Author: Staff Reporter

Ajay Ghosh – Chief Editor, Universal News Network

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Born and educated in India, Ajay Ghosh, The Chief Editor of Universal News Network, came to the United States to pursue his higher studies in Journalism in 1997. Having a Master’s Degree in Social Work, he worked as a freelance writer on social issues for numerous publications on in Delhi and served as the Editor of The Voice Delhi.

After graduating with a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the School of Journalism at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, 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. 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 has been working 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. He has been recently appointed as the Media Coordinator of GOPIO-CT, considered the most vibrant GOPIO Chapter in the world.

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 last year, and had served as the founder President of Indo-American Press Club.

In addition, Ajay taught Social Work Seminar and guided students at the Graduate School of Social Work, Fordham University in New York City since 2006. He has been working as the Administrator of the Mental Health Clinic at Saint Dominic’s Home, Bronx, New York from 1999 to 2014. Worked as the Treatment Coordinator at Saint Vincent’s Hospital’s Westport Campus, which serves patients with mental health issues, and had a bief 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 Social Worker at Yale New Haven Hospital.

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, CT.

Ajay Ghosh - Chief Editor, Universal News Network
Ajay Ghosh

Cyber Crimes Cost Hundreds of Billions of Dollars Each Year

Staff ReporterFinance/Economy, Science & Technology 0
The growing menace of cybercrime is impacting the global economy significantly with estimated annual losses of up to $575 billion, a report by cybersecurity solutions firm McAfee revealed. The report, Net Losses — Estimating the Global Cost of Cybercrime, by Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and sponsored by McAfee also said the cost includes the effect on hundreds of millions of people who had their personal information stolen.
“We estimate that likely annual cost to global economy from cybercrime is more than $400 billion. A conservative estimate would be $375 billion in losses, while the maximum could be as much as $575 billion,” the report said. Part of the losses from cybercrime are directly connected to ‘recovery costs’ or the digital and electronic clean-up that must occur after an attack has taken place.
Cybercrime costs the global economy about $445 billion US every year, with the damage to business from the theft of intellectual property exceeding the $160 billion US loss to individuals from hacking, according to another research published recentlly. The report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said cybercrime was a growth industry that damaged trade, competitiveness and innovation.
Cybercrime damages trade, competitiveness, innovation, and global economic growth. Studies estimate that the Internet economy annually generates between $2 trillion and $3 trillion, a share of the global economy that is expected to grow rapidly, it added. Based on CSIS estimates, cybercrime extracts between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of the value created by the Internet.
Explaining the process for reaching the impact figure, the report said, “If we used the loss by high-income countries to extrapolate a global figure, this would give us a global total of $575 billion.“Another approach would be to take the total amount for all countries where we could find open source data and use it to extrapolate global costs. This would give us a total global cost of around $375 billion.”
The report further said that a third approach would be to aggregate costs as a share of regional incomes to get a global total. “This would give us an estimate of $445 billion. None of these approaches are satisfactory, but until reporting and data collection improve, they provide a way to estimate the global cost of cybercrime and cyberespionage,” it added.
Cybercrime costs include effect of hundreds of millions of people having their personal information stolen. Incidents in the last year include over 40 million people in the U.S., 54 million in Turkey, 20 million in Korea, 16 million in Germany and more than 20 million in China, the report revealed. “One estimate puts the total at more than 800 million individual records in 2013. This alone could cost as much as $160 billion per year,” it said.
Cybercrime’s effect on intellectual property (IP) is particularly damaging and countries where IP creation and IP-intensive industries are important for wealth creation lose more in trade, jobs and income from cybercrime than countries depending more on agriculture or industries of low-level manufacturing, the report found. Accordingly, high-income countries lost more as a percent of GDP than low-income countries.
The world’s biggest economies bore the brunt of the losses, the research found, with the toll on the United States, China, Japan and Germany reaching $200 billion a year in total. Losses connected to personal information, such as stolen credit card data, was put at up to $150 billion.
“Oftentimes those that have been hacked don`t even know they`ve been hacked and have a hard time estimating the true cost of that,” Gann said in an interview with CBC’s The Lang & O’Leary Exchange. “When it comes to corporations they can be hacked and not fully understand the downstream effects until much later once a competitor has developed a competing product.”

Freedom and Liberty: – Are we true to its creed?

Staff ReporterEditorial 0

Dwight Eisenhower, the former President of the United Sates once said ‘only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free’. The question to ponder on this August 15, as we celebrate the Independence of India from British colonialism is whether we are losing faith in that hard fought victory of freedom with the blood, toil and sweat of our founding fathers.

Some may argue that my skepticism is rather unfounded as democracy has taken deep root in India, and freedom and liberty are ingrained in the psyche of the nation’s conscience. While that assertion may ring true in a larger sense, one needs to be concerned with eroding civil liberties and increasing threats to the basic rights of all citizens.

