization, saying Haley was out of the loop. Three senior administration officials said there were several attempts to get Haley to back off or clarify her comments, but she refused.

The officials said that, under the plan conceived last week, the sanctions would have been announced April 13, at the same time U.S., French, and British forces launched a missile strike on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons facilities. But the sanctions were not ready in time for Trump’s statement, so they were delayed.

The officials said a decision was then made to announce the sanctions as an answer to Russia’s response to the strikes. But that plan was re-evaluated and then put on hold over the weekend as it became clear that Russia’s response was less robust than anticipated. The officials were not authorized to discuss private administration deliberations publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

A National Security Council memorandum sent overnight April 13 said the new sanctions would be announced soon, but it did not specify a date. Over the next 36 hours, officials began to delve deeper into the proposed sanctions and decided to hold off on anything imminent, but Haley was unaware, the officials said.

On April 16, a new memo went out from the NSC saying that additional sanctions were under consideration, but no decision had been made. In the face of Haley’s refusal to clarify her April 15 remarks, draft language was sent to her suggesting again that she do so, the officials said.

Haley and her office ignored that, so the White House decided to push back, the officials said. The New York Times reports that Trump was annoyed with Haley for getting out in front of the policy, according to a White House official, and the president’s decision to reject sanctions left her hanging in public with her credibility on the line.

Haley has been one of the strongest critics in the administration of Russia’s behavior around the world, often speaking far more harshly than Trump would, but she has rarely been reined in publicly this way, reported the Times.

Trump has grown suspicious of her ambition, convinced that she had been angling for former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s position and increasingly wondering whether she wants his own job,” the Times noted April 17, adding, ”Republicans close to the White House whisper about the prospect of an alliance between Haley and Vice President Mike Pence, possibly to run as a ticket in 2020.”

Deepika Padukone, Cricketer Virat Kohli on TIME’s ‘100 Most Influential People’ List

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Entertainment, Sports 0

Deepika Padukone is the only Indian actress to feature in TIME’s ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ list, sharing space with names like Nicole Kidman, Gal Gadot, Greta Gerwig and Lena Waithe. India’s cricket captain Virat Kohli was another Indian who had made it to the list this year.

Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Are the other two people of Indian origin who made it to the list. The list, now in its fifteenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals.

World leaders like US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Bangladesh’s premier Sheikh Hasina were also featured in the list of 100 most influential people.

In the magazine, international star Vin Diesel, Padukone’s co-star in her Hollywood debut, “xXx: Return of Xander Cage,” has penned a few words of appreciation for her.

Diesel wrote of her: “When Deepika Padukone came in to read for one of the Fast and the Furiousfilms, I knew instantly I was in the presence of someone very special. As soon as she entered the room, there was a synchronicity, a synergy, a chemistry—it promised great things to come. Her schedule didn’t work for that movie, but I never gave up. She was the first role we cast in xXx: Return of Xander Cage. She said, “I want to do this movie, but if I do, you have to come to India.” Thank God I made that deal.

“Making that movie, Deepika took committed to a whole other level. That’s who she is as a performer. She wants the whole movie to shine, which is a rare thing. Anyone could talk about how beautiful she is, and anyone could tell you about her unmatched comedic timing. But she isn’t just a star. She’s an actor’s actor, dedicated to the craft.

“So often in the entertainment industry we deal in stereotypes, and people get stuck in certain markets. Deepika is the best Earth has to offer. She’s not just here to represent India; she’s here to represent the world,” Diesel stated.

Padukone scored a success at the box office this year with the epic drama, “Padmaavat,” in which she played the title role. One of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema today, she has 18 brands in her portfolio and has a strong social media presence.

Apart from her work as an artiste, Padukone’s philanthropic side has seen her spreading awareness on the condition of mental illness. She has spoken about her battle with depression and has been working towards creating awareness with her NGO, The Live Love Laugh Foundation (TLLF). The list also features actress Meghan Markle, who will become a British royal family member upon her wedding to Prince Harry in May.

Sachin Tendulkar wrote about Virat Kohli: “Every sportsman knows what it’s like to have good spells and bad ones too,” the batting maestro explained. “Virat took the criticism he faced during a disappointing West Indies series and returned home with a goal: to improve not only his technique, but also his fitness level. He’s never looked back.”

“Honestly, I’ve never really believed in self-acknowledgement. Instead, I have always looked ahead. But I must admit that today, I do feel a small sense of achievement. It is humbling to be acknowledged for the work that you do, and so, it’s my absolute honour to be part of this prestigious list alongside such incredible achievers,” Deepika also expressed her gratitude in her Instagram post feeling honoured.

Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, had his excerpt in the magazine’s influential list written by former managing editor of Time and current history professor at Tulane University Walter Isaacson, who said, “In the four years since he inherited a sticky wicket, Microsoft’s market value has increased 130 percent.”

“More important,” Isaacson continued, “the company is now making products that feel more user-friendly, empathetic and collaborative.”

Indian American action committee endorses several candidates for state, national elections

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

Months away from the next round of national elections to the US Congress and many state level elections, a political action committee is focusing on the potential Indian American candidates, who could possibly win elections across the nation.

In a bid to expand and increase the potential number of Indian-Americans in local and state offices around the country, the Indian-American Impact Fund, which is tracking more than 80 Indian-Americans running for office in 2018, announced April 19, it was backing another round of state and local candidates for the Nov. 6 general elections.

“From coast to coast, Indian Americans are stepping up to run for office and serve their fellow Americans,” Deepak Raj, co-founder of Impact Project, and chair of the Impact Fund is quoted saying in the press release. “These five candidates represent the breadth and depth of talent in our community, and Impact Fund is proud to stand with them.”

The latest round of endorsements includes Josh Kaul, a former federal prosecutor running for Wisconsin Attorney General, whose campaign focuses on addressing the opioid epidemic, ending the backlog of untested rape kits, protecting Wisconsin families from consumer fraud and polluters; Padma Kuppa, an engineer, mother, and activist, running for Michigan State House from District 41, who has garnered significant support from local elected officials in a district with a large Indian-American population where the most spoken minority language is Telugu, her mother tongue, notes Impact Fund.

The other three candidates endorsed are, Samir Paul for Maryland House of Delegates, from District 16, a Harvard graduate, working at IBM and for the 2012 Obama re-election campaign, listed as Montgomery County’s 2016 Rising Star Teacher of the Year; Ashwani Jain for Montgomery County (Maryland) Council, At-Large. The son of small business owners, 15 year cancer survivor, and alum of the Obama White House, Jain is positioned to be the youngest person, the first Asian American, and first Indian American to ever serve on the Council if elected; and Susheela Jayapal, an attorney running for Multnomah County (Oregon) Commission, from District 2. A community advocate for more than 15 years, Jayapal previously served as General Counsel of Adidas America, and in the government, as well as provided free legal services to people seeking asylum, the Impact Fund said.

“As a former state legislator, I know firsthand that state and local elected officials can have a powerful impact on the lives of their constituents,” Raj Goyle, co-founder of Impact and a former member of the Kansas House of Representatives, is quoted saying in the press release. “Supporting talented down-ballot candidates like these doesn’t just lead to good policy; it’s also good politics. This is how we build a bench of future national leaders.”

India claims top spot for 2018 growth among major economies – Reuters poll

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy 0

India will claim the top spot among the world’s fastest-growing major economies this year, but rising trade tensions between the United States and China may restrain that growth, a Reuters poll of economists showed.

The recent tit-for-tat import tariffs imposed by the U.S. and China have raised concerns about a full-fledged global trade war which could throw an otherwise-strong world economy off-course.

Twenty of 29 economists who answered an extra question said India‘s economy will be hurt by the ongoing trade dispute.

“India runs the risk of being caught in the middle of the trade spat between the U.S. and China,” said Hugo Erken, senior economist at Rabobank.

Erken said growth will take a hit if India takes sides as the side not chosen may retaliate by imposing duties.

“The damage would especially be large if India retaliated with an import duty on either U.S. or Chinese imports,” said Erken, adding that such a scenario was unlikely.

However, not all economists shared that view. Nine respondents said India‘s economy would benefit from the dispute.

“Though in the short-term a trade war between U.S. and China may impact global trade includingIndia, in the long-term, India is likely to benefit as China will be forced to devaluate its currency to remain a dominant player in the world market,” wrote RK Gupta, managing director at Taurus Asset Management.

“In that scenario, India‘s exports will be more competitive with China.” The latest poll, taken April 11-18, predicted India‘s economy will expand 7.4 percent in the fiscal year that began this month. That is in line with the International Monetary Fund’s projection, and is a slight upgrade from the January poll.

For the next fiscal year, growth is expected to average 7.5 percent, a touch lower than the IMF’s forecast of 7.8 percent. After growth slowed sharply for much of last year, India regained its status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy in the quarter ending December 2017.

The slowdown was mainly driven by the government’s sudden decision in November 2016 to scrap high-value currency notes and a botched implementation of a goods and services tax (GST) in July last year.

But the impact of those moves has now faded. “The investment cycle is recovering, and there is steady improvement in consumption,” noted Sonal Verma and Aurodeep Nandi at Nomura.

While India‘s retail inflation has eased this year and hit a five-month low in March, it remained above the Reserve Bank of India‘s medium-term target of 4 percent.

But increased government spending ahead of national elections next year is yet to kick in and that is expected to be inflationary.

Inflation is forecast to average 4.7 percent in the fiscal year ending next March, and 4.9 percent the following year, the poll showed.

The state-run India Meteorological Department has forecast a normal monsoon in 2018 – a boon for the farm sector that accounts for about 15 percent of India‘s $2 trillion economy and employs more than half its 1.3 billion people.

A normal monsoon would boost grain production and keep a lid on food price inflation, which tends to be volatile, but especially in India.

The Reserve Bank of India has kept interest rates steady after a 25 basis-point cut to the repo rate in August last year. It is forecast to keep rates on hold until the second half of next year, according to the poll of almost 50 economists. But economists have shifted their expectation for a repo rate hike to the quarter ending September next year from a move in the first three months of 2019.

SABA launches citizenship drive

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

The South Asian Bar Association of North America (SABA) announced a new initiative April 19, to launch a nationwide “Naturalization Drive.” A majority of SABA chapters will be hosting local drives on May 19, “providing support to a community that does not usually get” (sic) it, the organization said in a press release.

Spelling out the advantages of citizenship, SABA noted it “is the path to fully participating in American life.” Citizenship allows a person to vote, freely travel, protect themselves and family members from the risk of deportation, hold a wider range of jobs, petition to unite with other family members, and run for public office.

The Naturalization Drive is targeting eligible South Asians in the community who wish to apply for U.S citizenship. Clinics across the country will be available to assist those applying for citizenship, the organization said. “It will be a great event to promote civic engagement to serve the South Asian community pro bono,” SABA said.

For more information about local events, SABA urged those interested to reach out to participating chapters who will hold the event on May 19 — SABA Austin, SABA Chicago, SABA Colorado, SABADC, SABA Florida,SABA Georgia, SABA Greater Boston, SABA Houston,SABA New Jersey, SABA New York, SABA Northern California, SABA Sacramento, SABA San Diego, SABA Southern California, and SABA Washington. The chapters in Connecticut and Metro St. Louis, Missouri, will hosting theirs later in the year.

The South Asian Bar Association of North America is an umbrella organization to 26 chapters in the United States and Canada. For more information visit http://www.sabanorthamerica.com/page/naturalization.

USCIS issues restrictions on F-1 student work visas

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterTravel 0

After curtailing the work visas, the Trump administration has turned its eyes on the work-based student visas, known as the F1 visa, issued to international students. A new set of directives issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sets restrictions on work that can be done during the critical Optional Practical Training (OPT) period after graduation, which for most students determine whether they can nurture hope of getting an H-1B visa, and subsequently, permanent residency.

Optional Practical Training (OPT) is temporary employment that is directly related to an F-1 student’s major area of study. Under the prior rules, an F-1 student could be authorized to receive up to a total of 12 months of practical training either before (pre-) and/or after (post-) completion of studies.

An F-1 student may be authorized to participate in pre-completion OPT after he or she has been enrolled for one full academic year. The pre-completion OPT must be directly related to the student’s major area of study. Students authorized to participate in pre-completion OPT must work part-time while school is in session. They may work full time when school is not in session.

An F-1 student may be authorized to participate in post-completion OPT upon completion of studies. The post-completion OPT must be directly related to the student’s major area of study.

According to new rules by the USCIS, F1 visa students can be approved for an OPT only if they are allowed to work onsite, or the premises of a company who has sponsored them for the work-study period. This totally blocks the ability of tech staffing firms and business consultancies, among others, from hiring students with the purpose to serve clients at different locations.

The argument by the USCIS is that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement lack authority to visit client sites for verification of work done by an F1 student. Realistically, it’s a good move by the Trump Administration to stop abuse of foreign students, who often are at the mercy of employers during OPT period. There are no guidelines for salary to students on an OPT.

The new USCIS rule will undoubtedly hamper legitimate companies from hiring foreign students as temp workers during the OPT. It will also hurt students’ ability to get an H-1B visa. International students need to be wary of the new USCIS rules, as any transgression during the OPT will come back to hurt them when they vie for an H-1B visa.

Trump Admin sides with Asian American students in Harvard Admissions suit

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Education 0

The Trump administration April 6 backed an Asian American student group that claims Harvard University has discriminated against the Asian American community in the admissions process.

A judge April 6 has decided to make records of Harvard’s admissions public, according to a CNN report. The move by the Justice Department forecasts the emerging fault lines in what could serve as the first major affirmative action case of the Trump administration, the report said.

The fight surrounding the secrecy of Harvard’s competitive admissions process stems from a 2014 lawsuit brought by Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit organization that argues race-conscious admissions policies are unconstitutional, the report said.

The group includes over a dozen students who claim they were rejected from Harvard because it engages in “racial balancing” by capping the number of Asian Americans it admits each year, it said.

As part of pre-trial discovery in the case, the group obtained a mountain of high school applicant files and detailed information on the inner workings of Harvard’s admissions process, much of which it wants to use as evidence as the lawsuit moves ahead, CNN reported.

The institution says the materials are “highly sensitive” and “highly proprietary,” and has asked the judge to shield the records from public view if used in court filings, the report added.

The Justice Department has not formally joined the students’ current lawsuit in federal court, but has a keen interest in making the admissions data a matter of public record now: the department is embroiled in a parallel case over Harvard’s policies as it investigates a similar 2015 complaint filed by a coalition of Asian American associations, CNN noted.

Justice Department lawyers wrote April 6 that the lawsuit “overlaps with the legal and factual bases undergirding the United States’ investigation and could directly bear on that investigation.”

The department could eventually bring its own lawsuit against Harvard based on its findings, or decide to simply join the students’ ongoing case as a “friend of the court,” the report said.

The university in an April 6 statement said it would continue to protect prospective student’s personal information.

A court hearing over how the confidentiality of the documents will be treated was held April 10 at the U.S. District Court in Boston, at which Judge Allison D. Burroughs ruled that, within the next two months, lawyers for Harvard University and advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions must file two near-identical sets of previously confidential Harvard admissions documents—one unredacted set to be filed under seal and one redacted version of the set to be filed publicly, reported The Harvard Crimson. Essentially, a small, redacted portion of more than 90,000 pages of Harvard admissions documents—including applicants’ files and internal correspondence between admissions officers—will become public information in coming months.

55% of all new bank accounts in the world opened from India, says World Bank report

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterBusiness, Fashion 0

India’s financial inclusion efforts have won recognition from the World Bank, as their data indicates 55% of new bank accounts opened globally are from India, financial services secretary Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday.

“World Bank Global Findex Report recognises India’s Financial Inclusion efforts. Of the 51.4 crore bank accounts opened from 2014-17 globally, a whopping 55% from India” he said in a tweet.

The World Bank report released on Friday cited the success of the Jan Dhan Yojana — the government’s initiative aimed at bringing masses within the formal banking system.

The total number of Jan Dhan account holders has risen to 31.44 crore in March, 2018, from 28.17 crore a year earlier, according to the government data.

As per the World Bank Global Findex Report, the percentage of adult bank account holders in India increased to 80% in 2017 as compared to 53% in 2014 and 35% in 2011, he said.

Women at the forefront, he said, highlights a sharp fall in gender gap from 20% in 2014 to 6% in 2017 in bank accounts due to Government efforts.

The report acknowledges impact of government policy in reducing gaps in bank account ownership between rich and poor to 5% in 2017, down from 15% in 2014, he added. The Global Findex Report, 2017 released by the World Bank noted the rapid increase in financial inclusion that has taken place in India and how the number of account holders in the country has risen from 35% of the adults in 2011 and 53% in 2014 to 80 % in 2017.

This, it states, is comparable to 80% of adults in China who have an account. The Report also attributes this progress as being driven by the Jan Dhan Yojana policy which has used biometric ID to expand access to financial services.

It may be pertinent to note that the Report sources its data largely from surveys that were conducted in the summer of 2017.

Sexual crimes against minors in India up 500%: CRY

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

The National Crime Records Bureau data of 2016 suggests that crimes against children in India have increased by 14 per cent from 2015.

Crimes against minors have soared 500 per cent over the past 10 years in India, says a new analysis by Child Rights and You (CRY).

CRY has done a cumulative analysis which revealed a rise of sexual crimes against children to 106,958 in 2016 as against 18,967 in 2006.

“More than 50 per cent of crimes against children have been recorded in just five states: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and West Bengal,” said a CRY statement.

According to the NGO, while Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 15 per cent of recorded crimes against children, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh came close at 14 and 13 per cent respectively.

“It is also a matter of grave concern that in 11 out of 36 states and union territories (UTs), more than 50 per cent of the offences against children are sexual offences and in 25 out of 36 states and UTs more than one-third of the crimes against children are sex crimes,” it added.

The National Crime Records Bureau data of 2016 suggests that crimes against children in India have increased by 14 per cent from 2015.

As per a 2016 analysis of crimes under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, sexual offences accounted for one third of all crimes against children in India.

According to it, a sexual offence is committed against a child in India every 15 minutes. All crimes under POCSO Act constitute around 33 per cent of total crimes against children. The number of sexual offences registered against children increased by an alarming 300 per cent over the last five years.

The report comes amid widespread anger over incidents of rape throughout the country. An eight-year-old girl from a nomadic group in Jammu and Kashmir was found raped and murdered in January while the body of a nine-year-old girl was found in Gujarat with 86 injury marks.

Two incidents of rape of minors were reported on Thursday — from Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.

Students of Columbia University hold a candlelight vigil to protest the heinous rapes in Kathua and Unnao and send an Open Letter to the Prime Minister of India

April 25, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Education 0

Students and faculty from schools across Columbia University were joined by members of the South Asian diaspora from across New Yor City to sign an open letter to the Prime Minister of India condemning the recent cases of sexual violence and political inaction by the ruling dispensation this Friday in the Columbia University campus in New York City. Over 120 students, representing several schools of Columbia University, carried out a candlelight vigil under the banner ‘SILENCE NO MORE’ to express solidarity with the victims and demanded immediate action against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity.

The event was supported by the Indian Students at Columbia (ISAC), a student body comprising of students from India who are currently studying across engineering, public policy, management, law and several other disciplines across Columbia University. Several other schools like the Columbia Journalism School, Law School, Business School, Teachers College, Columbia College and School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) were represented by students and faculty present.

The group marched from the iconic Earl Hall to the Butler Library where they expressed their protest through theater, dance and music which was followed by remarks by students, faculty members like Prof Shayonee Mitra and Prof Gauri Viswanathan and scholars and activists from other universities Ruchira Gupta, Biju Matthew and Sujatha Gidla, among others.

The students then released a letter to the Prime Minister demanding swift action against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. The petition was also signed by students from other Universities in New York and is currently being circulated across campuses in the United States to gather more signatures, although the written document is being released now. The students demanded that the Prime Minister put to action his promises made on several forums to end violence against women and ensure stringent action against and strict condemnation of his own party members in perpetrating crimes against women.

Indian Americans Express Outrage over the Horror of child rapes in Kathua and Unnao; demand speedy trial and maximum punishment for the perpetrators

April 24, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Fury in diaspora over the stomach-turning details of the heinous crimes, the political motives behind them, and the patronage given to the accused April 14, 2018

The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos has joined millions of Indians and people of conscience across the world in expressing its outrage and disgust over the gang-rape and murder of 8-year old Asifa Bano in January, as well as the rape of the 17 year old Dalit girl in Unnao, UP. The ghastliness and brazenness of the crimes has been coupled with outrageous attempts by Hindutva goons to protect the perpetrators.

Asifa Bano, belonging to the Bakarwal community in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, was kidnapped, drugged and brutally gang raped for three days. Her strangled body that was found on January 17, 2018 bore mute testimony to the inhumanity of her tormentors.

Police reports indicate Asifa was locked inside a temple and repeatedly raped for three days and finally strangled to death. The perpetrators, including the temple custodian have been apprehended, and the police have DNA evidence linking the men to the crime. Their motive was apparently to push Asifa’s community away from the area. Furthering the violence carried out by the four men, a mob of BJP-affiliated lawyers blocked the police officers from making their way to file the police report, making bogus claims that the men would not get due process.

This was done as part of a premeditated terror tactic to drive out a Muslim nomad community to which Asifa belonged. Different arms of the local government and political groups colluded to subvert the initial investigation and are using extrajudicial means to protect the accused.

In the case the of 17-year Dalit girl from Unnao village in UP, a powerful BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sehgar raped her last year and intimidated her whole family against complaining to the police. The family had to flee for safety to Delhi but her old father persisted in lodging the complaint. As a result he was tortured and killed in cold blood while in police custody. Despite prima facie evidence, the administration of Yogi Adhityanath did not place the culprit under arrest, until after a week of sustained public outrage, and international media attention.

During a recent interview given to media the girl broke down and even fainted while narrating the horror “Jaise papa ko maara tha. Woh joota pehan leta hai. Aur jalte hue cycle ka tyre chhua chhua ke maarta hai. Paani daal daal ke maarta hai” (He would torment people the way he killed my father. He puts on his boots and uses burning bicycle tyres to torture his victims).” In an act of extreme depression the victim even tried to burn herself outside the residence of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adithyanath.

“Asifa’s and Unnao rape survivors horror stories are examples that illustrate cowardly attempts to protect the beasts who committed these heinous acts. Moreover the Hindu Ekta Manch rally in Jammu is a low point in the history of the country where obstruction of justice and rewarding rapists have become new benchmarks in service to religious fascism,” said Mr. Ahsan Khan, President of IAMC. “We call upon the state and central governments to demonstrate their own humanity, by holding the perpetrators accountable to the full extent of the law,” added Mr. Khan.

This is the most ghastly tragedy in a pattern of brutalities against Muslims and Dalits under the current regime. Anti-Muslim and Dalit rhetoric has become mainstream. The political motivations behind these heinous crimes are often euphemistically expressed in prime time television by the ruling party’s spokespersons and associates.

Documentary on Indian American Spelling Bee Champs Debuts at Film Festivals

April 24, 2018 Staff ReporterEducation, Entertainment 0

A soon-to-be released documentary on the rise and dominance of Indian American kids in spelling bee competitions across the United States will be making the major film festival rounds starting this month.

The “Breaking the Bee” documentary will be shown on April 6 and 8 at the Cleveland International Film Festival, followed by a screening at the New York Indian Film Festival in New York City May 12.

“Breaking the Bee” follows four second-generation Indian-American children, ages 7 to 14, over the course of a year, or “bee season,” as they train to reach (and win) the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee (see earlier India-West story here). It’s an inside look at studying, family life, competing in qualifying bees, and being a kid with big dreams. Some are in their final year of eligibility while others are just beginning their spelling careers.

With expert commentary from CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Fareed Zakaria, comedian Hari Kondabolu, ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi, and past Scripps winners, the film offers an analysis into what drives this trend, while exploring the ups and downs of chasing a dream and pondering just how long this incredible trend can last, according to a press release.

The film is directed by Sam Rega and produced by Chris Weller, both of whom worked at Business Insider when they got the idea to produce the film.

Since 1999, all but four contest winners have been Indian American, and of the 285-plus children who make it to Scripps each year, roughly 25% come from families of Indian descent. This is something of an anomaly, as Indian Americans make up just 1% of the United States population.

The perfect storm has been brewing for decades — from the 1965 immigration law that eliminated quota systems for Indian immigrants, thus driving a wave of highly-educated individuals to come to the United States, to the formation of Indian-only spelling bees, to the explosion of mainstream interest in competitive spelling, ever since ESPN began broadcasting the Scripps Bee in 1994.

The film details the South Asian Spelling Bee’s contribution to this phenomenon with interviews with its founder, Rahul Walia. The SASB was started in 2008; since then, many of its winners have gone on to win at Scripps as well.

“It’s the gold standard of the Spelling Bee,” said Usha and Ganesh Dasari, parents of the spelling bee duo Shobha and Shourav. Shourav is one of the four spellers followed in “Breaking the Bee.”

Srinivasan Seshan Named Computer Science Department Head at Carnegie Mellon

April 24, 2018 Staff ReporterEducation 0

Carnegie Mellon University has appointed Srinivasan Seshan as head of the Computer Science Department, effective July 1.

Andrew Moore, Dean of the School of Computer Science, selected Mr. Seshan to succeed Frank Pfenning, who will return to teaching and researching full-time.

“…we are all excited about Srini Seshan’s new role as head of CSD,” Mr. Moore said in a release. “He is an outstanding researcher and teacher, and I’m confident that his expanded role in leadership will help the department reach even greater heights.”

Seshan joined the Computer Science Department in 2000. His research is centered on improving the “design, performance and security of computer networks, including wireless and mobile networks,” per the release.

In essence, that means he and his research group have developed ways to more efficiently transfer video content over the internet and have created new architectures to ensure the internet is more trustworthy.

The Computer Science Department is the school’s oldest and largest department.

The School of Computer Science was recognized this month by the U.S. News and World Report’s latest rankings on the “Best Graduate Computer Science Programs,” as the top-rated program in artificial intelligence.

Seshan has been honored for his work a number of times. Among his honors include the three-year Finmeccanica Career Development Professorship in computer science, which supports outstanding young SCS faculty members; two IBM Faculty Partnership awards; and the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER, Award.

Priyanka Chopra to act with Salman Khan After 10 Years with ‘Bharat’

April 24, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Priyanka Chopra has signed her comeback film in India after the 2016 “Jai GangaaJal,” after which she went to Hollywood to do three seasons of the show “Quantico” on television and also her film “Baywatch.”

Her comeback choice is scintillatingly selected – she will be reuniting with her “Gunday” writer-director Ali Abbas Zafar and Salman Khan (after “Mujhe Shaadi Karogi,” “Salaam-E-Ishq” and “God Tussi Great Ho”) in this story that traverses many decades. She stated that she has learned a lot while working with both Zafar and Khan.

Zafar has stated the obvious that we also feel – that Chopra will bring to the table her international status along with her purely desi flavor. It is a crucial role in the film, and she will be shoulder-to-shoulder with Khan, who has five get-ups and looks in this film, which is adapted from the Korean movie “Ode To My Father.”

Chopra is also looking forward to working with Alvira and Atul Agnihotri, who are producing the movie, along with T-Series and Bhushan Kumar. Zafar told the media, “My film ‘Bharat’ is rooted in India and its culture despite it spanning over 70 years and set across various countries of the world. Priyanka is the biggest Indian artiste internationally, and she is a perfect fit for the film. Priyanka brings in outstanding acting as well as incredible international appeal to make the scale of the film bigger and even more global.”

While Chopra instantly agreed to do the film after a narration in New York, Zafar feels that she is the perfect choice for this mature and subtle role of a catalyst to the story.

“Bharat” has started its prep in London, after which it will move to Spain, Poland, Portugal, and Malta. Chopra is still active abroad, wrapping up “Quantico”’s third season in Ireland. The trailer of her second Hollywood film, “A Kid Like Jake” is also out. And people have not really forgotten her last few sterling turns in “Mary Kom,” “Dil Dhadakne Do,” “Bajirao Mastani” and “Jai GangaaJal.”

A majority of U.S. teens fear a shooting could happen at their school, and most parents share their concern

April 24, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Education 0

In the aftermath of the deadly shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, a majority of American teens say they are very or somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting happening at their school – and most parents of teens share that concern, according to new Pew Research Center surveys of teens ages 13 to 17 and parents with children in the same age range.

Meanwhile, when it comes to what can be done to prevent this kind of violence, far more teens view proposals focused on mental illness, assault-style weapon bans and the use of metal detectors in schools as potentially effective than say the same about allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in schools.

The surveys of teens and parents were conducted in March and April 2018, following the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School – one of the deadliest mass school shootings in U.S. history. Seventeen people were killed in the attack and more than a dozen others were injured. The surveys also come as the nation prepares to mark the 19th anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Overall, 57% of teens say they are worried about the possibility of a shooting happening at their school, with one-in-four saying they are very worried. About three-in-ten (29%) say they are not too worried about this, and just 13% say they are not at all worried.

Nonwhite teens express a higher level of concern than their white peers. Roughly two-thirds (64%) of nonwhite teens, including 73% of Hispanics, say they are at least somewhat worried about this, compared with 51% of white teens.

School shooting fears differ by gender as well: 64% of girls say they are very or somewhat worried about a shooting happening at their school, compared with 51% of boys.

Parents of teenagers express similar levels of concern as teens themselves, with 63% saying they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting happening at their child’s school. And there are similar patterns when it comes to race and gender, with nonwhite parents and mothers expressing more concern. Lower-income parents are particularly worried – in fact, 82% of parents with annual household incomes under $30,000 say they are at least somewhat worried that a shooting could happen at their teen’s school, compared with 64% of those with incomes between $30,000 and $74,999 and 53% of those with incomes of $75,000 or more.

Some policies seen as more effective than others

Against the backdrop of organized school walkoutsand marches calling for new legislation to address gun violence, teens see more value in some proposed measures than others. Asked to assess how effective various measures would be at preventing school shootings, 86% of teens say that preventing people with mental illnesses from purchasing guns and that improving mental health screening and treatment would be effective, including majorities who say each of these proposals would be very effective. Roughly eight-in-ten teens (79%) say that having metal detectors in schools would be effective and 66% say the same about banning assault-style weapons.

By contrast, a much smaller share of teens (39%) say that allowing teachers to carry guns in schools would be very or somewhat effective at preventing school shootings; 35% of teens say this would be not at all effective.

Black teens are far less likely than white and Hispanic teens to say allowing teachers to carry guns in schools would be at least somewhat effective: 23% of black teens say this, compared with 44% of white teens and 39% of Hispanic teens.

Views on the effectiveness of banning assault-style weapons also differ by race and ethnicity. About eight-in-ten black teens (80%) and Hispanic teens (79%) say this would be at least somewhat effective; a smaller share of white teens say the same (59%). And while teens across racial and ethnic groups are about equally likely to see metal detectors as effective, black teens are far more likely than their white and Hispanic counterparts to say this would be very effective (59% vs. 39% and 41%, respectively).

Teens’ views on proposals to prevent school shootings mirror those of the general public, for the most part. Among all adults, opinions on arming teachers and banning assault-style weapons diverge sharply along party lines, according to a separate Pew Research Center survey also conducted in March and April. (The survey of teens did not ask respondents for their partisan affiliations.)

About eight-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (78%) say that allowing teachers to carry guns in schools would be very or somewhat effective at preventing school shootings, compared with just 24% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Democrats, on the other hand, are far more likely than Republicans to say that banning assault-style weapons would be at least somewhat effective (81% vs. 35%).

But there are some points of partisan agreement – substantial majorities of both Democrats and Republicans say that proposals directed at mental illness and having metal detectors in schools have the potential to be at least somewhat effective in preventing school shootings.

World Social Forum Concludes in Salvador, Bahia From TRANSCEND Media Service

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

The thirteenth edition of the World Social Forum came to an end on Saturday (March 17), attracting more than 60,000 people to the various activities and debates held during the five-day event.

The main venue was on the campus of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), in Ondina, but other spaces of the Bahia capital held activities as well, including the Exhibition Park, the Isba Theater and the Pituaçu stadium..

The tone to the Forum was set by discussions of democratization of communication, financial system, work, education and youth, future of work, science and technology, employment and income, rights for migrants and refugees, national sovereignty and science and technology. “This is my first forum and the debates have been very rich and complementary and show the importance of our struggles and confrontations against the advance of neoliberalism,” says Chilean student Maribel Diaz.

Cedro Silva, the president of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores da Bahia highlighted the importance of the event held in the capital of Bahia. “CUT Bahia is proud to have organized the World Social Forum here in Salvador. The positive result is that we are sure that people from other states, from other countries, will return to their places of origin full of energy and possible solutions for a possible society that respects the rights of all.”

Here is a review of what was promoted during the 5 days of activities at WSF 2018:

A democratic and collective space between social organizations; the World Social Forum was also the opportunity for many families to earn extra money and support themselves. This is the case of Maria Andrezina, an artisan from Tocantins. She traveled a distance of more than 1500 km in three days of travel to expose

Rutgers wins 2018 American College Cricket National Championship

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterSports 0

Rutgers University’s cricket team claimed the Shiv Chanderpaul Trophy by winning the 2018 American College Cricket National Championship against the University of South Alabama. The final game was held on April 2 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Rutgers won the toss and elected to bowl first.

South Alabama won the toss and decided to bowl as brilliant sunshine lit up CBRP Cricket Stadium and SONY’s cameras eagerly awaited action. Ryerson was the defending champion but South Alabama had not been this far before as the old Conway Twitty song said. Hassan Khan had performed well for Ryerson in the past, a hard hitting batsman but this time he went for a duck, lbw to Sujal Patel on his 2nd ball.

Jean Paul Rocke came to the wicket and kept getting beaten by the bowling, despite the form he had shown the previous day smashing 97 vs NJIT but he held on for 36 eventually. Bilal Khan however was ablaze at the other end and his 31 included 2 sixes and 2 fours in 17 balls before being out at 41 at 6.3 overs. Talha Kirmani played some glorious shots that delighted the commentators and spectators whilst striking 6 fours in his 47* as he took Ryerson to 144 for 8 in their 20 overs. Varun Bellide took 3 for 25, Neel Patel 2 for 25.

Neel continued his MVP performance with 56 off 44 balls, with 5 fours and 3 sixes as he took the Jaguars to 119, close to the target before being out, but by then with 20 balls to get 26 runs South Alabama was ‘Sailing’ as Rod Stewart sings. Kinal Patel 368 and Uzair Javed 108 took it home in 17.1 overs. The consistent Sujal Patel had an amazing innings of 38 in 21 balls with 5 sixes as South Alabama got to their first Finals in a National or Regional championship in their 6 years.

According to cricketworld.com, after hitting 33 runs in five overs, South Alabama lost three wickets for five runs. A brief recovery partnership of 32 between Kinal Patel (17) and Amjad Muhammad (15) brought them up to 70 but Hassaan Wajeeh’s spin and Junaid Chaudhry ultimately brought them down with 82 all out.

Wajeeh got a four for seven, while Chaudhry took a four for 25, with two wickets for 12 for Anil Kumar, according to an American College Cricket press release. Haider Ali (34) and Chaudhry (32) took Rutgers to victory as they won by 7 wickets in 13.3 overs.

Rutgers had made it to the finals in 2016 but ultimately lost against the University of South Florida but this year they beat the University of Florida, Virginia Tech, the University of Texas Dallas and the University of South Florida, losing to only MIT.

According to American College Cricket, Rutgers was part of the original teams that formed in March 2009 and only began competing very recently as they weren’t allowed to travel and though they made it to the 2010 nationals and won the 2010 North East regional, they were always overshadowed by Toronto’s Ryerson University.

H-1B Cap for 2018 reached within 5 days

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterTravel 0

The United States (USCISUS) Citizenship and Immigration Services announced April 6 that it has reached the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 visa cap for H-1B high skilled work visa applications, as well as the 20,000 “Master’s exemption” for those with U.S. advanced degrees, five days after it began accepting applications.

The agency did not announce how many applications it had received overall for fiscal year 2019; it will now assign the highly-coveted visa – allotted to highly-skilled workers, primarily from India – via a randomized lottery.

In its announcement, USCIS stated that it will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, will also not be counted toward the FY 2019 H-1B cap.

USCIS said it will also continue to accept and process petitions filed to: Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the U.S.; Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers; Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

Fewer India-based companies are filing for work-based visas. Data released by the Department of Labor shows a dramatic dip in the number of H-1B visa applications from Indian companies in 2017. Infosys, the largest user of the program, had filed 33,245 H-1B applications in 2015, but filed only 20,587 in 2017, a drop of more than 38 percent, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. Also significant was Wipro, which filed 12,201 H-1B applications in 2015, but only 5,812 in 2017, a 52 percent drop.