The preamble to the Indian constitution reads as follows: “WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION”. In 1995, the Supreme Court has upheld that the preamble is an integral part of the constitution.

The Jeffersonian definition of freedom always referred to release from despotic restraints, whether it is freedom of religion or of the press or any other freedom. It has been said that a free conscience is indeed the beginning of freedom.  Conscience is a difficult concept to study because of its abstract nature. However, freedom of conscience is without equal in a democratic society, as all other rights flow from it. The idea of choice is borne out of it. A free conscience is, indeed the beginning of freedom.

Freedom of conscience is innate; it is god-given and nobody has the right to trample on it. There is an inherent yearning in every human being to be free. In other words, people wish to live and behave towards each other in a way in which each serves the community, which in turn provides for and looks after its members.

The United States declaration of Independence spells out the basic essence of that iconic document without any ambiguity: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’. — Perhaps no one sentence in American history has had such a profound impact than these powerful words written by Thomas Jefferson.

During the march in Washington in 1963, Martin Luther King, recited these words, and challenged the nation to make good on this promise. A year later, President Lyndon B. Johnson fulfilled that promise with the signing of the landmark civil rights legislation that transformed the nation once and for all. One hundred years earlier, Abraham Lincoln in his famous Gettysburg address insisted on the proposition that all men are created equal.

About 166 years later after Independence, the office of war information released a poster that added the following to that declaration: ‘we are of one mind – Hitler, Mussolini or Hirohito shall never take from us the freedom for which our forefathers sacrificed our lives and fortune’. United States today, despite many of its current shortcomings, still remains a beacon of freedom to the rest of the world.     .

On the eve of Independence in 1947, India’s first Prime Minister in his historical speech said the following: ‘Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance’. Undoubtedly, Pandit  Jawaharal Nehru remained a valiant defender of the freedom of every citizen, as enshrined in the constitution, of which he was a co-architect, till the very end.

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation said  “I do not expect the India of my dreams to develop one religion, i.e., to be wholly Hindu or Wholly Christian or wholly Mussalman, but I want to be wholly tolerant, with its religions working side by side with one another’.

India’s founding fathers had a dream to create a just society based on the values of that preamble, and they strove to create Institutions that would seem to protect that hard earned freedom and liberty. It is indeed our responsibility as succeeding generations, to safeguard those cherished principles. However, the constitution cannot protect our rights if we do not protect the constitution. If we display a cavalier attitude towards those who violate the constitution, we would very likely be accomplices in undermining our own rights and ultimately the freedom of the entire nation.

The biggest challenge India is facing today is the majoritarian view of democratic governance. Unfortunately, a large segment of the voting public along with a significant section of the NRIs seem to be either antagonistic or apathetic to the very notion of an open society where the freedom and liberty of every citizen of the country is respected regardless of their caste or religion. Without fully committing ourselves to this essential creed, we may never achieve the political tranquility that is required for economic development and prosperity of all its citizens.

Two Reports Point to Widespread Persecution

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Christians continue to face fierce opposition in many countries and two recent reports provide ample evidence of this. The first one, published by the UK’s office of the organization Aid to the Church in Need was titled, “Persecuted and Forgotten? A report on Christians Oppressed for their Faith 2013-2015.”
The report examined 23 countries of concern. It accused Islamic groups of engaging in religiously motivated ethnic cleansing in the Middle East and in parts of Africa. As well the fear of such persecution has caused a mass exodus of Christians from these areas.
In Iraq, for example, the report warned that Christianity could disappear within five years. Already Up to 50% of Christians still in Iraq have been internally displaced within the last 18 months.” Aid to the Church in Need added that it is not only Islamic groups behind this, but also other religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jewish. Governments, such as the Chinese and North Korean have also pressured Christians.
Two Reports Point to Widespread PersecutionSimilar persecution was noted in Eritrea where former prisoners have described physical abuse. Reportedly, up to 3,000 Eritreans – the majority of them Christian – are currently imprisoned for their religious beliefs, the report stated.
In India, radical Hindu movements have increased their attacks against Christians. While Buddhist extremists in Sri Lanka have destroyed or forced the closure of many churches.
Christians are the most persecuted The report affirmed that Christians are the most persecuted religious group. It cited a 2012 report by a German organization which said that 80% of all acts of religious discrimination were against Christians.
“The decline of Christianity in many countries of concern has potentially profound significance regarding prospects for peace as Christians have traditionally been important ‘peace builders’ in society,” the report commented.
“This emptying of Christians from regions which had been their home for centuries, is bound to be seen by future historians as a decisive move towards religious totalitarianism,” said the report.
The situation has become worse since the last report by Aid to the Church in Need in 2013. Nineteen of the countries in the most recent report also featured in the 2013 edition and of those fifteen experienced a deteriorating situation for Christians.
The second report was the annual International Religious Freedom Report for 2014, published by the U.S. Department of State. “In 2014, non-state actors committed some of the world’s most egregious abuses of religious freedom and other human rights,” the Department of State noted. “Government failure, delay, and inadequacy in combatting these groups often had severe consequences for people living under significant and dire restrictions on, and interference with, their exercise of freedom of religion,” it added.
The Department of State also made special mention of the problems in the Middle East in the report’s introduction. In areas taken over by extremist Islamic groups Christians were given the option of converting, paying a ruinous tax, or being killed. As a result many fled their homes. Some African countries were also singled out for mention, such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. In these countries the group Boko Haram sought to impose its religious and political beliefs, killing more people in 2014 than in the previous five years. “As West Africa’s most active terror group, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for scores of fatal attacks on churches and mosques, often killing worshipers during religious services or immediately afterward,” the report observed.
The report also mentioned that governments have the responsibility to protect the human rights of its citizens, including the right to freedom of conscience, belief, practice, worship and the right to change one’s faith. Nevertheless in some countries, such as Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan, Burma, and Russia, authorities fail to do this and “whether by deed or inaction, they legitimize and facilitate non-state actors who persecute and discriminate against members of vulnerable religious communities, nurture an environment of intolerance, and weaken the ties that support peaceful and resilient societies.”
In Pakistan, for example, not only has the government not only refrained from investigating or prosecuting those guilty of religious freedom abuses but it has also continued to use discriminatory legislation, such as blasphemy laws.
Blasphemy and apostasy laws have had a negative impact in a number of countries. In addition to Pakistan the report mentioned Sudan and Saudi Arabia as places where this is a problem.
Some authoritarian countries have used the excuse of counter-terrorism and the need to combat extremists as an excuse to limit religious freedom, the Department of State commented. This has occurred in many Central Asian countries, such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
In China, the report noted, government authorities tortured, arrested and harassed a number of believers, both from registered and unregistered religious groups. Local authorities destroyed hundreds of Christian churches and crosses.
As the reports show religious persecution is flourishing, and it is vital it not be forgotten or overlooked as fundamental human rights are violated.
Aid to the Church in Need report  http://www.acnuk.org/persecuted

Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015

Staff ReporterCommunity, Social Media, Youth 0

Aided by the convenience and constant access provided by mobile devices, especially smartphones, 92% of teens report going online daily — including 24% who say they go online “almost constantly,” according to a new study from Pew Research Center. More than half (56%) of teens — defined in this report as those ages 13 to 17 — go online several times a day, and 12% report once-a-day use. Just 6% of teens report going online weekly, and 2% go online less often.

Much of this frenzy of access is facilitated by mobile devices. Nearly three-quarters of teens have or have access1 to a smartphone and 30% have a basic phone, while just 12% of teens 13 to 17 say they have no cell phone of any type. African-American teens are the most likely of any group of teens to have a smartphone, with 85% having access to one, compared with 71% of both white and Hispanic teens. These phones and other mobile devices have become a primary driver of teen internet use: Fully 91% of teens go online from mobile devices at least occasionally. Among these “mobile teens,” 94% go online daily or more often. By comparison, teens who don’t access the internet via mobile devices tend to go online less frequently. Some 68% go online at least daily.

African-American and Hispanic youth report more frequent internet use than white teens. Among African-American teens, 34% report going online “almost constantly” as do 32% of Hispanic teens, while 19% of white teens go online that often.

Facebook is the most popular and frequently used social media platform among teens; half of teens use Instagram, and nearly as many use Snapchat. Facebook remains the most used social media site among American teens ages 13 to 17 with 71% of all teens using the site, even as half of teens use Instagram and four-in-ten use Snapchat.

Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 201571% of teens use more than one social network site. Teens are diversifying their social network site use. A majority of teens — 71% — report using more than one social network site out of the seven platform options they were asked about. Among the 22% of teens who only use one site, 66% use Facebook, 13% use Google+, 13% use Instagram and 3% use Snapchat.

This study uses a somewhat different method than Pew Research Center’s previous reports on teens. While both are probability-based, nationally representative samples of American teens, the current survey was administered online, while our previous work involved surveying teens by phone. A great deal of previous research has found that the mode of interview — telephone vs. online self-administration — can affect the results. The magnitude and direction of these effects are difficult to predict, though for most kinds of questions, the fundamental conclusions one would draw from the data will be similar regardless of mode. Accordingly, we will not compare specific percentages from previous research with results from the current survey. But we believe that the broad contours and patterns evident in this web-based survey are comparable to those seen in previous telephone surveys.

Facebook remains a dominant force in teens’ social media ecosystems, even as Instagram and Snapchat have risen into a prominent role in teens’ online lives.Asked which platforms they used most often, the overall population of teens in this sample (ages 13 to 17) reported that Facebook was the site they used most frequently (41% said that), followed by Instagram (20%) and Snapchat (11%).