Conversely, Google, the largest U.S. user of the visa program, filed about 4,000 H-1B applications in 2015, and 5,288 in 2017, a jump of 30 percent. Facebook had a 71 percent increase in the number of applications, filing about 1,000 in 2015, and more than 1,700 in 2017. Tesla has tripled its H-1B workforce over the past three years, filing 971 applications in 2017. Uber doubled its H-1B workforce during that same time period, filing 732 applications in 2017.

Shivendra Singh, vice president for global trade development at the National Association of Software and Services Companies – NASSCOM – released a statement April 6, noting: “America’s economy is crying out for more skilled talent, especially in the IT sector. The large number of applications and the speed with which the annual cap is reached demonstrate the high demand for these workers.”

‘Language proficiency is essential for your dream to work or study abroad.’

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterEducation 0

A vital pre-requisite in all companies and educational institutions is proof of English language proficiency. Therefore, all aspirants should take a language test to learn the right kind of skills, says Vikas Singh, Managing Director, Pearson India.

Vikas Singh, Managing Director of Pearson India, a leading education company, discusses the importance of English language proficiency for all those planning to work or study abroad.

The decision to go abroad for study or work is generally a tough call. What is a key factor that one should consider?

A vital pre-requisite in all companies and educational institutions is proof of English language proficiency. English language skills are considered to be an essential requirement in addition to all other requirements to work or study abroad, as it strongly relates to people’s ability to integrate into the community and workplace. Therefore, by taking an English language test, the aspirant is able to learn the right kind of skills which demonstrate their true proficiency and help them succeed.

How should an aspirant approach the test?

The test should assess the aspirant’s English language proficiency based on their ability in four key areas—speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Classically, aspirants face challenges in terms of not having a truly conducive environment to take the test. Additionally, human interventions / biases can affect the score outcome, apart from the anxiety of taking the test.

How does PTE Academic address these challenges?

PTE Academic (Pearson Test of English Academic) is a computer-based language test that offers students and employment seekers a fast (results typically in five business days), fair (accurate computer marking with no potential for examiner bias), and flexible (test sessions 360 days of the year) way of proving their English language proficiency. Since there is no examiner or human intervention in the test-taking process, the accuracy is higher. Our state-of-the-art test centres are soundproof and enable test takers to perform to their best potential. Additionally, advanced security systems like digital biometrics incorporating palm-scanning, digital signatures, randomized test formats, and CCTV cameras ensure that aspirants can appear for the test in a controlled and secure environment

GOPIO-NY organizes Symposium on Health & Wellness

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterHealth 0

The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) has a Health Council which has been actively pursuing better health and wellness of the Indian Diaspora community. Studies have shown that the South Asian origin people are more prone to heart deceases and diabetes.

The vision of GOPIO’s Wellness Spectrum is to provide experts advise for the benefit of the community on integrated modern medicine and the complimentary health care modalities for better health and wellness.

With these objectives, GOPIO-New York organized a Health and Wellness Symposium on Saturday, April 7, 2018, was a smashing success. Over 100 people participated the event which was co-sponsored by other community groups, Alliance of Global Sindhi Associations. The Indian American Kerala Center, India Association of Long Island (IALI) and Gujarati Samaj of New York. The event was held at the Indian American Kerala Center in Elmont, New York. The Indian Consulate also helped the event as a Supporter.

The symposium was put together by physician Dr. Yousuf Syed and Rita Batheja, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Inaugural Community Leader of Asian Indians In Nutrition and Dietetics Member Interest Group, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The symposium was moderated by GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham who said, “GOPIO has several news initiates including its own Chamber of Commerce and GOPIO Councils for Women, Youth, Academic, Science and Technology, Seniors and Cultural, however, promoting health and wellness is a very important initiative taken by GOPIO since 2010.”

After a formal welcome by Kerala Center President Thambi Thalappillil, GOPIO-New York, President Beena Kothari who put together the sponsors and all other arrangements thanked all participating organizations, sponsors and speakers. The symposium was formally inaugurated by Mr. K. Devadasan Nair, Consul for Community Affairs from the Indian Consulate in New York.

The opening speaker Rita K. Batheja, a registered dietitian and nutritionist spoke on the topic, “Intro. to Functional Medicine & Personalized Life Style.” According to Batheja, informed consumer makes educational decision and thereby take your health in your own hand. Batheja further said to drink filtered water instead of sugary drinks, eat clean food and avoid dirty dozen by visiting www.foodnews.org and also use the app think dirty’. Have a restful sleep and eat nutrient dense food. Learn to manage stress with music and dance or activity of one’s choice.. “Use food as a Medicine and Functional Medicine is Pomegranate over prescription. It heals the body vs treats the symptoms by looking at the entire system,” Batheja continued.

Dr. Yousuf U. Syed, M.D., a Pathologist spoke on the topic, “How to Prevent Common Diseases.” Dr. Syed said that proper medical care, nutritional excellence, planed vegan raw veg diet, regular exercise and Yoga practice are beneficial in preventing and in some cases can reverse the epidemic of high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes and kidney ailments.

Dr. Vasudha Gupta, Ayurvedic Practitioner and master pulse reader who founded American Ayurveda spoke on topic, “The Scope of Ayurveda in Today’s Health Care.” Dr. Gupta explained the advantages of Ayurveda and the modern health care and that how both modalities are complementary and can go hand in hand working towards the goal of optimum human well-being.

“Ayurveda is an ancient Indian Health care system that considers the human being as an Mindy, Body and Spirit Entity and works with the aim of balancing all three whereas modern medicine views human body as a Biological and Chemical machine. Both modality can work better if they go hand in hand,” said Dr. Gupta.

“Ayurveda can become better by using the latest discoveries in investigating techniques and the modern medicine can become better by including the bio-energetics of human body and food along with making the pharmaceutical medicines more holistic and environment friendly,” Dr. Gupta continued.

Yoga teacher Chandni Rodriguez, trained under her mother Gurjani Anjali who is the founder of Yoga Anand Ashram ((Amityville, NY), spoke on “The Benefit of Yoga for Sound Health.” According to Rodriguez, the ancient practice of Yoga supports our physical health by strengthening our Pranic energy.

“The Prana that flows through our bodies is our vitality and hen this is blocked there is suffering Duhkam in the body and mind, said Rodriguez. The yogic practices of asana (postures) and pranayama (breath control) regulate and balance this energy. The meditative practices calm and reset the equilibrium in the body and mind. In this way health is maintained. Rodriguez and her associate Shyam Metgar of Westchester Yoga Arts gave yoga demonstrations.

Concluding the symposium, Gunjan Rastogi, President of India Association of Long Island, said “the 3 golden nuggets from Health and wellness symposium are: Health is wealth, Vegetarian diet for healthy living and Yoga and meditation are the secrets to physical and mental wellness” GOPIO-New York President Kothari thanked everyone and said the chapter woud continue such educational program in the future.

Hindu community leaders meet US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

After weeks of planning, HAF and other Hindu community leaders formally met for an hour with Sam Brownback, US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom. HAF first began engaging with Ambassador Brownback in his previous role as Governor of Kansas during the aftermath of last year’s tragic hate-killing of Srinivas Kuchibotla.

The purpose of this meeting was to initiate an ongoing dialogue between the broader Hindu American community and Amb. Brownback on international issues of concern, such as religious freedom, human rights, and terrorism that impact Hindus in India, South Asia, and other parts of the world.

After meeting with Ambassador Brownback, HAF and community leaders met with representatives of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to address community concerns about USCIRF’s special report on India, released in 2017, as well as HAF criticism of that report. Present at the meeting were three USCIRF staff (in person) as well as two USCIRF commissioners (via teleconference) — Father Thomas Reese, who was chair of USCIRF during the release of the special report, and Clifford May.

Open Mosque Day for all Faiths Unites People of All Faith at Islamic Center of Naperville

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Naperville, IL, April 15, 2018: The unseasonably cold, rainy April day did not dampen the enthusiasm of the guests as they poured into the Islamic Center of Naperville (ICN) to attend the Open Mosque Day hosted by the Islamic Center on Sunday, April 15th. They walked in from the cold to a warm, friendly welcome by about 80 volunteers from ICN who have been working tirelessly over the past few weeks to make this a successful event.

“We really enjoy hosting our friends and neighbors from different faiths and we strive hard to make their visit to our mosque a memorable one” said Shoaib Khadri, President of the Islamic Center of Naperville. “This is our sixth Open Mosque Day and at every one of them, we see many familiar faces of interfaith partners, friends and people who have attended before, but this year, we saw a significant number of new people, which was very welcoming. The primary purpose of the event was to give people of different faiths an opportunity to visit a mosque, something they may have never had a chance to do, and learn more about their Muslim neighbors and the faith that they practice.”

The guests started coming in as soon as the doors opened at 11 AM and it was a constant flow of people who varied from students to church groups, elected representatives, school board officials, law enforcement officers, local girl scout troops, families with kids, and the elderly across various faith denominations. Many students from local community colleges who are in Professor Dave Huber’s “World Religion” class participated in the event to get some firsthand exposure to Islam. The organizers estimated over 800 attendees based on the registration figures.

The format of the Open Mosque Day (OMD) was similar to the previous similar events with the main booths and food in the gym, the congregational prayers in the prayer halls, and presentations in separate rooms. A new addition to this year’s OMD was an inspirational gallery showcasing beautiful exhibits with verses of the Quran as well as Hadith – the sayings of Prophet Mohammed.

All the booths were laid out along the periphery of the gym with a large open area in the middle for people to gather, meet with a seating section facing a stage where continuous videos featuring the activities of ICN were played along with some snippets about Islam. The booth on Prophet Muhammad provided information about the life and the teachings of the last messenger of Islam where volunteers discussed various aspects of the prophet’s exemplary character and its impact on the Muslims. A second booth was dedicated to the Quran, the holy scripture of Islam that Muslims believe was the divine revelation from God.

The booth that always attracts a lot of questions was the “Islam and Extremism” booth considering all the negative perception of Islam in the public. The volunteers shared a lot of material that clearly explained that aggression and killing of innocent people were clearly forbidden in Islam and how most violence carried out in the name of religion is actually politically motivated and had no religious basis.

People lined up to get their names written in Arabic Calligraphy by Mahfooz Khan, an active member of the ICN Interfaith Committee who also has a flair and talent in Arabic Calligraphy. An “Artifacts and Culture” booth highlighted different aspects of Islamic culture, architecture with displays of different artifacts.

An “Islam & Science” booth illustrated the harmony between Islam and science by highlighting various scientific facts with references to the Quran and the numerous contributions of Muslims to the field of Science.

The “Women in Islam” booth was buzzing with activities with people curious to learn about women’s rights in Islam and questions about why women cover their hair. Various women volunteers at the booth were happy to answer their questions while giving the female guests a unique opportunity to try on a hijab (head scarf) that the guests were allowed to take home. Volunteers also drew beautiful designs of henna on guests’ hands.

The guests enjoyed a wide array of food ranging from Mediterranean cuisine to South Asian snacks to delicious desserts with tea and coffee. The food tables were well staffed with cheerful volunteers and continually replenished with the delicious food throughout the event. There were booths with free literature on Islam and copies of the Quran for people to take home, including a separate booth with literature in Spanish.

One of the most attractive features of the event was the screening of a multimedia presentation titled “Journey through Time” which was produced by Yousuf Siddiqui, Chairman of ICN’s Outreach Committee – a beautifully articulated message highlighting six of the greatest messengers of Islam – Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad with direct references in the Quran on each of them. Mr. Yousuf Siddiqui, said “We wanted to show our guests that Islam believes in these prophets, and their common message of the worship of One God. We had huge interest from the visitors and had excellent dialogue afterwards in the post question and answers sessions.” A recent addition to the multimedia presentations was a video production called “The Great Women in Islam” that highlighted inspiring stories from women who are revered in Islamic history as well as great contributors to the faith over the years.

Shahab Sayeedi, a board member of the ICN as well as an active member of the Outreach Committee, presented the basics of Islam and answered guest’s questions. Islam 101 presentation at the top of every hour was a popular attraction as the crowds filled the room Shahab said, “The Islam101 presentations provided our guests with an understanding of Islam and some of its practices while allowing them to ask questions and any clear misconceptions they may have had in a friendly and relaxed environment in the mosque.”

A new feature called “The Feedback Wall” – a large paper mounted board to solicit feedback from the guests, captured the mood of the visitors as many of them penned their thoughts in vibrant marker colors. Mayor Steve Chirico of Naperville, who spent a fair amount of time interacting with the hosts as well as the guests, commented: “Thank you for being such wonderful community partners.”Another guest wrote: “It’s amazing how at home I feel when we talk about our similarities and not our differences, Thank you for sharing your beliefs.” Bishop Andrew Child of the Church of Latter Day Saints who brought a number of his congregants, summed it up very well: “Thank You! Inspiring event. We can all learn from each other and strengthen one another in our faith.”

Salman Rushdie honored with doctorate degree by Indiana University

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterEducation 0

Critically acclaimed author Sir Salman Rushdie has been conferred with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during his visit to the Indiana University Bloomington campus March 29. Rushdie was in Bloomington as part of the university’s semester-long “India Remixed: Global Arts and Humanities Festival.”

In his address, Rushdie compared eastern and western fiction, discussing how eastern fiction is less likely to have some kind of moral revelation at the end than western fiction and how kids have too much independence in western stories.

“They don’t guarantee the triumph of virtue,” he said of eastern tales as he recalled listening to many stories as a child and urged the audience of 1,000 in Indiana University’s auditorium, to write unrealistic stories as they have a more powerful meaning. “Write what you know, but only if what you know is really interesting. I’m in favor of continuing to make things up. We are all dreaming creatures, so dream on paper,” Rushdie said.

“For more than four decades, Sir Salman Rushdie has been a teller of truths. Through the conferral of an honorary degree upon Sir Salman Rushdie today, we acknowledge and recognize that the extraordinary works for which he is renowned constitute major contributions to world literature, advancements of our culture, and that they shed light on the truth of what it means to be human,” McRobbie said about Rushdie.

Rushdie has written 13 novels, including “Midnight’s Children” and “The Satanic Verses,” for which the Islamic Republic of Iran leader issued a fatwā against him, calling for Rushdie to be punished by death as the Islamic spiritual leader called the book “blasphemous and insulting toward Muslims.”

The fatwā ended up creating violence around the world and Rushdie had to live under police protection for a few years though he continued to write and publish his books during that time. Rushdie was born in India and his work primarily focuses on writing fictional stories that explain the difficulties of reality.

Meera Komarraju Named Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor at Southern Illinois University

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterEducation 0

Meera Komarraju, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, will become the university’s interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs pending approval of the university’s Board of Trustees.

SIU Chancellor Carlo Montemagno said Komarraju’s appointment, which will be effective April 13 if approved, fills an important gap in the university’s leadership. The provost’s responsibilities have been divided among other members of the provost’s office since the retirement of previous interim provost Susan Ford in June 2017.

The university’s provost oversees the academic colleges, library affairs, the graduate school, off-campus programs, the honors program, information technology and the centers for international education and teaching excellence.

“Dr. Komarraju is well-qualified to move the revitalization of our academic programs forward,” Montemagno said. “She is highly respected across campus as an administrator, teacher and researcher who has displayed a strong commitment to SIU throughout her career. She possesses the experience and skills needed to succeed as interim provost.”

As dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Komarraju currently oversees the largest academic unit on campus. She came to SIU as a lecturer in 1986 and has served as director of the Department of Psychology’s undergraduate program, chair of the department, and associate dean for student and curricular affairs in the College of Liberal Arts before her 2015 appointment as dean.

She is a professor of psychology and holds a doctoral degree in applied social psychology from the University of Cincinnati and doctoral and master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology from Osmania University in India. She also holds a master’s degree in sociology from Osmania University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology, philosophy and English literature from Nizam College in India.

Komarraju is widely published in her field and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. She is a past recipient of the university’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award.

“If approved by the Board of Trustees, I would be deeply honored to serve SIU Carbondale and advance it in partnership with our students, staff, faculty, campus administrators, alumni and community members” Komarraju said.

“We have an extremely strong base with outstanding academic programs as well as talented faculty members and resourceful staff members who are devoted to our students,” she added. “We will continue to work towards raising our academic profile, recognizing that strong academic programs, high quality research and excellent teaching are at the heart of the university.”

Indian Americans, Latinos will be undercounted in 2020 Census, due to new question about citizenship

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Indian Americans will face a severe undercount in the 2020 Census, noted Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, during a national press call April 5. The call brought together several civil rights leaders who examined the impact of chronic underfunding and a new, untested question on citizenship to the accuracy of the 2020 Census count. The panelists concluded that the citizenship question would deter the immigrant community from responding.

Gupta, who served in the Justice Department’s civil rights division during the Obama administration, noted that many Indian Americans live in “mixed status” households, in which certain family members may be citizens whereas others are undocumented. Such households would be reluctant to respond to the Census survey, she said. “The level of distrust is already very high; it is pitched by the anti-immigrant rhetoric of this administration,” said Gupta, responding to a question. “The climate of fear created by the Trump administration will cause participation rates to plummet,” she asserted.

“Inclusion in the Census is very important to the functioning of our democracy,” said Gupta, underscoring the point that both federal dollars and representation in government are determined by Census data. She feared that insufficient federal resources would be allocated to minority communities based on an inaccurate Census count, and added that mayors around the country – of both parties – are concerned about potential cuts in federal revenue due to inaccuracies in Census data.

India is the home country for the fastest-growing population of undocumented Americans; almost half a million Indian Americans – one out of every six – lack requisite immigration documents, according to data culled from 2016 Department of Homeland Security statistics.

U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced late March 26 that a question about citizenship would be added to the 2020 Census, immediately sparking fierce backlash from the immigrant community that the question would lead to an undercount of the U.S. population.

California state Attorney General Xavier Becerra immediately filed a lawsuit. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman led a coalition of 18 attorneys general and six cities and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors to file a lawsuit April 2 which would block the administration from adding the citizenship question to the 2020 form.

“Ross caved to pressure. His decision is deeply flawed and a failure of leadership. It is a capitulation to Trump’s nativist agenda,” said Gupta during the press call. Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials – NALEO – stated that Ross’s decision to add the untested citizenship question to the Census was “the worst policy decision ever.”