Boys are more likely than girls to report that they visit Facebook most often (45% of boys vs. 36% of girls). Girls are more likely than boys to say they use Instagram (23% of girls vs. 17% of boys) and Tumblr (6% of girls compared with less than 1% of boys). Older teens ages 15 to 17 are more likely than younger teens to cite Facebook (44% vs. 35% of younger teens), Snapchat (13% vs. 8%) and Twitter (8% vs. 3%) as a most often used platform, while younger teens ages 13 to 14 are more likely than their older compatriots to list Instagram (25% vs. 17% of older teens) as a platform they visit most often.

Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015The survey data reveals a distinct pattern in social media use by socio-economic status. Teens from less well-off households (those earning less than $50,000) are more likely than others to say they use Facebook the most: 49% of these teens say they use it most often, compared with 37% of teens from somewhat wealthier families (those earning $50,000 or more).

Teens from more affluent households are somewhat more likely than those from the least affluent homes to say they visit Snapchat most often, with 14% of those from families earning more than $75,000 saying Snapchat is their top site, compared with 7% of those whose families earn less than $30,000 annually. Twitter shows a similar pattern by income, with the wealthiest teens using Twitter more than their least well-to-do peers. It should be noted that some of these differences may be artifacts of differences in use of these sites by these different subgroups of teens.

As American teens adopt smartphones, they have a variety of methods for communication and sharing at their disposal. Texting is an especially important mode of communication for many teens. Some 88% of teens have or have access to cell phones or smartphones and 90% of those teens with phones exchange texts. A typical teen sends and receives 30 texts per day

And teens are not simply sending messages through the texting system that telephone companies offer. Some 73% of teens have access to smartphones and among them messaging apps like Kik or WhatsApp have caught on. Fully 33% of teens with phones have such apps. And Hispanic and African-American youth with phones are substantially more likely to use messaging apps, with 46% of Hispanic and 47% of African-American teens using a messaging app compared with 24% of white teens.

Teenage girls use social media sites and platforms — particularly visually-oriented ones — for sharing more than their male counterparts do. For their part, boys are more likely than girls to own gaming consoles and play video games.

Data for this report was collected for Pew Research Center. The survey was administered online by the GfK Group using its KnowledgePanel, in English and Spanish, to a nationally representative sample of over 1,060 teens ages 13 to 17 and a parent or guardian from September 25 to October 9, 2014 and February 10 to March 16, 2015. In the fall, 1016 parent-teen pairs were interviewed. The survey was re-opened in the spring and 44 pairs were added to the sample. For more on the methods for this study, please visit the Methods section at the end of this report.

One-Third of Hindu Americans Not Married, Says Pew Report

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The number of Indian Americans who have never been married has risen sharply, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study, which surveyed more than 35,000 Americans.

Nearly one-third of Hindu Americans have never been married.

In 2007, the first year of the study, only 14 percent of Hindu Americans had never been married, while an overwhelming 79 percent were wedded. Currently, 60 percent of Hindu Americans are married. Three percent of Hindus surveyed said that they live with partners, contrasting sharply with 2007 data, which showed no Hindu Americans living with partners.

America’s Hindu population has reached 2.23 million, an increase of about one million or 85.8 percent since 2007, making Hinduism the fourth-largest faith, according to estimates based on the Pew Research Center’s “Religious Landscape Study.” The study only gave the percentage shares of Hindus in the population, rather than numbers, but calculations by IANS using the population proportions in the report and census projections showed that the number of Hindus rose from 1.2 million in 2007 out of a total U.S. population of 301.2 million that year to 2.23 million in 2014 in a population of 318.88 million. This amounts to an increase of 1.03 million or 85.8 percent in the Hindu population during the seven-year period.

In other statistics, 45 percent of Muslim Americans have never been married, according to the study, again contrasting sharply with 2007 rates when 28 percent reported never having been married. Slightly more than one-third of Buddhists have never been married, equivalent to the 2007 rates.

“Since the first Religious Landscape Study was conducted in 2007, the share of Americans who are married has continued to decline, while the share of adults who have never been married has risen sharply,” noted the report.

“In fact, recent analysis of census data shows that the share of Americans who have never been married now stands at an all-time high,” reported the study. In the overall population, about 48 percent of Americans are married, while 25 percent have never been married. About seven percent of the population currently lives with a partner.

Hindu Americans now comprise 0.07 percent of the U.S. population, up from 2007, when 0.04 percent of people surveyed identified as Hindus. Muslims now represent 0.09 percent of the U.S. population, while 0.03 percent identify as Buddhists. A small fraction of the U.S. population identifies with other world religions, including Sikhs, Jains, Zoroastrians, Bahais, Taoists and Rastafarians.

Hindus and Jews have the highest proportion of household incomes; more than 36 percent of Hindu Americans have a family income of more than $100,000. Almost 19 percent of the American population has family incomes over $100,000. Hindus also continue to be the most highly-educated religion: 77 percent are college graduates and 48 percent hold post-graduate degrees.

The number of people who identify as “unaffiliated” has sharply risen to more than 22 percent of Americans, with the trend rising highest among millennials. Mixed race and interfaith marriages are also on the rise.

Hindu Americans comprise the largest population to marry within their own religion.

The Pew Research Center will release more findings over the year.

An earlier report from Pew on the future of world religions in April said that by 2050, Hindus would make up 1.2 percent of the U.S. population and number 4.78 million. This would make the U.S. Hindu population the fifth largest in the world. The rising trend of Hinduism in the U.S. contrasts with that in India. The Pew report released in April said that the share of Hindus in the Indian population was expected to decline by 2.8 percent, from 79.5 percent in 2010 to 76.7 percent in 2050 even though their numbers were projected to grow to almost 1.3 billion by that year in a total Indian population of nearly 1.7 billion.

These are the highlights of the Hindu community profile in the report:  Hindus have the lowest divorce rate of only 5 percent. Hindus are least likely to marry outside their religion: 91 percent have a spouse or partner who is a fellow Hindu. The median age of Hindu adults is 33 years. Five percent of San Francisco’s population is Hindu and three percent of New York City’s. Most Hindus live in the West (38 percent) and the Northeast (33 percent). An anomaly in the report is that 62 percent of Hindus are men and 38 percent women, a difference of 24 percent, which may be due to the pattern of immigration.

The new Pew report this week on the religions in the U.S. said that most of the increase in the Hindu population came through immigration and not conversions: 87 percent are immigrants and nine percent are the children of immigrants, the report said. Only 10 percent of the Hindus are converts, with Catholics and unaffiliated each accounting for 3 percent.

Hindus are least likely to convert to other religions, according to the report: Of all the American adults who said they were raised as Hindus, 80 percent continued to adhere to Hinduism. Of those born Hindu, who did not any longer identify themselves as Hindus, 18 percent said they had no religious affiliation (a category that includes atheists and agnostics), and only one percent joined Christian Protestant sects.

GOPIO Chicago Chapter Thanksgiving / Feed the needy Charity event

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Chicago IL: The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) Chicago Chapter will be conducting a fundraising dinner on November-13th at 6:00 pm at Viceroy of India Banquet Hall, Lombard. The “Thanksgiving/Feed the Needy” dinner event is being held to raise funds for GOPIO Chicago’s 2016 charitable outreach programs. The primary objective of GOPIO Chicago is to mobilize the financial, and professional resources of PIOs living in the Chicago area through networking activities to promote the interests of the Indian community in Chicago. We also work with charitable organizations to help the needy both in India and in our local communities. The funds raised at this event will be used to help two charities

SKY from Nepal that builds shelters for Nepalese people displaced by the recent earthquake. A small donation will help to build a shelter for a family of four in the villages of Nepal. Missionaries of Charity Chicago run by Mother Theresa’s sisters that help the poor and needy in Chicago.

GOPIO Chicago is hosting this event near Thanksgiving holiday as it is best time of the year to give thanks and to promote charitable causes. This fundraiser will help several homeless people in Nepal to get a shelter and several poor people in Chicago will get clothing and food. This is the first charity fundraiser for GOPIO Chicago and the plan is to make it a recurring annual event. GOPIO Chicago President Gladson Varghese and other board members invite all the Indian community in Chicago area to come and participate in this Charity event and to make it a grand success.

The fundraiser will start at 6:00 pm with registration and Social /Business networking, A brief inauguration meeting followed by a charity appeal will be at 7.30 pm.  Dinner at 8:00 pm will be followed by entertainment featuring Bollywood dances, D.J, and Bollywood songs. Key business and U.S. Political leaders will attend the fundraiser.

The Board members attended this press conference are Gladson Varghese- President, Hemant Trivedi – Vice President, Savinder Singh- Secretary, Syed Hussaini – Treasurer, Joe Nedumgottil- Jt. Treasurer, Hina Trivedi, Executive Director, Board Members, Dr. Bapu Arekapudi, Vikrant Singh, Vandana Jhingan, Ninan Thomas, Sharon Walia, Ashfaq Syed, Ram Saini, Nirav Patel, Sohan Joshi, Krishna Bansal, Jatinder Bedi, Ragu Mudumbai, and Vinoz Chanamolu.

Tri-States Telugu Association Celebrates Dussehra and Deepavali in Chicago with Fervor

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Chicago IL: The Telugu speakers, residing in the States of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, celebrated Dussehra and Deepavali, under the aegis of Tri-States Telugu Association (TTA), a not-for-profit organization, at Samarathi Auditorium, Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago.