“This is a tactic devised to keep people away from participating in the Census,” he said, noting that this is the first time an online Census will be implemented which could lead to a critical undercount of minority and rural communities who lack access to the internet.

John Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, noted that $800 billion of federal funding is allocated in accordance with Census population data. He added that businesses also use the data when determining where to set up shop, and in staffing decisions that mirror local communities.

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, added that the new decision to count incarcerated people in the counties in which they are jailed, rather than their homes, would also lead to inaccurate data. He characterized an undercount of a specific community as racial discrimination. Morial served as chair of the 2010 Census Advisory Committee.

Indian American Physicians organize World Health Day on outskirts of Varanasi

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Nearly 2,000 villagers and underprivileged citizens from the outskirts of Varanasi, India came together as AAPI and AAPI Charitable Foundation organized World Health Day on April 7^th, under the leadership of Dr. Raj Bhayani, President-Elect of AAPI-QLI.

The day long event was organized in association with Mahila Swarojgar Samiti with a view to educate women and children on the need for healthy living and how to prevent people from being impacted by health issues.

“This is a very much impoverished area of Varanasi where any help will be substantial,” said Dr. Bhayani. “We will be launching TB FREE VARANASI campaign soon in this region initially, and will take the campaign across the nation, later on.”

About 100 volunteers have been trained and are ready to go to popularize the campaign and educate the rural people in this region on healthy living and on ways to prevent and treat Tuberclosis. These volunteers will go and knock on every door and conduct a survey in order to identify the potential needy people. The organizers plan to target a minimum of 250,0000 to a maximum of 500,000 citizens out of 2 million total citizens who will be surveyed by August and they hope to have a substantial data ready by the time AAPI will organzie its next edition of the Global Healthcare Summit in December 2018.

Dr. Bhayani has urged AAPI leadership to “add this location for starting AAPI charitable clinic as we have a great reliable local partner and devoted and dedicated local team as well as tremendous need of clinic in this area.”

Mahila Swarojgar Samiti is working here since 2002 with focus on health education in women and women empowerment and has been recognized by United Nations in Geneva. I am on the board of this organization. And bhayani foundation has been supporting their work. The clinic at this location will be an excellent initiative by AAPI.

“AAPI has organized elevan Indo – US/Global Healthcare Submits in India and has heled develop strategic alliances with various organizations. It is these learnings and relationships that have now enabled us to plan ahead and prepare for this annual outstanding event, the Global Healthcare Summit, that has made initiated numerous policies and programs benefitting the delivery of healthcare and policies that make healthcare affordable and efficient in India,” said Dr. Gautam Samadder, President of AAPI. For more details, please visit: www.appiusa.org

‘Turban Day’ celebrated on Times Square

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Culture/Religion 0

Thousands of turbans were on the heads of people from different races, religions and nationalities as the non-profit Sikhs of New York held Turban Day 2018- Times Square– A Vaisakhi Celebration.” The Sikh community’s this annual initiative held on April 7^th in New York City this year, has been launched to promote understanding of their faith and dispel stereotypes about the piece of attire as the main stream media and the whole world watched live and live-streaming of the event via social media.

Volunteers from Sikhs of New York organization tied turbans on the heads of visitors while explaining its significance for Sikhs and telling them about their religion, which is probably the most misunderstood faith in the US.

Thousands who came to enjoy the show also participated in turban tying, so that a new Guinness World Record for the “Most Turbans tied in 8 hours” was set at Times Square. Representatives from Guinness World Records were present to judge the turban tying, and awarded the recognition based on their first-hand witnessing of the event. And Sikhs of New York also received a citation from Governor Andrew Cuomo, the organization announced in a press release.

Intense and pulsing Punjabi beats filled the air in Times Square as many including famous food lover Varli Singh and her family, joined the celebration, dancing and raising their voice in some “balle balle” showing off the newly-tied turbans. So many who came got turbans tied so that Times Square turned into waves of color as if Holi was being played, but this time with long pieces of colorful cloth artfully wrapped on the head.

As some volunteers were asking the public whether anyone wanted to get a Turban tied for free, other volunteers were holding up signs with the names and photos of important Indian-American Sikhs to further educate New Yorkers and tourists about Sikhs and their contributions worldwide.

“The reason we are having this event is to spread awareness that people with turban on their heads are Sikhs,” said Gagandeep Singh, one of the event’s organizers from Sikhs of New York. “We explain why Sikhs tie turbans, what a turban stands for. It gives you a responsibility. If a person needs help, a person with a turban is supposed to help them,” he said, adding that this was the sixth edition of the event and the people’s response has been amazing.

“Really enjoyed celebrating #TurbanDay in NYC today. Event intended to demystify Sikh turban and educate general public about the Sikh community. Honored by the very warm welcome from so many in the Sikh community” Bhalla tweeted on the evening of April 7 with a bunch of photos showing how much fun he had with his family at the event.

Sikhs of New York has been hosting Turban Day since 2013 to raise awareness about the fifth largest religion whose followers began coming to the U.S. during the British Raj in India about 125 years ago. Despite their long history in this country, Sikhs remain the least understood minority among Indian-American immigrants in this country, and have borne the brunt of hate crimes and attacks on South Asians since 9/11.

Indo American Press Club Executive Committee inaugurated at Indian Consulate

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

New York: Now in its 5^th year, Indo American Press Club (IAPC) inaugurated its 2018 Executive Committee at the Indian Consulate in New York on April 19. Well-known TV journalist as well as social and political activist Renee Mehrra is the incoming President. The oath of office was administered by Ginsmon Zacharia, who founded IAPC and served as chairman till last year. Among other activities, the new team will organize the annual International Media Conference in Atlanta this October.

In his inaugural address, Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty encouraged IAPC and its new team in their mission. He specially congratulated the club on selecting a woman to lead it. He said that government officials and diplomats like him depend on the media to get their message across.

Renee Mehraa, in her acceptance speech, said, “Media has a responsibility to lead society and culture in a positive way and we are fortunate to do work that makes a tangible difference in the lives of our vibrant community.” She promised to take IAPC to a new level with the help of her executive committee and her friends in the social-political sphere. She also would like to see more women of color in US media for a more inclusive democracy.

As TV anchor Renee has been associated with ITV for many years. As community activist, she is a former NYC Commissioner for Human Rights and is Adviser, Women’s Cabinet, NYC Mayor’s Office of Minority Affairs.

Many officials and Indian community leaders were at hand to congratulate Renee, whom they have known for many years. Among them was NYS Assemblyman David Weprin, Dr Neeta Jain (Democratic District leader from 25^th Assembly District), Shiv Dass and Darshan Singh Bagga. Malini Shah, community liaison for NYC Councilman Paul Vallone gave a citation to Renee as did a representative from NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office. Governor Andrew Cuomo and Congressman Joseph Crowley sent congratulatory messages. 4-year-old Merryn Augustine gave a Bharatanatyam performance. Vote of thanks was given by Anil Mathew, IAPC General Secretary. Roopsi Narula of TV Asia and IAPC Vice President ably conducted the event as MC.

India Business Conference at Columbia University discuses ‘India: Unlocking the Growth Engine’

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterBusiness 0

Hundreds of business enthusiasts, including several Indian titans and entrepreneurs attended the 14th annual India Business Conference on Saturday, April 7th, at Columbia University, a day-long conference presented by the South Asian Business Association (SABA), discussing, ‘India: Unlocking the Growth Engine.’ Prominent among those attended the event at the heart of the world were, the Consul General of India in New York, Sandeep Chakravorty, Hikmet Ersek, the President, CEO and Director of Western Union; Salman Khurshid, the former Minister of External Affairs and Subramanian Swamy, the former Minister of Law, Justice and Commerce.

The India Business Conference is the premier India-focused forum that inspires thought-leadership and generates discussions around the business, social, political, and creative undercurrents that permeate Indian life. The conference brought together the nation’s most influential and insightful voices in analyzing India’s growth trajectory, discuss its economic and socio-political components and debate strategies for businesses to grow over the next decade.

Both Khurshid and Swamy spoke about the economic growth rate of India since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. “India is a remarkable destination for investment; India is on the move; India is an emerging economy and India has a bright future lying ahead,” Khurshid said in his opening remarks, talking about how the economy of India has grown in the areas of food, health, housing and education after the election of Modi as prime minister.

“The critical problem in our country was how we can integrate the rural economy with the urban economy. How do we change the terms of trade, how do we shift the industry to agriculture,” Khurshid asked the roomful of business enthusiasts, adding “we must not forget that India still has a huge number of people who live below the poverty line, who live without hope and aspiration to become a part of this ‘New India,’ the India of Narendra Modi.”

He also touched upon the fact that people in India have a mobile phone but don’t have the capacity to pay a doctor, send their children to school or even travel five to 10 kilometers. Khurshid concluded his remarks by stating that India is in a crisis due to the many social norms that the population of the country disagrees on and so now “we have to have faith in democracy. In democracy, you have to understand that the dialogue and conversations in a democracy are very critical. You cannot have a democracy based only on numbers; a democracy has to be based on communication. The trouble in India today is that we have forgotten that communication is an integral part of democracy and we have restricted ourselves to numbers only.”

Swamy focused his remarks on the development of India’s economy since May 26, 2014, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office, but touched upon issues like demonetization and GST. “First of all I would like to say that the BJP came to power after 33 years in full majority and it is not based only on the economic performance that we promised but we also made an appeal for the unity of nationalistic forces, which our critics define as ‘Hindutva,’ so that we can fight corruption,” Swamy said.

“It is our view, mine in particular, that past history shows that pure economic performance does not guarantee the ladder to success. In a brief period of two-and-a-half years, Morarji Desai produced one of the best economic situations particularly for the people because it controlled prices to such an extent that human ration cards became unfashionable. But he lost the election. Narsimha Rao produced a miracle of sorts; he abolished the soviet economic system and brought in a market economy. But he too lost,” Swamy added.

Swamy informed all the attendees that “during the last four-and-a-half years there has been an acceleration of growth of GDP” in India and that prior to 2014, those growth rates were decelerating.

It was within the first two years after the 2014 election that the growth rates started to increase again. However, they have been decreasing since the 2016-2017 financial year and have come down to six percent a year which is not enough because India needs to have at least a 10 percent growth rate each year for the next 10 years in order to solve the problems of unemployment and inequality, he said.

Along with mentioning the fact that the rate of domestic sales has declined in the past four years because of high interest rates and the labor laws need to be changed, Swamy announced that the idea of demonetization was his when he was the chairman of strategic action under Prime Minister Modi. Swamy concluded his remarks on a hopeful note about how the youngsters of India are the future of the country and will take India to a higher level.

In a fireside chat with Ersek and Columbia University professor Stephen P. Zeldes, Ersek said that Western Union has licenses to operate in over 200 countries and with 50 million customers, they are able to transfer a total of $150 billion worldwide each year with 31 transactions taking place every second. Ersek also talked about trust and how that has been the company’s strength for all these years when transferring money to India and other countries.

“More than 50 percent of the people who receive money through Western Union are female, mainly mothers who are worried about their children’s future and thus tend to spend their money more wisely than males,” Ersek said.

Now in the growing age of digitization, many are relying on sending and receiving money on their mobile devices through the Western Union app and Ersek reassured an audience member that there is no need to worry about crypto currencies because for Western Union it depends on the environment as “it occurs in closed environments” and Western Union customers are in a more open one, especially in India.

Others who spoke at the conference included: Francisco D’Souza, the CEO of Cognizant; Anjali Bansal, the former MD of TPG Private Equity; Gaurav Dalmia, the Chairman of Dalmia Group Holdings; Sheena Iyengar, a S.T. Lee Professor of Business; Ananth Narayanan, the CEO Myntra & Jabong; Shankar Narayanan, the former MD of Carlyle Group; Ashwini Tewari, the Country Head of the U.S. Operations at State Bank of India; Meera Vasudevan, Co-founder of Tasty Bite Eatables; Arvind Panagariya, the Ex Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog; Sanjay Nath, the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Blume Ventures; Deepak Ohri, the CEO of Lebua Hotels and Resorts; Kshitij Bhati, the former Warburg Pincus; and, Musthafa PC, the CEO & Co-founder of iD Fresh Food (India) Pvt. Ltd.

AAPI takes its legislative agenda to Capitol Hill Dozens of US Lawmakers Address AAPI Delegates

April 17, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

The powerful voice of the leaders and members of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), the largest ethnic medical organization in the United States, was heard on Capitol Hill early Thursday, April 12^th at the annual Legislative Day. Addressed by dozens of lawmakers from both the parties, the event was forum for AAPI to have its voices heard on the corridors of power and giving them a voice in shaping the healthcare policies and programs of the nation.

In his welcome address, Dr. Gautam Samadder, President of AAPI, expressed his sincere gratitude and appreciation to AAPI delegates and the Congressmen “for taking the time out to come and support AAPI’s agenda at the national level, in our efforts to make our voices heard in the corridors of power. AAPI’s legislative day on Capitol Hill, addressed by dozens of US lawmakers from both the major parties, a recognition of AAPI’s growing influence and having its united voice heard in the corridors of power.”

AAPI Agenda for its 2018 Legislative day included, expressing support for the H.R. 3592 “The South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act of 2017,” providing for research and grants to improve the cardiovascular health care of South Asian Americans; Lowering the Cost of Prescription Drugs; Immigration Reform, enhancing H-1 and J-1 visas, Green Card that are used by many South Asian American physicians, playing an important role in providing critical health care across the country; Increased Residency Slots, help reducing the chronic physician shortage, urging legislation adding 15,000 more residency slots, which will help to train up to 45,000 more doctors in the next two decades; Medicare and Medicaid Reimbursements that have not kept up with the cost of care and the growing populations utilizing them; and, Tort Reform, to reduce the practice of defensive medicine, thus, bringing down the overall cost of health care, and limit the number of meritless lawsuits; and, discussing the disadvantages of Repeal of the Individual Mandate, especially, leading to patients drop their health care coverage and how will this impact premiums.

“I know you are hitting the Hill on a number of issues not the least of which is health care and your concerns about the direction of our country”, Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley of New York told a packed room of Indian-origin physicians in the Rayburn Building. “What really drives all of you is that you want to be able to carry out your profession in a noble way. At the same time, you want that respect which you deserve. More importantly, you want to save people’s lives, make the human condition better. That is incredibly admirable, something that is given short shrift”, he said.

Rep. Crowley assured, “I continue to work to increase the number of slots here in the United States” and spoke of the GME (Graduate Medical Education) Expansion Legislation which he introduced with Republican Congressman Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania, in 2017. The bill calls for an additional 3,000 residency positions for five consecutive years. “It is important that we increase the slots because we are going to need more doctors, more technicians, more physician assistants, not less”, Crowley said.

As Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce stated he “has worked very diligently to improving US-India relations”. The California Republican called for liberalizing changes in policy that create economic opportunity for everyone. Republican Congressman Steve Chabot who represents Cincinnati, Ohio, said, “The relationship between India and the US is, I believe, one of our most important. We are natural allies. We have so much more in common than differences”, he said.

Congressman Joe Wilson said, “I was not born in India, but I was born with an appreciation of the people of India. The lawmaker lauded the contributions of Indian-Americans, in particular Dino Teppara who has served as his chief-of-staff. Teppara, now a public affairs officer in the US Navy Reserve, has been working closely with AAPI leaders for the very successful Legislative Day on Capitol Hill.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, the first Hindu lawmaker to serve on Capitol Hill and current Democratic co-chair of the House India Caucus, pointed to how the relationship between “our two countries has progressed. It has only continued to grow stronger and stronger.” She acknowledged that “the H-1B visa issue is one of the biggest challenges facing the community” and lamented that a lot of people don’t understand the consequences of the backlog and continued effort to limit H-1B visas. “In Hawaii, we have a drastic shortage of physicians and it’s always difficult to get and retain doctors who can provide that care”, Gabbard told the AAPI delegates. “Your presence and your advocacy is very helpful as we try to construct substantive policy that best serves the American people”, she said.

Pramila Jayapal, the first ever Indian-American woman elected to the US House of Representatives, who had introduced ‘The South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act of 2017′ with her Republican colleague Joe Wilson of South Carolina to improve the cardiovascular health care of South Asian Americans, said, “It is a bill that can actually move, that helps educate our community because frankly, we can be a little flip about heart health.” Stressing that the community has incredibly high incidents of heart disease, she believed that being able to use a few resources from the federal government to emphasize and target the South Asian community is very important. “I am going to continue to lift up health care for everyone”, she pledged. To AAPI leaders, she said, “Thank you for your incredible leadership, for your advocacy, for your friendship, for your support. It means so much to me. When I come here it feels like I am coming home”.

“I have seen Dr. Shivangi, Ramesh Kapur, Dr. Shah, Dr. Bharat Barai, knocking the halls of Congress before it was popular”, Congressman Ro Khanna said at the event. “Now, it is very trendy to be Indian-American. You get invited everywhere. Everyone wants to meet with you. That was not the case earlier. These folks have dedicated their lives to being a voice for our community. They have dedicated their skill at it”, he stated, adding he is “so proud of all the doctors” as they “are the ambassadors of the community” even in rural areas.

“Some of my favorite people in America are here in this room”, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said, looking around a venue packed with his supporters. “There is only one reason that I was elected to the United States Congress and that reason is you”, he stressed. “You are a success in the greatest country the world has ever known: the United States. And you are the pride of one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known: India”, he said. Krishnamoorthi made a strong pitch for Indian-Americans to become even more engaged – to vote, volunteer on campaigns, run for political office. Referring to an adage he often repeats, ‘If you don’t have a seat on the table, you’re on the menu’, Krishnamoorthi added, “We will not be on the menu if we do the needful” by being engaged in public policy.

Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., of New Jersey, co-founder of the House India Caucus, denounced the anti-immigrant fervor emanating from the White House. He referred to a bill he introduced with two other House Democrats which would prevent the ACA from being sabotaged by President Trump and Republicans in Congress. He explained that the legislation eliminates the cap on subsidies, increases the amount that is available to help people pay their premiums, and seeks to stabilize the market by having a reinsurance component to get more insurers and create more competition to lower prices. He was hopeful the bill will pass if Democrats win the House and Senate in the 2018 midterm elections. “We need to have a pathway to citizenship for H-1B and J-1 visa holders, and for the Dreamers”, he added.