The religious fervor, scintillating cultural show, and fierce competition for sports trophies were the hallmarks of the celebrations. The program kick started with the traditional lighting of lamp by the Board of Directors of the TTA, which was followed by the singing of the Indian National Anthem.

The event was very well organized by TTA Board of Directors by serving  traditional mouthwatering dinner BODs are Jagadish Kanuru, Aparna Ayyalaraju, Bhaskara Reddy Karri, Chandini Duvvuri, Veeraswamy Achanta, Ramakrishna Korrapolu, Rajani Akurati, Hemanth Pappu, Vaidehi Sriram, Lakshmi Duvvapu, Neelu Mylavarapu, Ravi Tammana, Swapna Pula, Pranati Kaligotla, Prasad Jasti, Prasad Maruvada, Srinath Vasireddy, Radhika Garimella and Raghu Moturi.

Tri-States Telugu Association Celebrates Dussehra and Deepavali in Chicago with Fervor“Dussehra and Deepawali symbolize triumph of light over darkness. These festivals teach that those who pledge themselves to the path of virtue emerge victorious”, said Chandini Duuvuri, Board Member, and TTA in her inaugural address.

She stated that while getting rid of the ‘demons’, present in the society, is important in its own right, the first and foremost priority for each and every individual is to grapple with the evils within him and succeed in this challenging task.

“The need of the hour is to understand the true message of these festivals and implement it in its true and total frame of reference in our daily lives, rather than merely getting bogged down with traditional rituals”, she added.

The one-hour long chanting of Lalitha Sahasranama was greatly instrumental for people in understanding the shallowness of the present-day materialistic approach to life and in filling their minds with  spirituality and devotion to mankind.

“Mere chanting of the Lalitha Sahasranama is not enough; one should know its meaning in order to win over the evil forces within him”, urged one of the priests at the venue. The mesmerizing dandia dance by men and women together, their traditional costumes, toe-tapping music, and distinct sound of brightly decorated wooden sticks enthralled the audience.

A highlight of the celebrations was the high-voltage cultural extravaganza, in which about 130 singers, dancers, and mimicry artists participated. About 30 exhilarating performances of various genres of dances showcased the full spectrum of colorful life of Telugu people.

The cultural program also involved the presentation of classical, semi-classical, and light music, both from Bollywood and Tollywood movies. The singers not only entertained matured audience, but also connected equally with young generation with hit numbers.  The musical band, which played soulful melodies, left the entire audience swaying to its magic. Even the elderly people gave in to the festive mood, took the dance floor, matched the expert dancers, step for step, and provided a pleasant surprise to their younger counterparts and kids.

Tri-States Telugu Association Celebrates Dussehra and Deepavali in Chicago with FervorA big highlight of the evening was mimicry by Maruthi Satyavolu, which was a great mix of humor and voice modulation, imitating a variety of Telugu politicians and film artists representing the last three generations. Another unique feature of the event was the highly competed Chess and Tennis Tournaments. In the Chess Tournament, Shyam Ganesh and Shreya Bhagi won the in the adults’ category, the first and second prizes went to Naveen Nagilla and Sameer Karthik Bhagi respectively. In the Tennis Tournament, Tejrupakekkurthi and Rakesh Avadanula won the first and second prizes respectively in the kids’ category. In the adults’ category, Srinivasaekkurthi and Subramanian Kandasamy won the first prizes and Vijay Sivashanmugasundaram and Vijay S, won the second prizes.

“While Telugu people participated in the event, along with their families and friends, in huge numbers, the representation of people speaking different languages was quite considerable”, said Aparna Ayyalaraju, who handled the media. “The message of Deepavali and Dussehra, which has got universal relevance, attracted the audience, irrespective of caste, creed, and religion”, she added.

TTA thanked all the participants, attendees, and sponsors for their support in making the event a huge success during the busy Navarathri season. TTA also welcomed new members/participants from the Chicagoland to register on its website www.telugu.org and show support to its upcoming events. Tri-State Telugu Association, affiliated with Telugu Association of North America, has been effectively addressing the issues associated with the educational, economic, and social development of its members, including their culture and heritage, since its inception in 1984.

Remembering a Milestone for Immigrants and America

Staff ReporterPolitics, Travel, U.S. 0

Let’s pause a moment to thank an under-appreciated Congress for one of its great accomplishments: the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which turned 50 on Saturday. The law ended the era of race-based immigration, a quota system based on national origin that overwhelmingly favored white European immigrants.

If you have ever wondered how and why this country had to stop looking at itself as the America of the Disney movies of the mid-1960s — the ones with Fred MacMurray and Keenan Wynn, where everyone seemed to be white and Midwestern and the men wore bowties to supper — you can look to the 1965 law, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, which greatly widened the gateway to immigrants from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, among other places.

The White House was host to a citizenship ceremony today to celebrate Hart-Celler. The speakers included the historian Taylor Branch, who quoted President Johnson’s stirring words at the signing ceremony at the foot of the Statue of Liberty. The bill, Johnson said, corrected the “harsh injustice” of national-origins quotas, erasing “a cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of the American nation.”

Mr. Branch said he counted himself among the historians who view Hart-Celler as “a third pillar of democratic fulfillment from the Civil Rights era, along with the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

He placed the bill on a long, slow timeline of American course-correction and self-improvement, a step forward for a country that had learned to turn away from white supremacy, the ownership of human beings and the subjugation of women and was now confronting the many varieties of legal and institutional discrimination and forced inequality.

Hart-Celler affirmed, Mr. Branch said, “that the United States is founded not on any language or ethnic identity,” but rather on the idealism embodied in its founding document’s first three words: “We the people.”

Speaking to the 15 newly sworn citizens in the room, Branch said, “You are a testament to that ideal.” He noted that the bill gets little attention, is misunderstood by many and scorned by some. “There is no Martin Luther King of immigration reform,” he said, “nor any landmark anniversary on par with Selma and the March on Washington.”

But you could say Hart-Celler’s landmark anniversary is the one held in the heart of every immigrant on the day he or she takes the naturalization oath, rejecting old allegiances and joining the citizenry, full-fledged and proud.

Islamic Center of Naperville Holds Open Mosque Day

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Chicago IL: Islamic Center of Naperville (ICN) held an “Open Mosque Day” on Sunday October 4th, 2015, opened its doors to people of all faiths, and provided a rich opportunity for two-way communication aimed at dispelling negative notions prevalent about Islam and spreading its real message of love, peace, and tolerance.

The event, in which a large number of mosques from across Chicago took part, was sponsored by the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago and co-sponsored by Al-Furqan and Gain Peace.  “Even though Muslims in the US, a staggering three million, who are adequately educated and hold decent positions in different walks of life, are largely misunderstood by Americans. According to the recent Gallup Poll, nearly a third of Americans do not have a favorable opinion of Islam”, said Adil Fareed, President, ICN.

Fareed opined that a multi-million dollar Islamophobia network in the backdrop of brutality committed by extremist groups like ISIS combined with lack of engagements of Muslims in their local communities is responsible for this gross misunderstanding and negative image of Islam and Muslims.

“The more interactions between the communities, the more harmony it promotes. Islamophobia tears apart the communities while dialogues and interaction dispel prejudice and misconceptions and strengthen our societies, Fareed added.

Mir Rizwan Ali, Imam of ICN said that the event provided for meetings with the local imams and community members, participation in the Q and A sessions, high-quality presentations at different booths, and free distribution of Islamic literature in order to foster communication and open opportunities for dialogue. “I believe that many of the conflicts in the contemporary society can be minimized by putting in place a mechanism for continuous discussions”, he added.

Shoaib Khadri, Secretary, ICN said that the event proactively attempted to project the true teachings of Islam and to clear misconceptions that people may have of Islam through other sources.  “We identified the most common topics that people have questions on Islam like Women’s Rights, Extremism, Quran, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and set up booths to address questions related to these topics with knowledgeable volunteers who were able to explain in detail and answer questions.”

“I was all along under the spell of wrong propaganda about Islam and its followers. It was a pleasant surprise knowing that Islam is based on the egalitarian principles of Justice, Equality, Tolerance, Peace, and Progress. It was as if coming out of darkness into light”, opined many a guest belonging to different religions.

Rebecca Obarski, City Council, Naperville felt that the Open Mosque Day should not be a one-shot affair. She underlined the need for many such initiatives as one can find true picture of Islam directly from Muslims themselves rather than getting its distorted version from others. “Our society needs to internalize the reality that Muslims are also Americans and they are working hard for a better and more progressive America. Today’s event further consolidates this sentiment”, she added.

Roberto Ramirez, Founder/ CEO, Spanish Public Radio and a Mexico Community leader said that the event was an eye opener for him as he was not fully aware of teachings of Islam.  “We may follow different faiths but, we should strive to find the commonalities among them, and ultimately follow one religion, that is, humanity”, added Ramirez.

Shree Gurusamy, Executive Committee Member, Sri Balaji Temple, applauded the efforts of the ICN and called upon other faith-based organization to undertake similar outreach efforts in order to create a society which is well-informed and free from racial biases, prejudices, and stereotypes.

Purnima Nath, Founder and President, Spindle India, said that Islam’s main focus on the behavior of people, in terms of their good deeds, rather than on mere religious rituals, is one its worth-emulating hallmarks. Refreshments and samples of Muslim cultural cuisine were served to the participants.