Extolling AAPI members for their “incredible work ethic and strong family values”, Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro, who had supporting pro-immigration bill H.R. 392 (Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2017), said, “It is immigrants who have made America the great country that we are”. He was critical of the fact that in his home district in California, “we have 0.95 physicians for every 1,000 people, not even one physician for every 1,000 people”, he said. “The statewide average is 2.25 physicians. So, we are trying desperately, besides our Residency programs, to get a medical school in the San Joaquin Valley as part of the University of California system”. He highlighted the fact that between Bakersfield and Modesto in CA, there are over 900 Indian-American physicians, serving his district.

“We are blessed to have a great Indian-American community with physicians so well represented”, Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock of Virginia said. Referring to shortages in the whole medical field — doctors, physician assistants, nursing homes – the lawmaker told AAPI members, “As we are an aging population, we are facing all kinds of shortages and I know you are on the front lines of that. If we could work together, I would be delighted to”, she said. Regarding soaring pharmaceutical costs, Comstock mentioned she is part of a bipartisan group in the House called the Problem Solvers Caucus which, among other issues, is focused on bringing down drug prices.

Congressman Peter Roskam of Illinois, former Republican co-chair of the House India Caucus, spoke of the “enormous Indian diaspora in Chicago. Nearly every physician I meet is married to another Indian physician”, he quipped. “What is so interesting is how deeply connected and what a big leadership role these communities are playing in the Chicago area”, he said. The lawmaker, who chairs the subcommittee on health on the Ways and Means Committee, encouraged AAPI members to provide feedback from a medical point-of-view about the obstacles they face in caring for their patients.

Among other attendees at the AAPI event were: Republican Congressman Phil Roe of Tennessee, one of few physicians serving on Capitol Hill; Republican Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania; Republican Congressman Andy Barr of Kentucky; Maryland Delegate Aruna Miller (Democrat), currently running for Congress in the state’s sixth Congressional District; Jason Marino, Senior Assistant Director of Congressional Affairs at the American Medical Association; Dr. Naseem Shekhani, president-elect, Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA); and Nuala Moore, Associate Director of Government Relations at the American Thoracic Society.

“AAPI represents, the growing influence of doctors of Indian heritage is evident, as increasingly physicians of Indian origin hold critical positions in the healthcare, academic, research and administrative positions across the nation. With hard work, dedication, compassion, and skills, we have thus carved an enviable niche in the American medical community. AAPI’s role has come to be recognized as vital among members and among lawmakers,” Dr. Vinod Shah, AAPI’s Legislative Committee Chairman, said.

Legislative Co-Chair Dr. Sampat Shivangi, said, “There are many issues affecting our community and the physicians across the nation. Now is the time to ensure our voices are heard on these vital issues. Additionally, those with good contacts with their own congressman, should reach out to his/her office and enlist their support on these issues dear to us.”

Dr. Naresh parikh, President-Elect of AAPI, said, “AAPI is a non-political umbrella organization which has nearly 90 local chapters, specialty societies and alumni organizations. Almost 10%-12% of medical students entering US schools are of Indian origin. AAPI represents the interests of over 60,000 physicians and 25,000 medical students and residents of Indian heritage in the United States. I am extremely happy that we have come together today to express our voices and as we all stand together to convey and communicate our concerns on this very special day to the lawmakers who have come to hear us and address our concerns.” The day began on Capitol Hill, and culminated at the Indian Embassy with a dinner and was addressed by the Indian Ambassador to the US and other senior officials. For more details on AAPI and its numerous inittiaves, please visit: www.appiusa.org

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi meets PM Modi in India, commits to work to strengthen Indo-US ties

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

President Donald Trump has continued with the India policy of his predecessor Barack Obama and the support for the Indo-US relationship transcends political parties here, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, an influential Indian-American lawmaker has said.

“I think that his India policy so far has been somewhat of a continuation of what President Barack Obama did and, before President Obama, what President Bush had done,” Democratic Congressman, a vocal critic of the foreign policy of Trump, said.

At a time when several issues beset the U.S.-India relationship, including the H-1B visa and trade matters, Rep. Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, says he will work with U.S. lawmakers to ensure the bilateral relationship is strengthened.

He issued a statement to that effect following on his April 6th meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi where he said he discussed the special relationship between the United States and India.

The formal talks were conducted as part of a high-level delegation of American Congressional leaders meeting with their Indian counterparts to discuss trade, strategic partnerships, and security coordination, which his office told News India Times, was hosted by India’s External Affairs Ministry. The other lawmakers in the bipartisan U.S. delegation included another Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera, D-California, as well as Reps. Dave Schweikert, R- Arizona, Tom Suozzi, D-NY, Terri Sewell, D -AL, Dina Titus, D – NV, Drew Ferguson, R – GA, and Pete Olson, R-TX.

“I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in Congress to ensure that the United States and India are able to continue their partnership on peace and security in an uncertain world,” Krishnamoorthi is quoted saying in a press release. Calling it an honor to meet Modi to discuss the further strengthening of the “special relationship,” Krishnamoorthi described India as the “linchpin of security” in the Indo-Pacific region, which the Trump administration has made one of its foreign policy priorities.

“This week’s talks have been instrumental in ensuring that the United States and India continue to build on our security partnerships and promote peace and stability in the region and across the world,” Krishnamoorthi said about the discussions held with counterparts and officials. “The meeting with the Prime Minister only underscored that at the heart of our friendship with India are the values that we share: a commitment to freedom, democracy, and the rule of law,” the Congressman said.

“US-India relationship is a special partnership, so we have to do everything we can to enhance this partnership and to make sure that the great progress that we’ve already seen continues and that it remains mutually beneficial to both countries. I personally believe that it will continue to do so,” he told PTI.

Krishnamoorthi said he had a wide ranging talk with the prime minister.

“It was a formal meeting where we talked everything from, ‘How do we strengthen our relationship between the US and India’ to the fact that the relationship really transcends political parties at this point, really, on both sides, but especially here in the US,” he said on his return from his maiden India trip as a US lawmaker.

New Delhi-born Krishnamoorthi, 44, this year was sworn in as a member of the US House of Representatives.

“I think that both Republic and Democratic administrations have now successfully continued to build the relationship across a range of sectors,” he said.

“Everything from our security partnership to expanding commercial ties, to bolstering our cultural exchanges and so forth. That’s a very positive development, and I told him that I was committed to doing everything I could to continue that work in the US Congress,” he said.

“I also mentioned to him (prime minister Modi) that the relationship is broadening, deepening, and growing across a number of areas and, just as India is keen to attract US investment, we in the United States are very keen to attract Indian investment, especially in places like my own fine congressional district in the Chicago area,” Krishnamoorthi said.

Trade Tariffs between the 2 largest economies lead to ongoing trade war, market disruptions

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy 0

The ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China has led both countries to announce billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs on each other’s products. China is the largest single exporter to the U.S. – more than $500 billion worth of Chinese goods entered the U.S. last year – and American tariffs on Chinese products were on the high side even before the latest round of tit-for-tat increases.

Last week, President Trump ordered his chief trade negotiator to consider imposing tariffs on an additional $ 100 billion in Chinese exports to the US, after his punitive measures on the first $ 50 billion elicited a retaliatory smackdown from Beijing on US exports to China. The Chinese response, accompanied by a ‘we are ready for a showdown’ challenge, sent the US market, lawmakers, and the country’s farmers (who export massive amounts of farm produce to China) into a panic, but he US President was unfazed.

Targeted for tariffs by the US are some 1300 items ranging from Chinese steel and aluminum to huge amounts of consumer goods that Americans buy on the cheap at superstores such as WalMart. China in turn had threatened to impose punitive duties on everything from American automobiles and jet planes to grains, soy, nuts, and wines, all of which will pinch the American farmers and industry.

Trump meanwhile continued to focus on China. “We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the US. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!” he tweeted last week as the rhetoric overheated.

Beijing retaliation against the US farm sector had the desired effect, with lawmakers representing parts of the country that voted heavily for Trump, panicking as their constituents worried about the future with a constricted Chinese market. Tweeting that the president is “threatening to light American agriculture on fire,” Nebraska’s senator Ben Sasse fumed, “Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam again but, if he’s even half-serious, this is nuts.”

US President Donald Trump has instructed officials to consider a further $100bn of tariffs against China, in an escalation of a tense trade stand-off. These would be in addition to the $50bn worth of US tariffs already proposed on hundreds of Chinese imports.

China’s Ministry of Commerce responded, saying China would “not hesitate to pay any price” to defend its interests. Tit-for-tat trade moves have unsettled global markets in recent weeks. The latest US proposal came after China threatened tariffs on 106 key US products.

In response to Mr Trump’s latest announcement, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: “China and the US as two world powers should treat each other on a basis of equality and with respect. “By waving a big stick of trade sanctions against China, the US has picked a wrong target.” Ministry of Commerce Spokesman Gao Feng said: “We do not want to fight, but we are not afraid to fight a trade war.”

Earlier this year, the US announced it would impose import taxes of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium. The tariffs were to be wide-ranging and would include China. China responded last month with retaliatory tariffs worth $3bn of its own against the US on a range of goods, including pork and wine. Beijing said the move was intended to safeguard its interests and balance losses caused by the new tariffs.

In a statement, Trump branded that retaliation by Beijing as “unfair”. “Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers,” he said. “In light of China’s unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR (United States Trade Representative) to consider whether $100bn of additional tariffs would be appropriate… and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs.”

However, analysts say, the tariffs being considered by the US on China are by no means the highest import duties the U.S. charges. According to then, the imports from several developing South Asian nations whose exports to the U.S. are heavily weighted toward clothing and other products that the U.S. generally taxes highly.

Bangladesh, for example, exported about $5.7 billion worth of goods to the U.S. last year, 95% of which were apparel, footwear, headgear and related items, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the U.S. International Trade Commission. Nearly all Bangladeshi imports were subject to U.S. duty, and the tariffs on them were equivalent to 15.2% of the total value of that country’s shipments to the U.S. – the highest such average rate among the 232 countries, territories and other jurisdictions in the ITC database.

Other countries with similar profiles are Cambodia (duties equal to 14.1% of the total value of imports from there), Sri Lanka (11.9%), Pakistan (8.9%) and Vietnam (7.2%). By contrast, the duties on Chinese imports totaled $13.5 billion last year, or 2.7% of their total value. For all imports worldwide, the U.S. imposed tariffs equal to about 1.4% of total value.

The average tariff rates the U.S. imposes on its other major trading partners are much lower than those on China. Mexico and Canada, the second- and third-highest sources of U.S. imports, had average duties last year of just 0.12% and 0.08% of the value of their imports, respectively. (The three countries are linked in the North American Free Trade Agreement.) The average rates for Japan and Germany were both less than 2%; South Korea, with which the U.S. also has a free trade agreement, had duties equal to just 0.25% on its $70.5 billion in total exports to the U.S.

Average tariff rates on U.S. imports from a given country, as defined above, depend on two things: the share of total imports that are subject to duty, and the average rate the U.S. places on that share.

In general, U.S. tariffs are lower today (relative to the total value of imports) than they were two decades ago, mainly because more imported goods are fully exempted from duties. In 1996, for example, three-quarters (75.5%) of Chinese imports were subject to duty, at an average rate of 7.2%. Last year, only about two-fifths (41.3%) of imports from China were dutiable, with the rest entering the country duty-free; the average rate on the dutiable portion of Chinese imports was 6.5%.

With the new tariff war, the United States is opening a two-front economic and geo-political war with China and Russia. After decades of relative peace with the two Asian giants, Washington, citing separate underhand economic and political subversion of America by Beijing and Moscow, has embarked on a warpath against the two nations, even as they confront the United States in hotspots across the world. The US face-off with China and Russia comes at a time Beijing and Moscow say they are in the best phase of their own bilateral relationship.

Saira Rao of Denver, Colorado leads fund raising to take on 11 term Congresswoman

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Saira Rao, a Denver Democrat, has announced that her campaign received contributions from more than 500 individual donors within a month of launching her primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, who is serving her 11th term representing Colorado’s 1st Congressional District.

“We are not taking any corporate PAC money,” Rao said in a statement. “Special interests are robbing people of their voices, and I am not going to play that game. We’re doing this the hard way — dollar by dollar, door by door.”

Rao filed paperwork to run in the heavily Democratic district on Jan. 10; her campaign logged its 500th donor last week, 28 days in, a campaign spokeswoman said. Rao has cleared “six figures” in contributions, her campaign manager, JoyAnn Ruscha, told Colorado Politics, but she declined to elaborate. Campaign finance reports covering the period are due to the Federal Election Commission April 15.

The entrepreneur and social justice activist has raised more than a quarter of a million dollars in less than three months, just from individual donors. She has vowed not to accept a dollar from any corporate political action committees.

The Indian American Rao had written in a Huffington Post op-ed piece: “I’m a Brown Woman Who’s Breaking Up with the Democratic Party.” The piece immediately went viral. And although Rao, 43, is a newcomer considered a longshot by analysts, she remains undeterred in taking on fellow Democrat and entrenched incumbent Diana DeGette in the 1st Congressional District.

Analysts have said her attempt to defeat the 22-year incumbent, who has continued to be re-elected with massive margins, is an exercise in futility. But Rao, an unabashed progressive, believes it is imperative to take on the Democratic establishment, which she calls indifferent toward towards minorities and people of color.

“This campaign is about bringing people together. I’m proud of the coalition we’re building of Democrats and independents who want a more representative government,” she said. “If Democrats are going to take back Congress, we need to build a party that answers to everyday people, not corporations. We can’t fight Trump’s anti-worker agenda if the same donors are funding both parties.”

Last month, her Congressional campaign turned in its petition for ballot access in District 1, having collected more than 1,700 signatures from registered Democrats. But analysts say it will take a miracle for Rao to upset DeGette in the June 26 primary. But they believe that, if she is victorious, she would be a shoo-in at the general election in November as District 1 is a safe Democratic seat, comprising all of Denver as well as parts of Arapahoe and Jefferson counties.

She would become the first Indian-American or Asian-American — and the first woman of color — to represent her state in the House of Representatives. Rao is co-founder of a media publishing company This Together Media, which publishes children’s books that feature diverse protagonists, especially kids of color.

Rao, raised in Richmond, Virginia, has several priorities on her agenda, from fighting the burgeoning racism and bigotry and xenophobia to controlling prescription drug costs, and eliminating student loan debt to passing a single-payer healthcare bill. She believes that entrenched Democrats in safe seats are apathetic toward disenfranchised and marginalized constituents and that’s why she opted to challenge DeGette.

Rao was endorsed last month by former Colorado Democratic Party Chair Buie Seawell, son of former North Carolina Attorney General Malcolm Buie Seawell. He is a longtime party figure and community leader, and a distinguished professor at the University of Denver. “She is not ‘the same old thing’ “ he said. “Saira Rao embodies the future.”

Rao has said she’s running the quintessential grass-roots campaign. “This campaign is about giving everyone a seat at the table and making Colorado a progressive leader in national politics,” she said. “I’m so grateful to everyone who helped make this happen, and I look forward to a robust primary and healthy debates on healthcare, criminal justice reform, and getting corporate money out of the Democratic Party.”

American India Foundation raises $1.8 Million to help underprivileged in India

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

During 2 separate events held in California on March 17^th and 24th, The American India Foundation raised over $1.8 Million to Help Underprivileged in India. At the 5th annual gala held on March 17^th, the Orange County, California chapter of the American India Foundation celebrated 16 years of service to India’s underprivileged population and raised more than $500,000 to support the organization’s contributions to education, public health, livelihood, leadership and gender focus in India, according to a press release. The event was attended by more than 300 local community professionals and was held at the Pasea Hotel & Spa in Huntington Beach, California.

The evening was filled with traditional Indian cuisine, a live performance by the performance ensemble Molodi and the auction of international travel packages, art painted live by Gregory Adamson and a wine and culinary experience at Gagnon Cellars of Temecula. Master of ceremonies was comedian Anish Shah and the live auction was hosted by Matt Rogers.

The gala honored the achievements of Kevin and Nita Parikh of the Avasant Foundation and highlighted contributions of the Orange County chapter to foundation programs. The gala was chaired by MSI International and Tarsadia Foundation. AIF’s Southern California chapter was launched in the summer of 2013 to accelerate the foundation’s mission of catalyzing social and economic change in India.

The Foundation on March 24 hosted its annual ‘Bay Area Gala 2.0’ at the Union Square Hilton in San Francisco, raising funds in helping to achieve its mission addressing development challenges in India, including poverty, educational gaps and maternal health. The $1.3 million raised at the gala will help the foundation with continuing to deliver life-changing programs to those in need.

The gala drew leaders and luminaries from the Indian American and wider Bay Area communities who came out to support the foundation which, in its 18 years of service, has uplifted the lives of over 3.7 million people in India.

Among the AIF initiatives the funds will support are: Digital Equalizer, the Learning and Migration Program, the Maternal and Newborn Survival Initiative, Market Aligned Skills Training, Ability-Based Livelihoods Empowerment and Rickshaw Sangh.

“We are working with over 13,000 schools in India and have impacted 200,000 families through our education and skill development programs, but there is lot to do,” AIF chief executive officer Nishant Pandey told India-West. “Our vision is to significantly scale up all our programs and leverage resources of the government and the private sector towards this goal.”

The CEO added that he is “proud of everything” AIF is doing, particularly by the passion and commitment of all its supports. “(The) Bay Area has been a big pillar in terms of the time and resources of people,” Pandey said, adding the foundation is looking for more engagement and resources from the area, which has already had a tremendous impact. “The magnitude of challenges in India is huge and we would like to scale up all our programs.”

During the event, AIF Board co-chair Lata Krishnan addressed the more than 500 donors and supporters on hand with the gala’s keynote address, relaying the inspiration she exudes having been with the organization for nearly two decades. “Having been here for over 17 years I am still inspired and energized by how little it takes to impact not just one life, but millions. I believe that in today’s uncertain times, civil society and nonprofits, like AIF, help bridge the gap between government and society,” Krishnan said. “It is our role to enhance the abilities of the government and the private sector to transform poverty into potential.”

Vijay Goradia, Indian American founder and chairman Vinmar International, received the AIF Leadership Award for his tireless support of nonprofit organizations dedicated to education and entrepreneurship. “When you are young and healthy, what you give is gold. When you are old, what you give is silver. What you leave behind when you are dead is lead. My wife and I decided to give when we are of sound mind and healthy,” said Goradia, who pledged $100,000 to AIF. “I believe the more resources you put in, the greater the impact. The sooner you put those resources to work, the quicker you will get the results,” Goradia added.

Cap for H-1B visa reached: US Immigration

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterTravel 0

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it has reached the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for fiscal year 2019 and would conduct a lottery to decide successful applicants for the work visa popular among Indian IT professionals.
The fiscal year begins October 1, 2018.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa + that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa cap for advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, a statement said. The statement did not mention the exact number of H-1B petitions it received since April 2, when it started accepting applications for the popular work visas for highly skilled Indian professionals.

The H-1B visa has been the preferred visa for Indian IT companies, which has helped them keep costs down and gain a margin advantage over multi-national players by sending its engineers to the US.

However, IT services firms have been accused of misusing the lottery-based system, which allows for 65,000 visas for the general category and a further 20,000 to those with a US Master’s degree from an accredited institution.

The Indian industry has consistently denied this claim, and US President Donald Trump’s administration has been making it increasingly difficult for Indian IT firms to obtain H-1B visas. Most have upped local hiring in the US.

The USCIS said it “will reject and return filing fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not prohibited multiple filings.”

The agency will however, continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap.

Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, will also not be counted toward the FY 2019 H-1B cap, it said.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States, change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers, allow current H-1B workers to change employers and allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

Ilaiyaraaja the King of Raaga performs in Chicago

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Chicago IL: Chicago land’s much awaited dream came true when musical maestro, Ilaiyaraaja, performed live with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra from Hungary and Indian Classical Musicians on Saturday March 24 at the Naperville Yard Center. The 55 musicians, 10 singers and 1 legend gave a spectacular performance that rocks music lovers in Midwest. A name synonymous with the Indian Music Industry Raaja is an incomparable genius who totally transformed the perception of people towards film music. Cloud9 events proudly presented the much awaited concert that enthralled an audience of 4000 plus who were left mesmerized by his memorable musical compositions. The live concert was performed by singers Chithra, Mano, Haricharan and Rahul Nambiar. They were accompanied by a talented orchestra of 50 musicians. They performed a total of 39 songs in both Tamil and Telugu languages.

Ilaiyaraaja’s acumen and knowledge of the aesthetics of music and cinema is what sets him apart from the rest. He is a multifaceted artist and has composed over 6000 songs and worked for 1000 movies. Raaja, as he is popularly known and affectionately called, comes from a family of musicians has won five Indian National Film Awards; three for Best Music Direction and two for Best Background Score. In 2010 he received the Padma Bhushan, awarded by the Government of India and in 2018 he was presented the Padma Vibhushan award which is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India. The living legend paid an emotional tribute to his audience by singing that he would continue to make music for his fans living seven seas away from their motherland. This gesture deeply touched the audience and made them appreciate his love for music. Over 35 songs sung at the concert included “Janani janani – Thai Mookambigai”, “Om sivoham – Naan kadavul”, “Jagadhanandha kaaraka- Telugu”, “Ram ram salame ram ram-Hey Ram”, “Malaiyil yaaro- Kshathriyan”, “Ninukkori varnam-Gharshana-Telugu”, “Yen Iniya pon nila-Moodu Pani”, “Madai thirandhu-Nizhalgal”, “Abbani theeyani-Telugu”, “Sendhoora Poove- Sirimalle poove-Telugu” and so on.

S. Chithra or simply Chithra, is an Indian playback singer from Kerala. Chithra also sings Indian classical, devotional, and popular music. She has sung in a number of languages that include Urdu, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese and English. She has recorded over 25,000 Songs for various films and music-albums. She is a recipient of six National Film Awards, seven Film fare Awards South and 35 different state film awards. Another popular singer, Nagoor Babu popularly known as Mano entertained the audience with his melodious voice. Mano is a playback singer, voice-over artist, actor, producer, and anchor and music composer. Haricharan comes from a family of music connoisseurs and started learning music at an early age of seven from. Sethu Mahadevan followed by legends like K. V. Narayanaswamy , T. M. Prabhavathi and P. S. Narayanaswamy . Rahul Nambiar is an Indian playback singer and live performer and has lent his voice for several advertisement jingles.

Cloud9 Events is a group of passionate individuals working together to organize events to promote Indian culture and heritage overseas with the goal to bring entertainment to the Chicago Indian Community. The kind of events Cloud9 aims to organize are Indian classical dance performances, Indian Musical & Dance Shows / Ramana Abbaraju – Member – Event Marketing & Sales Concerts, Book Launches, Literary Events and Indian Trade Bazars. Sudhir Velpula , the Cloud 9 Events Managing Principal along with team members, Gopi Pittala (Planning, Operations and Finance) , Ramana Abbaraju ( Event Marketing & Sales, Raj Addagatla and others coordinated the entire event. The platinum sponsors HR Pundits, Bookstogo, Radhikas Kitchen, Pietsch, Professional Home mortgage Solutions, Regal Jewels and Hot Breads. Sponsors of the event were Pegasus Knowledge Solutions, Hot Breads, International Legal & Business Services Group, Patel Brothers, Allstate, Pietsch Financial group, Sunrise Indian Supermarket, ebooks2go, some dental group.

De Wayne Williams President of Williams Security & Protection Agency has been greatly involved in the Asian community for nearly the last ten years in association with various groups. De Wayne Williams and his team did excellent job to protect all Stars of Ilaiyaraaja Live concert (Ilaiyaraaja,Chithra, Mano, Haricharan and Rahul Nambiar). Ilaiyaraaja Live concert was family event and they did excellent job by protecting family

Dr. Vijayalakshmi Appareddy to advise on US Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterHealth 0

An Indian American psychiatrist and mental health expert has been named to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID). The longtime Republican loyalist, Dr. Vijayalakshmi Appareddy, will serve on the committee until May 11,2019.

Dr. Vijayalakshmi Appareddy is a psychiatrist in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She received her medical degree from Osmania Medical College NTR UHS and has been in practice for more than 20 years. She also speaks multiple languages, including Hindi and Urdu.

The responsibility is a familiar one for Appareddy. She had served for two terms in the George W. Bush administration as a vice-chairperson of this committee, which was known at the time as the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation. “I had expressed my interest to the Trump transition team in 2016 to be the surgeon general of the United States, and I had also expressed my interest to [GOP] congressmen in Tennessee and Georgia,” she said. She said that last year the administration asked about her interest in the PCPID. She said she learned in March, after interviews with presidential personnel, that she was approved by the position. The White House announced her selection March 30.

During the Bush administration, she said, she was one of the committee members who suggested the name change to PCPID – an action that was accomplished after Bush signed an executive order.

“At the time, he also spent about 45 minutes chatting with each one of us in the Oval office, and that is when I popped the question, ‘When are you going to India Mr. President?’ He said soon – and within the year he visited India,” she said.

She said her appointment by Bush made her the first Indian-American woman who was a presidential appointee in an advisory position.

The committee, she said, has its genesis under President John F. Kennedy who wanted to increase mental-health awareness. “He had a sister who had a intellectual disability and mental illness,” she said. “Subsequently, every president since then has renewed this committee.” She said the 2001 New Freedom Initiative, which was responsible for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, is an offshoot of this committee. The first executive director of the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation was an Indian-American, Dr. Sambhu N. Banik, a clinical psychologist and Republican Party stalwart.

She said her goal in the new post is “to help make policies to continually improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities using new technology and all of the latest sophisticated innovative approaches that were not available just a few years ago and which now have been invaluable in helping these people and making them productive citizens and helping them to be independent and lead a life of dignity.” As a delegate to the American Medical Association, she said, she has presented resolutions resulting in the classification of the intellectually disabled as an underserved population. Consequently, she said, intellectual disability is also classified as a medical diagnosis .

SAALT blames Trump administration for escalation in post-election xenophobia

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

In the year since the 2016 presidential election, one in five perpetrators of hate violence in the United States against various South Asian and Middle Eastern communities invoked President Donald Trump’s name, his administration’s policies or his campaign slogan during the attacks, a new report found.

The nonprofit group South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) released the report last week, which detailed increasing instances of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric from Election Day 2016 to Election Day 2017. The group documented more than 300 reported incidents targeting South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Middle Eastern and Arab communities during that period.

“It’s heartbreaking.” Suman Raghunathan, executive director of SAALT, told HuffPost. “When you have people literally saying or leveraging the ‘Make America Great Again’ campaign slogan as they are violently assaulting our community members ― that for me draws a direct connection in a way that could not be clearer.”

SAALT documented 213 incidents of hate violence ― a more than 45 percent increase compared to the year leading up to the 2016 presidential election. The levels of violence mirror those seen the year after the 9/11 attacks, with 82 percent of the hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric now motivated by Islamophobia, the group said.

“The 2016 United States presidential election cycle and ultimately the inauguration of President Donald Trump amplified a wave of hate violence against South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Middle Eastern, and Arab communities to heights not seen since the year after the attacks of September 11, 2001,” it said.

The report noted that “Islamophobia and hate violence in the United States predate the September 11th era and have continued to escalate since.” It also said that “the dramatic surge in rhetoric rooted in anti-Black, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant sentiment in 2016 and 2017 has fueled a palpable and unparalleled atmosphere of hate and suspicion.”

The report said that Trump’s first year in office built on the “already disturbing surge in hate violence” documented in SAALT’s 2017 report “Power, Pain, Potential.” That report had documented 207 incidents of hate violence and xenophobic rhetoric aimed at South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Middle Eastern, and Arab communities during the 2016 election cycle from Nov. 1, 2015 to Election Day on Nov. 8,2016.

SAALT’s most recent report covers the period Nov. 9, 2016 to Nov. 7, 2017. In the first year after the presidential election, SAALT documented 302 incidents and hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric, “aimed at our communities.” SAALT said it was an increase of more than 45 percent from its previous analysis.

SAALT said violence against South Asian communities “is informed by the stated and implicit goals of the current administration, and is also the product of the longstanding and systemic injustice that underpins many of our nation’s systems and institutions.”

The report was funded by the Ford Foundation, Four Freedoms Fund, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, NOVO Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Proteus Fund, and the Voqal Fund.

There is a direct relationship between the advancement of a political agenda and the rise of hate and bigotry in America, according to Sen. Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, who keynoted a Capitol Hill briefing hosted by South Asians Leading Together (SAALT). The March 22 briefing coincided with the civil rights organization’s release of a report on hate violence.

“We see a rise of nationalism -good people who will go towards a nationalist candidate or government that says it’s our time and try to grow a moat” around people seen as “the other” in the country, he said. Cardin said this had alarming consequences because it gives political strength to policies that encourage bigotry and hate. He said a strong rise of anti-immigrant fervor and “the politics of that” becomes increasingly challenging. “We see the rise of violent acts and the number of crimes that are committed based upon hate,” he said.

The Maryland lawmaker said that for the first time since World War II governments contain elements that pursue these policies. And while hate crimes have occurred in the past, he said “we’ve never seen political support for policies that support” these kinds of hate and bigotry. “We are now seeing leaders of democratic countries that run on a nationalistic platform that encourage these activities. So, this is extremely alarming and very serious.”

Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), one of the congressional cosponsors of the SAALT Capitol Hill briefing, stressed the importance of holding elected officials and equality for all,” said Suman Raghunathan, executive director of SAALT.

Raghunathan led a panel discussion that included Sim J. Singh, national advocacy manager of The Sikh Coalition; Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute; Becky Monroe, director of the Stop Hate Project, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights; and Darakshan Raja, co-founder of Justice for Muslims Collective. She said “our nation has now become a melting pot of hate stirred by a raft of divisive and destructive policies and political rhetoric” and this was a critical moment. “The White House bully pulpit has had a devastating impact, sometimes with fatal consequences to our communities,” she said.

AIA-NY hosts youth bowling event under “Desi Next” banner

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterYouth 0

Over 100 people attended the Association of Indians in America, NY Chapter’s (AIA-NY) first bowling event on March 31, at AMF Syosset Lanes in Long Island, under its recently launched cultural exchange group called “Desi Next.”

Over the past few years, AIA-NY has been trying to bring the younger generation together by hosting events like the Intercollegiate Dance Competition called “Naach Inferno” and bringing in Neel Sethi, the child star of the Disney movie “The Jungle Book.”

“We have been trying to continue to expand and strengthen youth development programs and activities and have been working towards energizing our youths, while understanding their concerns,” said Gobind Munjal, the president of AIA-NY Chapter, in a statement, accompanying a press release.

“We try to give the young adults the autonomy to build their programs that suits and attracts the younger generation. Keeping this in mind, AIA-NY Chapter launched “Desi Next” in January 2017 to provide a platform for the younger generation where they can socialize, interact, address their issues and concerns and develop programs to suit their need,” he added.

Munjal said that AIA-NY hosted their first Desi Next event on Jan. 22, 2017 which attracted 150 people and they are planning on hosting other Desi Next events revolving around sports, family get-togethers and community outreach activities.

“We are soon going to have a membership drive for the young adults and we plan to add many new young members this year. We are encouraged by the tremendous success of this event and we are going to have many more such programs in the coming months,” said Munjal.

AIA-NY is planning on having a golf tournament and a family picnic under the Desi Next banner within the next few months.

Meanwhile, other upcoming AIA-NY programs include: Investment Seminar on May 17, 2018; Fundraiser event for Project India Charity Program on June 9, 2018, in Manhattan; Benefit Gala on Sept 15, 2018, for the 31st Deepavali festival; 31st Deepavali festival celebrations on Oct 7, 2018, at the iconic South Street Seaport in Manhattan, culminating with a spectacular display of fireworks; Children’s Deepavali in libraries around end of October 2018.

Study reveals extent of Type 2 diabetes risk for people of South Asian decent

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center say South Asians have a habit of making less nutritious dietary choices leading to the rise of Type 2 diabetes in the U.S. The likelihood of Type 2 diabetes occurring in South Asians is four times greater than in other Americans, according to a study by the researchers.

Scientist also said that these results could be applicable to South Asians living in other countries such as the UK, Europe and Singapore. “Our findings may be less applicable to South Asians living in their native countries because of the effect of acculturation on dietary intake in South Asian migrants in the U.S. and because of the economic disparity and its effect on food choices between the two populations,” said Dr. Meena Shah, an assistant professor of internal medicine and the lead author of the study.

An earlier research done in Eurpe in 2012 had similar findings. That study had shown that approximately half of all South Asian, Black African and African Caribbean people in the UK will develop Type 2 diabetes by the age of 80, compared to only one in five people of European descent.

The findings, published in the journalDiabetes Careare the first to reveal the full extent of ethnic differences in the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The study was by the Southall and Brent Revisited (SABRE) study, a large-scale population-based investigation which has followed 4,200 middle-aged Londoners of European, South Asian and African Caribbean descent for over 20 years.

The US study in 2018 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that out of the 4 million South Asians, 8.1 percent of men and 6.8 percent of women are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at an earlier age when they have a lower body mass index.

“This is the first study that thoroughly compared both the macronutrient and micronutrient intakes in South Asians with and without Type 2 diabetes using an objective measure – a three-day dietary assessment method that included images of all foods consumed,” said Dr. Abhimanyu Garg, a professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study in diabetes research and clinical practice. The University of Texas Southwestern Center for Human Nutrition team studied 77 South Asian-Americans, 44 with diabetes and 33 without.

According to a university press release, the study found that those with Type 2 diabetes consumed less of the following beneficial nutrients: dietary fiber, linoleic acid, vitamin A, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, zinc, potassium and ß-carotene.

“These results clearly indicate that diabetic South Asians may need to improve their dietary habits to achieve nutrient intakes recommended by the Institute of Medicine. We recommend that South Asians with Type 2 diabetes include in their diets more yellow and orange fruit and vegetables, dark green leafy vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, fatty fish, and low-fat milk and dairy products. These recommendations may also be helpful to improve their blood cholesterol and blood pressure levels,” Garg added.

This new study was built on the earlier work in diabetes that Garg started when he joined the University of Texas Southwestern in 1985 and the findings back then concluded that monounsaturated fats and dietary fiber are beneficial for controlling high blood glucose and cholesterol levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Along with Garg’s research, the study was partially supported by the Gupta Agarwal Charitable Foundation, the Jiv Daya Foundation and Southwestern Medical Foundation, according to a university press release.

‘One of the Most Important’ Book Bill Gates Has Ever Read

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Millions of people have tuned in for Swedish physician and statistician Hans Rosling’s TED Talks over the years, and the videos caught the attention of at least one famous fan: Bill Gates. Gates and his wife Melinda went on to befriend Rosling, who gained his global audience with insights on how data can help lead to better outcomes in global poverty and health.

Rosling died in February, 2017, but he leaves behind the new book Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, coauthored with his son, Ola Rosling, and daughter-in-law, Anna Rosling Rönnlund. Gates has called the book “one of the most important” he’s ever read, and one of his two favorites of this year so far.

TIME caught up with Gates to talk about what makes the book — and Rosling — so special.

Gates: Hans believed the world was making remarkable progress, and he wanted everyone to know about it. Factfulness is his final effort to help people identify areas where things are getting better and spread that improvement. It explains more clearly than almost anything else I’ve read why it’s so difficult for people to perceive progress. He offers clear, actionable advice for how to overcome our innate biases and see the world more factfully. This is one of the most educational books I’ve ever read, and I think everyone can benefit from Hans’ insights.

If the world really is improving at a faster rate than people think, why does it matter whether people have incorrect notions about it?

It’s easier to accelerate progress if you know how far we’ve already come. If you don’t believe the world has improved, you’re more likely to look at a tragedy and think nothing can be done. But someone who knows how much progress is possible can look at a bad situation and say, “How can we make this better?”

Hans liked to call himself a “possibilist,” which is a perfect way to describe this worldview. He believed that things could get better, not that they will get better. A possibilist like Hans doesn’t wait for improvement — he looks for the areas where progress is happening and finds way to duplicate it in other places.

Rosling details ten instincts that distort our perspective on the world — like an instinct toward negativity, or one toward fear. Which of the 10 do you find most concerning for our future and why?

I’m worried about the blame instinct, although not for the obvious reasons. When something happens, it’s human nature to look for the person responsible. Everyone knows the problem with creating scapegoats. But our instinct to turn people into heroes can also be a barrier to progress.

With a few exceptions, things don’t get better because of heroes. There were heroes 1,000 years ago, and the world was awful. Modernity is a miracle of systems. Jonas Salk was an amazing scientist, but he isn’t the only reason we’re on the doorstep of eradicating polio — it’s also thanks to the coordinated vaccination effort by health workers, NGOs, and governments. We miss the progress that’s happening right in front of us when we look for heroes instead of systems. If you want to improve something, look for ways to build better systems.

What fact in this book especially surprised you?

The framework that Hans uses to describe the world was a revelation for me. He categorizes people by four income levels and emphasizes the commonalities that exist on each one. For example, people tend to buy shoes and bikes when they double their income from $2 a day to $4 a day, whether they live on the outskirts of Kinshasa or a remote village in Bangladesh. Organizing populations by how they live — rather than where they live — is a much more precise way to talk about the world.

(Courtesy; THE TIME)

Madhuram Sweet 18: A Mega Bollywood Show comes to Connecticut

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

MASCONN as it ushers in its 10th anniversary celebration with its very own superstar Biju Menon’s show Madhuram Sweet 18 in the state of CT. In addition to the popular and acclaimed movie star Biju Menon of South Indian Film World, he will be accompanied by over two dozen stars from the Bollywood world on Memorial Day, May 28th, 2018 at 3 pm at Klein Memorial Auditorium, 910 Fairfield Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06605. Phone # (800) 424-0160

“With a live audience exceeding over 1,600 people from across the states of Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, the event, the first ever of this kind, organized my the Malayalee Association Of Southern Connecticut (MASCONN)http://www.masconn.org, the event is a platform for all people of Indian origin to come and celebrate our culture and enjoy the entertainment,” said Sujana Nair, an organizer of the event. Inviting sponsors to the event, he added, “It’s a a golden opportunity to showcase your products and services before a fast growing South Asian community in the Tri-State region.”

The South Asian community in the state of Connecticut is fast growing. They are well known for their business initiatives, higher income, higher education levels and is fast becoming a prominent community with many seeking public offices around the nation.

For more information about the event and for sponsorship opportunities, please visit: http://www.masconn.org

Anupam Kher nominated for BAFTAs

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Indian actor Anupam Kher has received nomination for the Virgin TV British Academy Television Awards in 2018 for his work in a BBC project. Kher has been nominated for his performance in the adaptation of Satnam Sanghera’s memoir “The Boy with the Topknot,” a TV movie. He has been nominated for his extraordinary performance as a schizophrenic father Jagjit in the movie.

The actor, who has featured in about 500 films, is up against Adrian Dunbar (“Line of Duty”), Brian F. O’Byrne (“Little Boy Blue”) and Jimmi Simpson – USS Callister (“Black Mirror”) for the Best Supporting Actor trophy.

Anupam Kher tweeted on Wednesday, Apr. 4: “Thank you Bafta for the nomination. I feel honoured and humbled.” The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced the nominations for the annual Virgin TV British Academy Television Awards on Wednesday, read a statement on bafta.org. It will reward the best television programmes broadcast in the UK in 2017. The ceremony will be held at the Royal Festival Hall on May 13.

Often attributed as an actor par excellence, Anupam Kher has time and again been honoured for his contribution to cinema and art. The ‘A Wednesday’ actor, also the chairman of Film and Television Institute of India(FTII), Anupam will play a pivotal role in Vijay Ratnakar’s Bollywood drama titled ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, which is scheduled to release in mid-August this year.

Sikh Period Drama ‘The Black Prince’ to Make Digital Debut April 10

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

The global online rights to the Sikh period drama, “The Black Prince,” a film starring acclaimed singer-songwriter ‪Satinder Sartaj, have been acquired by Uniglobe Entertainment, a Hollywood-based production, distribution and marketing studio. Releasing on digital platforms and DVD April 10, “The Black Prince” will be available in English, Hindi and Punjabi.

Having secured the coveted Top 10 box office spot in the U.K. during its theatrical release in 2017, “The Black Prince” narrates the true story of the king of Punjab, Maharajah Duleep Singh. The film is a personal account of Maharajah Duleep Singh’s lifelong struggle to reclaim his rightful kingdom back from the British, as he rebelled against religious supremacy, rose against religious persecution and finally returned to his Sikh roots. (See earlier India-West story here.)

Sartaaj makes his acting debut with the film as Maharajah Duleep Singh, while veteran actress Shabana Azmi plays Maharani Jindan, the exiled king’s mother. Celebrated British actor Jason Flemyng stars as Dr. Login, the foster parent of the Maharajah.

Commenting on the partnership, Namrata Singh Gujral, Indian American president of Uniglobe Entertainment, said: “Vaisakhi commemorates the formation of the ‘Khalsa Panth,’ under Guru Gobind Singh Ji, after the execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji for refusing to convert to Islam. When I watched the film, I had tears in my eyes. As a Sikh, I felt honored to bring the story of Maharajah Duleep Singh to Sikhs worldwide so our children can learn how our Sikh community of warriors has consistently fought and risen against religious intolerance and the persecution of Sikhs.”

“The Black Prince” is produced by Firdaus Productions and Brillstein Entertainment Partners in Hollywood, with SAGA of India handling the Punjabi and Hindi release.

“Vaisakhi seemed to be the perfect time to present this film to every Sikh worldwide because Vaisakhi celebrates Sikh heroism and that is what ‘The Black Prince’ does,” said Indian American director Kavi Raz.

The film will be available on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Fandango Now, Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox. The DVDs will be distributed on Amazon and the film’s official website www.TheBlackPrince.com.

“I felt this story needs to be told because our children do not know much about the last king of the Sikhs – Maharajah Duleep Singh,” said the film’s executive producer Jasjeet Singh. “We should realize his efforts to regain his kingdom that eventually resulted in a Gadar Movement and the contribution of Sikhs in Indian Independence. This is a missing chapter in Indian history, too.”

Salman Khan: Bollywood superstar jailed for poaching

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

An Indian court has sentenced Bollywood superstar Salman Khan to five years in jail for poaching rare antelope back in 1998. The court in Jodhpur also fined him 10,000 rupees ($154; £109) for the crime. He has since been taken to jail.

Khan killed the two blackbucks, a protected species, in the western state of Rajasthan while shooting a film. Four other actors who starred with him in the movie and were also charged with the offence have been acquitted.

Khan, 52, can appeal against the verdict in a higher court. Correspondents say he will have to spend at least a few days in prison.

What is behind the Salman Khan case?

This is the fourth case filed against the actor in connection with poaching animals during the filming of the 1998 movie Hum Saath Saath Hain. In 2006, a trial court convicted the actor in two cases of poaching and sentenced him separately to one year and five years in prison. The Rajasthan high court suspended the sentences the following year, and eventually quashed both convictions in 2016.

The state government has appealed against that order in the Supreme Court. Khan was then acquitted of a third case in 2017, which was for possessing unlicensed weapons used to poach the wildlife in 1998.

The original poaching complaint against him was filed by the local Bishnoi community, who revere and worship the blackbuck. In December 2015, Khan was cleared in a 2002 hit-and-run case in which a homeless man died and four others were in injured. His car allegedly ran over them while they were sleeping on a street in the western city of Mumbai.

A lower court had convicted him in May 2015. During his trial, Khan had argued that his driver had been behind the wheel, but the judge said it was the actor who had been driving under the influence of alcohol.

Seven months later, the high court acquitted him. It said that key evidence – including testimony from a policeman who had since died – was not reliable. In January 2017, Khan was also acquitted in another case that charged him with using illegal firearms to kill the blackbucks.

One of Bollywood’s biggest stars, the actor has appeared in more than 100 films and has a huge fan following across the vast spectrum of Indian society.

His fans include the middle-class English-speaking audiences as well as poor slum dwellers for whom the 350-rupee ($5.20; £3.40) tickets do not come cheap.

Known for his romantic roles as well as action films, Khan has won several prestigious Indian cinema awards. The eldest of the three sons of well-known screenplay writer Salim Khan, he is a hit on social media too – his Facebook page is liked by more than 36 million fans, while on Twitter he has 32.5 million followers.

Khan’s conviction is making waves on both mainstream and social media. The hashtag #BlackBuckPoachingCase is the top trend on Twitter India while #Salman Khan is also trending. Many of the tweets addressed the fact that the case has gone on for years.

Saudi cinema screens reopen on April 18 ‘with Black Panther’ Efforts to modernize the Muslim Kingdom

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Saudi Arabia’s first cinema in more than 35 years will open on 18 April, showing the action movie Black Panther. It is part of a deal done with the world’s biggest cinema chain, AMC, to open up to 40 cinemas in some 15 Saudi cities over the next five years.

The past year has seen the start of a huge drive to bring entertainment to Saudi Arabia as part of Vision 2030. That is the ambitious plan for economic and social reform by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The conservative Muslim kingdom had cinemas in the 1970s, but they were closed at the behest of hardline Islamic clerics. Last year, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh reportedly warned of the “depravity” of cinemas, saying they would corrupt morals if allowed.

Saudi Arabia’s royal family and religious establishment adhere to an austere form of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, and Islamic codes of behaviour and dress are strictly enforced. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said the return of “moderate Islam” is key to his plans to modernise the Gulf kingdom.

He told reporters that 70% of the Saudi population was under 30 and that they wanted a “life in which our religion translates to tolerance”. The prince vowed to “eradicate the remnants of extremism very soon”. He made the comments after announcing the investment of $500bn (£381bn) in a new city and business zone.

Dubbed NEOM, it will be situated on 26,500 sq km (10,230 sq miles) of Saudi Arabia’s north-western Red Sea coast, near Egypt and Jordan. Saudi Arabia’s royal family and religious establishment adhere to an austere form of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, and the king styles himself as the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites.

Islamic codes of behavior and dress are strictly enforced in the kingdom. Last year, Prince Mohammed unveiled a wide-ranging plan to bring social and economic change to the oil-dependent kingdom known as Vision 2030.

As part of those reforms, the 32-year-old has proposed the partial privatisation of the state oil company, Saudi Aramco, and the creation of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.

And in September his father, King Salman, announced that a ban on women drivers would end next year, despite long-standing opposition from religious conservatives. The government also wants to invest in the entertainment sector. Concerts are once again being held and cinemas are expected to return soon.

Prince Mohammed defended the reforms at an economic conference in Riyadh on Tuesday that drew foreign investors and dignitaries. “We are returning to what we were before – a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions, traditions and people around the globe,” he said.

“We want to live a normal life. A life in which our religion translates to tolerance, to our traditions of kindness,” he added.

The prince stressed that Saudi Arabia “was not like this before 1979”, when there was an Islamic revolution in Iran and militants occupied Mecca’s Grand Mosque. Afterwards, public entertainment in Saudi Arabia was banned and clerics were given more control over public life.

Saudis are enthusiastic consumers of Western media and culture, but have been confined to watching privately, on their phones and via satellite television at home. Both Saudi authorities and cinema operators believe there is a huge untapped market that could generate up to $1bn (£710m) in annual ticket sales through some 350 theatres by 2030.

The first screen to open will be in the King Abdullah Financial District of the capital, and a source told Reuters news agency the first film shown would be Marvel superhero blockbuster Black Panther.

The source also said that cinemas would not be segregated by gender, as is normally required in public venues. It is unclear, however, what kind of movies will be permitted – and it is likely that some will be censored. Vision 2030 is intended to help divert the Saudi economy from its dependence on oil, provide new jobs and give Saudis a reason to spend their money at home rather than abroad.

Chief Editor of TheUNN.Com & The Asian Era to receive NAMAM Excellence Award 2018

April 8, 2018 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

(Edison, New Jersey: April 7^th, 2018) Ajay Ghosh, the Chief Editor of www.theunn.com (The Universal News Network) has been chosen to receive NAMAM Excellence Award 2018 for his contributions to the media world. Born and educated in India, Ajay Ghosh,

Other winners of the award include, a community activist & leader, a successful businessman, an industrialist, a scientist, a renowned musician, two young genius children, and an organ donor, who have made it to The NAMAM Excellence Award 2018 winners list. The most awaited “Namam Excellence Award 2018” will be held at Royal Albert Palace, Edison, New Jersey on April 28th, 2018 at 5 pm, Madhavan Nair, Founder and Secretary General of North American Malayalees and Associated Members (NAMAM, announced here. “An unforgettable evening as we honor extraordinarily accomplished individuals, who have made valuable contributions to the Indian-American community with the NAMAM Excellence Awards,” Nair added.

Ajay Ghosh, the Chief Editor of Universal News Network and The Asian Era, came to the United States to pursue higher studies in Journalism in 1997 at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI. In India, Ajay had earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Delhi University, and had worked as a freelance writer on social issues for numerous publications on in Delhi, including the Times of India, The Hindu and the Pioneer, and had served as the Editor of The Voice Delhi.

After graduating from Marquette University, his life as a professional journalist began in the summer of 1999 in New York City. Starting as a reporter for India Post, he worked as the New York Bureau Chief of Indian Reporter and World News from 2000 to 2005. From 2002 to 2008, Ajay worked as the Executive Editor of NRI Today, a monthly magazine, published from New York. He was instrumental in launching The Asian Era, a colorful magazine published from New York and worked as the Chief Editor from 1999 to 2015, and has rejoined The publication recently and is serving as the Editor in Chief. He had worked for about two years as the New York Bureau Chief of India Tribune, a weekly newspaper, published from Chicago.

Since early 2014, he served as the Bureau Chief of The Indian Express, North American Editions. In 2014, he along with Dr. Joseph Chalil launched The Universal News Network, an online publication (www.theunn.com) and continues to serve as the Chief Editor of the web-portal. In 2010, Ajay was appointed as the Media Consultant of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI, the largest ethnic association representing over 100,000 physicians of Indian origin in the United States. In 2012, he was awarded the Best Journalist by AAPI at its annual convention in San Antonio, Texas.

With the objective of bringing together the journalists of Indian origin scattered across the United States, Ajay along with his friends/colleagues in the media, was instrumental in forming Indo-American Press Club, and had served as the founder President of Indo-American Press Club in the year 2012-13.

Enthurai, a non-profit organization in the US, serving the people in the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, India. He had raised funds after the Tsunami struck the region in 2005 and most recently, he had raised over half a million Rupees to benefit the families who had lost their primary family members in the Cyclone Ockhi in Southern parts of India.

In addition, Ajay taught Social Work Seminar and guided students at the Graduate School of Social Work at Fordham University in New York City since 2006. He has worked as the Administrator of the Mental Health Clinic at Saint Dominic’s Home, Bronx, New York from 1999 to 2014. He worked as the Treatment Coordinator at Saint Vincent’s Hospital’s Westport Campus, which serves patients with mental health issues, and had a brief stint as a Senior Social Worker at Children’s Village that serves children and families for over 150 years. At present, he works as a Primary Clinician at Yale New Haven Hospital, srving patients with behavioral health issues.

Ajay Ghosh is married to Mini, his closest friend and wife for nearly two decades and the couple are blessed with three beautiful daughters, Archana, Navya, and Ahana. The Ajay Family lives in Trumbull, Connecticut.

The world renowned community leader and activist, Dr. Thomas Abraham; Dr. Babu Stephan, the CEO of DC Healthcare Inc and the president of SM Reality LLC; T. S. Nandakumar, a well known and versatile Carnatic music percussionist; Ramadas Pillai, President/CTO of Nuphoton Technologies, Inc; Rekha Nair, who has been an advocate for organ donation; Tiara Thankam Abraham, a 12-year-old soprano prodigy and a child genius; and, Ajay Ghosh, an accomplished journalist, are the winners of the NAMAM Excellence Award 2018.

Dr. Babu Stephan

Dr. Babu Stephan, a winner of the NAMAM 2018 award, is the CEO of DC Healthcare Inc and the president of SM Reality LLC. He was the president of Indian cultural coordination committee ( ICCC) for two years. He was a contributing Member of the Unites States Congressional Advisory Board and had served a two year term as the Regional VP of the Federation of Indians in America (FIA). He was also the President of Association of Indians in America (AIA) and is the present chairman of Indo-American Press Club (IAPC).

A founding member of Kairali television, a leading channel with an impressive viewership around the world, Dr. Stephan is the publisher of two newspapers, ‘Express India’ and ‘India this Week’, in the metropolitan DC area for the local Indian communities are part of his media engagement. He was the founding producer of ’Darshan Television’ in Washington DC. He is a balanced player in US political system and has successfully hosted multiple fundraisers to candidates across three decades in Washington, DC and was part of the Washington DC Mayor’s business delegation to China. A resident of Washington DC, Dr. Stephan lives with his family, wife Gracy Stephan, daughter, Sindu Stephan, son-in-law, Jimmy George and three delightfully sweet and talented grandkids, Shriya, Pavit, and Tejas.

Dr. Thomas Abraham

The world renowned community leader and activist, Dr. Thomas Abraham has been the founder president of many Indian community institutions in the USA including the Federation of Indian American Associations (FIA) which does the largest Indian Day Parade outside India in New York, the National Federation of Indian American Associations and the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). He also served as the Co-Chair to institute Jagdish Bhagwati Chair for Indian Political Economy at Columbia University and helped to initiate groups such as the Indian American Kerala Center, South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS) and National Indian American Association for Senior Citizens. An alumni of Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) and Columbia University.

By profession, Dr. Abraham is a nanotechnologist and serves as president of Stamford based Innovative Research and Products, Inc., Stamford, CT, a technology and market research firm. For his dedicated community service, Dr. Abraham has been recognized with Bharatvanshi Gaurav Award by former Vice President of India Bhairon Singh Sekhawat, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award by President of India, Life Time Achievement and Service Award from India Abroad and Outstanding Alumnus Award from MNIT. Currently, Dr. Abraham serves as the Chairman of GOPIO International and as Board Member of SACSS, The Kerala Center and American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI).

Dr. Ramadas Pillai

Dr. Ramadas Pillai, another awardee this year, is the President/CTO of Nuphoton Technologies, Inc., in California and VinVish Technologies in Technopark. Nuphoton Technologies as well as VinVish are hardware companies, making Optical Fiber Amplifiers and Transmitters for Communications and sensing for terrestrial, undersea and space applications. He is s a laser scientist and entrepreneur for the past 20 years.

Pillai is the past president of KHNA (2007-2009). Nuphoton Technologies, Inc., and is a pioneer in fiber lasers and fiber amplifiers with applications covering industrial, defense, aerospace, biomedical, telecommunications and research areas. The company is in operation since 1996 using proprietary, leading edge technologies for the design and manufacture of high performance fiber lasers, EDFA’s and broadband ASE sources. The company’s customer base is spread over a large cross section that includes universities & national laboratories to Fortune 500 companies. Hailing from Muhamma, in Alappuzha, Ramadas did his MTech from IIT Delhi and Ph.D. from University of Southern California

Rekha Nair

NAMAM Excellence award for 2018, based on outstanding contributions to the society and humanitarian services is being given to Rekha Nair, who has been an advocate for organ donation. In July 2017, she donated one of her kidneys to a young woman who she barely knew at the time. This selfless act saved a life. She works as a Senior Data Analyst at CVR Housing, White Plains, NY. She is also very eloquent and talented as a singer, dancer, choreographer and Program Manager in MAZHAVIL FM.

Born in the melting pot of the world, New York, Rekha’s parents immigrated to the US from Kerala decades ago. She gives credit to her parents for raising and helping her to be what she is today. She considers it a blessing to be part of the great US nation, and she is grateful that this country has abundantly received people from so many different countries and making them an opportunity to survive, to thrive, to live, and to be happy!

In early January 2017, when she came to know that Deepti, living in New Jersy, was on peritoneal dialysis and was in need of a kidney transplant, and was she needed a donor, not knowing much about transplant, she casually texted her telling her she was willing to test and see if she could donate her kidney to her. Rekha followed this up later on , and completed the application to be a donor to this woman, whom she had met barely once at a party in New Jersey. Luckily ofr her, after tests, it was found that she was perfect match to donate her own kidney.

“That is when actual reality had kicked in me,” Rekha says. “I really had to make a decision. I told my husband about this. He gave me the freedom to decide whatever I wanted. Before I went for all this testing, all I told Deepti was that “If my kidney matches, I will give you. Don’t worry!” And, it was a very difficult decision. But Rekha kept her word. On July 11th 2017, “one of my kidneys was transplanted into Deepti at St. Barnabas Hospital in New Jersey.” Rekha is proud that with her sacrifice, another life has been saved. “I believe we can all do the same thing, if you have the heart for it,” Rekha says, who has now become a champion of organ donation.

T. S. Nandakumar

T.S. Nandakumar, a well known and versatile Carnatic music percussionist, is another awardee this year. He is primarily adept in playing the Mridangam. The son of Shri Balakrishna Panicker and Shrimati Saraswati, he comes from the family of the well known nadaswaram duo, the Ambalapuzha Brothers. A child prodigy, Nandakumar had only talent with which he conquered the world of music with his beats on the mridangam. He learnt mridangam under the guidance of Shri Kaithavana Madhavdas in the gurukula samprada tradition and acquired proficiency as Laya Vidwan.

Nandakumar developed a strong interest in music when he was four years old. He gained a reputation as an accompanist to some well-known names in Carnatic music such as Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M. D. Ramanathan, S. Ramanathan, R. K. Srikantan, V. Dakshinamoorthy, Bhimsen Joshi, M. Balamuralikrishna, T. N. Krishnan, L. Subramaniam, N. Ramani, K. J. Yesudas, N. Rajam, T. K. Govinda Rao, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, T. V. Gopalakrishnan and several others. He has taken up his life mission to perpetuate Indian ancient art form and has dedicated himself in teaching the same to hundreds of students worldwide.He was quoted as “Guru of all musical things”, “King of percussion in suburbs” and “The Master Of Rhythm” by The Times of India.

Nandakumar has been awarded with numerous prestigious awards. He received the LifeTime Achievement Award from Shanti Foundation, Chennai; he was honored by the Cleveland Tyagaraja group with the ‘Best Teacher Award’; and the Bharat Ratna M. S. Subbulakshmi Best Teacher Award from the Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai .He was also felicitated and honored by Shri R. K. Laxman the cartoonist. Pittsburgh University in America conducts special classes in percussive arts for which they have enlisted Nandakumar. A renowned music teacher, around the world, he is well known for conducting 24 hours nonstop Akanda Seva Bhajan with his students in Mumbai for the tsunami-affected victims of India.

Tanishq Mathew Abraham

Child Genius Tanishq Mathew Abraham is a 14-year-old senior (4th year) completing his biomedical engineering degree at Univ. Of California, Davis. He will be the youngest engineer to graduate in June 2018. Tanishq made international headlines when he graduated from high-school at 10-years-old and later at 11-years-old when he graduated with triple Associate Degrees from American River College. He again made headlines after he was accepted with to two universities, UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz with the prestigious Regents Scholarship to continue his undergrad degree.

Tanishq first started his on-campus college classes at 7-years-old. Due to his passion for astronomy, along with the support of his astronomy professor, he co-founded the Astronomy & Physics club at American River College at 8-years-old. He became the founding Vice President of the club and held that position for 2 years when he would help starting new projects, research, recruiting new members and creating and maintaining social media sites. Meanwhile at home, he would spend countless hours, volunteering for a citizen scientist project helping astronomers look through hundreds of NASA images for exoplanets (planets that are outside our solar system), solar storms and supernova. While going through hundreds of images, he discovered, an exoplanet, two solar storms and a supernova at 8-years-old. He presented his findings, verified by other citizen scientists, at a talk for his college astronomy club.

Tiara Thankam Abraham

Tiara Thankam Abraham is a 12-year-old soprano prodigy and a child genius. She is a homeschooled student who studies high school and college level material. At 11-years-old, she wrote the SATs for the first time and scored 95th percentile among the 7th graders. Due to her good score at 11, she became part of the Duke University’s Talent Identification Program (TIP) which allows students like Tiara to advance their love for learning. With a determination to score well, she prepared for the SAT in a month while helping her mom who was caring for Tiara’s granddad at the hospital. After getting back late from the hospital, the 11-year-old would sit up as late as 1:00 am to keep up with her SAT preparation, much to the disapproval of her mom.

Tiara started her first on-campus college classes at 7-years-old. She has taken campus college courses in foreign languages (French, German, Italian, and Spanish), voice and music theory classes and finished about 30 college semester units. She became a member of the high IQ society, MENSA, at 4-years-old.

Due to her inborn talent and passion for singing and math, she is planning to pursue a music (in vocal performance) and math major as her college degree. Tiara has won 1st place at several vocal competitions. She had the honor of performing twice as a soloist at the famous Carnegie Hall, NYC when she was 9 and 10 years old respectively. She also released her debut album “Winter Nightingale” when she was 10. Her album with 9 songs covers different genres in 6 Romance languages

NAMAM is an Indian cultural organization that was formed in the United States in 2010. Under the strong and inspiring leadership of Madhavan B. Nair, the founder of NAMAM, a team of enthusiastic people with unswerving dedication has transformed the organization into a platform for families to come together and experience a wonderful sense of belonging and oneness.

NAMAM functions as a juncture of like-minded individuals across the community to engage in social and cultural activities. NAMAM has been reaching out to the community with varied cultural programs, social gatherings and humanitarian aid efforts. “It is our priority to pass a deep awareness about our rich heritage, unique customs and eclectic culture of Kerala to the younger generation in the USA, so that they can appreciate and take pride in their genealogy. We welcome you to join our organization and participate in our community outreach activities,” Madhavan Nair says.

Political Mind Games: How the 1% Manipulate Our Understanding of What’s Happening, What’s Right, and What’s Possible

April 3, 2018 Staff ReporterEditorial 0

Giant corporations are raking in record profits, while millions of Americans remain scarred by the Great Recession and a recovery that has left them behind. Mammoth defense contractors push for more of everything military, while programs for the poor are on life support. Global polluters are blocking effective responses to climate change, while the disenfranchised suffer disproportionately from environmental disasters and devastation. Influential voices ridicule those who are disadvantaged by prejudice, by discrimination, and by dwindling resources. All the while, our middle class is shrinking, imperiled, and insecure. This is not the America most of us want.

It’s really no secret that certain individuals and groups—the Koch brothers, Walmart heirs, some Wall Street CEOs, prominent politicians (many Republicans, and some Democrats too), big-business lobbyists, right-wing think tanks, Fox News—use their wealth and influence to pursue a self-serving agenda that betrays the common good. Indeed, they’ve been doing it since long before Donald J. Trump moved into the White House. But what often flies under the radar is the extent to which they rely on psychologically manipulative appeals to advance their narrow interests at the expense of the rest of us. Examples include “The dangers of global warming are overblown,” “Voter fraud is a rampant injustice,” “Workers protesting low wages are devious and dishonest,” “We’ve earned every dollar and deserve your praise, not criticism,” and

“Everyone will be helpless if gun reformers have their way.”

In my new book, POLITICAL MIND GAMES: How the 1% Manipulate Our Understanding of What’s Happening, What’s Right, and What’s Possible, I explain the psychology behind the success of today’s plutocrats in marketing their false claims—and what we can do to counter them. Offering a research-based framework, I show how the 1% exploit five fundamental concerns that govern our daily lives: issues of vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness. These concerns are soft targets for manipulation because each is linked to a basic question we ask ourselves as we try to make sense of the world around us. Consider:

Are we safe? Whether as pass

In the Shadows: India’s Mental Health Crisis

April 3, 2018 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Among the many challenges India faces, the most under noticed is the mental health crisis. In his recent address at the 22nd convocation of National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) the President Ram Nath Kovind cautioned that India is facing a possible ‘mental health epidemic’. “The number of affected in India is larger than the entire population of Japan. We need to address this gap and ensure that by 2022 at least those who are suffering from severe mental disorders have been diagnosed and have access to treatment facilities. Let us take it up as a national mission,” he said.

The importance of emotional and mental health in the overall wellbeing of an individual and its impact on national economy and growth is now being increasingly acknowledged. At present, the mentally ill account for nearly 6.5 percent of the country’s population and it is estimated that by 2020 this number will increase to a staggering 20 percent.

Further, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that nearly 56 million Indians, that is 4.5% of India’s population, suffer from depression. Another thirty-eight million Indians, or 3% of India’s population, suffer from anxiety disorders including panic attacks, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Depression is the single largest contributor to disability.

The pathetic state of mental health care in the country and the apathy of government is a cause for great concern. The plausible reason is the sheer scale of the problem .Hence nobody wants to discuss about the elephant in the room. But the nation cannot afford to ignore the stark realities .There are only about 43 mental hospitals in the country and most of them are in disarray .they lack essential infrastructure and treatment facilities and have a sickening ambience. Visiting private clinics and sustaining the treatment — usually a long drawn out affair — is an expensive proposition for most families.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare report, India faces a treatment gap of 50-70 percent for mental healthcare. The government data highlights the dismal number of mental healthcare professionals in India — 3,800 psychiatrists, and 898 clinical psychologists. A large number of them are in urban areas .The WHO reports that there are only three psychiatrists per million people in India, while in other Commonwealth countries, the ratio is 5.6 psychiatrists for the same. By this estimate, India is short of 66,200 psychiatrists. Mental health accounts for 0.16 percent of the total Union Health Budget, which is less than that of Bangladesh, which spends 0.44 percent. The developed nations’ expenditure amounts to an average of 4 percent. .. India must find better ways to parlay its impressive economic growth into faster progress in this critical area .it has till now looked at it only with a distant lens.

The National Mental Health Survey 2015-16 conducted by National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) estimates that 13.7 percent of the Indian population above the age of 18 suffers from mental morbidity, requiring active intervention. It also suggests that one in every 20 Indians suffers from depression and nearly 1 percent of Indians suffer from high suicidal risks. A survey by conducted by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in collaboration with WHO across 11 centres in the country, involving3,000 people from each city found that 95 percent of those with mental-health problems remain deprived of treatment due to stigma, shame and being shunned from societies. Three age groups are particularly vulnerable to depression – pregnant or post-partum women youth, and the elderly.

The economic consequences of poor mental health are quite significant. The cognitive symptoms of depression like a difficulties in concentrating, making decisions and remembering cause significant impairment in work function and productivity A World Economic Forum/Harvard School of Public Health study estimated that the cumulative global impact of mental disorders in terms of lost economic output will amount to $16.3 trillion between 2011 and 2030. In India, mental illness is estimated to cost $1.03 trillion (22% of economic output) between 2012-2030.

The fact is that poor mental health is just as bad as or maybe even worse than any kind of physical injury. Left untreated it can lead to debilitating, life-altering conditions. Medical science has progressed enough to be able to cure, or at least control, nearly all of the mental-health problems with a combination of drugs, therapy and community support. Individuals can lead fulfilling and productive lives including going to school, raising a family and pursuing a career.

Although mental illness is experienced by a significant proportion of the population, it is still seen as a taboo. Depression is so deeply stigmatized that people adopt enforced silence and social isolation. In villages there dreadful cases of patients being locked up in homes during the day, being tied to trees or even being flogs to exorcise evil spirits. In some cultures family honour is so paramount that the notion of seeking psychiatric help more regularly is uncomfortable and an anathema. We should recognize mental-health problems like we would asthma or diabetes or any other health condition.

Several times mental-health problems are looked down upon or trivialized. These barriers deprive people of their dignity. We need to shift the paradigm of how we view and address mental illness at a systemic level. Tragically support networks for the mentally ill are woefully inadequate. There is need of an ambience of empathy , awareness and acceptance of these people so that prejudices dissipate and patients are able to overcome stigma and shame .

We must push the conversation about mental illness forward whether it be in the classrooms or workplaces or with our families, neighbours and friends. These issues are real and lethal, and the first means of prevention is acknowledging their existence. People are quite scary about talking of mental illness but it doesn’t need to be like that .to get real relief they have to come out of the shadows, patients should be coaxed and counseled to open up feelings about their pain. This has a powerful cathartic effect.

There have been some encouraging innovations in India led by voluntary organizations that are both impactful and replicable .Dr Vikram Patel, who is a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and co-founder of Goa-based mental health research nonprofit Sangath has been in the forefront of community mental health programmes in Central India.

It deploys health workers, some with no background in mental health. These workers are trained to raise mental health awareness and provide “psychological first-aid”. Since they are drawn from the same community, they are able to empathies with the patients .The next consists of mental health professionals. The programme uses Primary Health Centres for screening people with mental illnesses.

According to Patel, mental health support workers can be trained at a modest cost. Given the limited availability of mental-health professionals, such first-aid approaches can be suitably and successfully adapted to community needs with limited resources. The senior therapists can be given basic training in general medicine, psychology, psychiatry ,psychopharmacology, social work and patient management

Community mental health services a can offer a mix of clinical, psychological and social services to people with severe, moderate and mild mental illnesses. These can be provided by teams including mental health professionals, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists, and peer workers. Counseling can make a profound difference and build resilience to cope with despair. Providing psychoeducation to patients’ families can also help. Unfortunately, in recent decades academic psychologists have largely forsaken psychoanalysis and made themselves over as biologists.

We can turn the tide in the struggle of these people through the simple power of compassion. With this contribution, we can become a powerful force for lifting the dark shadows.

__________________________________________________

Moin Qazi, PhD Economics, PhD English, is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment and author of the bestselling book, Village Diary of a Heretic Banker. He has worked in the development finance sector for almost four decades in India and can be reached at moinqazi123@gmail.com.

Akshun Abhimanyu’s film on racism in USA goes to Cannes Film Fest

April 3, 2018 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Indian American actor/writer Akshun Abhimanyu’s film based on the Kansas racial shootings is heading to be shown at the popular Cannes Film Festival. His new film showcases the heightened feelings of “fear and uncertainty” into words and gives a voice to all those people in his new film, “Seven Rounds.”

The killing of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian American engineer, at a Kansas bar in February 2017, sent shock waves through the community which continues to reverberate to this day.

The perpetrator, Adam Purinton, who recently pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and attempted murder charges, also injured two others in the attack, including Alok Madasani. Authorities alleged that Kuchibhotla and Madasani were targeted because of their ethnicity, race or national origin.

Even though Purinton is now behind bars, immigrants, who shudder recalling the fateful day, fear there may be more Purintons out there. Many are left wondering where all the hostility is coming from. Though there are no easy answers to this question, since cinema is reflective of real life, Abhimanyu and his team have just released a gripping and eye-catching trailer for the film produced by Hollywood’s Three Flames Productions.

“The incident also seemed relatable to my situation in Los Angeles,” Abhimanyu, who conceptualized the story and plays the lead role, told the media. “I’ve never faced racism as such but the idea of people perceiving me differently has been a question many a times. Whenever I have a beard and I’m going to places where I’m perceived as a ‘brown guy with a beard’ where people think I’m a Middle Eastern, and I get that look of I’m a Muslim guy and I could be a threat, a general consensus.”

At times, said Abhimanyu, he is meted the same treatment from fellow Indians.

“The minute they realize that I’m Indian, their reaction changes…they become nicer and welcoming, saying, ‘Oh! You’re like a brother,’” he said. “That kind of made me worry that these instances, which are probably directed towards a certain community, are affecting everybody else, anybody who looks like from that part of the world.”

In the film, during President Donald Trump’s travel ban, two young Indian engineers go to their local bar only to encounter a series of challenges related to perceptions of their ethnicity. Abhimanyu said this decision of the travel ban kind of legalized various forms of discrimination.

“It’s about how these two friends go about their journey in a day’s time and how they face these daily small moments of subliminal racism but they don’t question it until a big thing like a shooting happens,” said Abhimanyu. “After the travel ban, questions were raised about the Muslim community. It was a strong hate towards these people which other Americans were creating because of the understanding at the top level.”

The film, he said, was shot in Kansas City since “these instances are more common in the Midwest,” adding that he wanted to focus on the rise in such incidents since the ban. Such rhetoric, he said, was tearing apart communities and creating a racial divide in the country.

“Such plans make people look at other people differently,” he told India-West. “Hate them without even knowing where they’re from. Nobody in that bar was Muslim or Middle Eastern, a Caucasian man is getting shot, a black woman is getting shot…they are getting killed and shot because of a perception.”

Friend and writer Karthik Menon, he said, helped adapt the story into a screenplay. “My character illustrates the underlying phobia amongst American people,” said the New Delhi native. The film also touches upon the rise in gun violence and mass shootings.

A graduate in biotechnology, Abhimanyu said his future goal is to either make this into a feature or a docu-series. “My main focus is to give it to bigger platforms so that people across the globe can get the message and I would like to work on a set of series which work on such issues,” he said.

A vital pre-requisite in all companies and educational institutions is proof of English language proficiency. Therefore, all aspirants should take a language test to learn the right kind of skills, says Vikas Singh, Managing Director, Pearson India.

TheUNN Corporation

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