ICN community, which comprises over 3500 families, representing India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Somalia, Iraq, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, etc., addresses the needs of Muslims as well as those who belong to other religions. It is a member of Naperville Interfaith Leaders Association. It also takes part in the activities of DuPage County.

Association of Indian Pharmacists in America Celebrated Diwali, with Gaiety and Fervor

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Chicago IL: Harish Bhatt, president of the renowned Association of Indian Pharmacists in America (AIPHA), hosted an exciting 28th Annual Diwali Gala, with gaiety and fervor, on Saturday, October 3, 2015 in the Pearl Banquets, 1480 Lake St, Roselle, IL 60172. The event was attended by over 500 members, along with their families and friends. The occasion was also used to discuss latest trends in pharmaceutical industry as the Association believes in the adage that “work and pleasure should always go together”.

Monir Chaudhaury, Consul General of Bangladesh, who was Chief Guest at the event, said that with a strong presence of pharmacists of Indian origin, across length and breadth of the US, the role of AIPHA has assumed much greater importance. He congratulated Indian pharmacists for their association with the noble profession of pharmacy which provides, among other things, an opportunity to serve different sections of society.

Chaudhaury added that the annual event provides a rich opportunity to its members to network with co-professionals, to keep themselves abreast with latest developments in their domain, and, above all, to contribute to promotion of their cultural heritage by celebrating Diwali.

Harish Bhatt, President, AIPHA said that while a large majority of Indian pharmacists work in hospitals and provide high quality services to customers, a considerable number among them opt for entrepreneurship and set up pharmacies of their own. “They not only solve their own problem of unemployment but also that of others by creating additional employment opportunities”, he said with a sense of accomplishment.

Bhatt added that Indian pharmacists who set up their pharmacies in disadvantaged areas, cater to inadequately met health-related needs of people, and thereby address a socially-relevant challenge.

“On the occasion of Diwali, the festival which is linked to wealth and prosperity, we will make you a little more richer tonight by distributing checks towards the rebates generated by the Association by purchasing medicines in a collective fashion”, Bhatt made the announcement which was a pleasant surprise to the members. He thanked Mahendra “Mayo” Patel for long hours that he committed towards preparation of the checks.    .

Bhatt paid rich tributes to late Naren Patel, a renowned fellow pharmacist, who became a role model by combining professionalism and philanthropy. He congratulated his sons, Neal and Raj, wife, Sumitraben and sister, Binaben, for continuing the philanthropic initiatives of  Naren Patel. Raja krishnamoorthi, the Democratic Nominee and Dr. Madhuvanti Ghose from Art Institute of Chicago graced the occasion.

Key players from the US pharmaceutical industry, including Cardinal Drugs, Mckesson drugs, Hd Smith, Smith drugs, Windmill vitamins, Drip drop, Pharma logistics, DAA pharmacy software, Alpine drugs, Script pro robotics, who are vendors of AIPHA, also attended the event.

The event had support of a large number of eminent business houses who participated in the event by setting up booths and providing useful information about their new initiatives, emerging product lines, and future endeavors. A few booths which represented key players, committed to charity and to create health awareness, attracted the attention of the participants.

Classic Production promoted by the dynamic Mr. Kamlesh Bhuptani (Chaku) with over a decade of experience in providing quality entertainment worldwide. With more than a thousand shows staged across the globe, in USA, Canada, West Indies, London, Belgium, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Dar-e-salaam, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana presented the melodious music program, presented by Sa Re Ga Ma Finalists, Vishwajeet Borwankar and Shivranjini Pandit added to festive mood of the participants at the event.

The celebration of Diwali included lighting of lamps and candles at the venue, signifying the triumph of light over darkness. The participants were seen wishing each other for prosperity and wealth. The event concluded with a delicious dinner, enjoyed by one and all. AIPHA, with its network of members across the US, has emerged as an important association of professionals.

Executive Board: Harish Bhatt (President), Rajesh Chotalia (Vice President), Jitesh Patel (Secretary), Haresh Khakhkar (Joint Secretary), Vitthal Patel (Treasurer), Jignesh Gandhi (Joint Treasurer) and the Board of Directors included Tushar Mehta, Snehal Bhavsar, Jyotin Parikh, Gajanan Trivedi, Manu Patel, Shital Manek, Kishore Chugh, Mahendra R. Patel, Ambalal S. Patel and Ambalal H. Patel.

Cows are Protected; Humans are Not: A New Reality in Digital India!

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When Narendra Modi was campaigning, voters were led to believe that he would fight against corruption and promote a developmental agenda, if he were to be given a chance to govern. While only 31% of the voters heeded his call, it was sufficient to capture an absolute majority of the Lok Sabha seats for BJP and catapult him to the highest office of the land.

Sadly, to the disappointment of even his most ardent followers, governance in India now seems to have taken an ugly turn, with a focus on divisive cultural and religious issues, which have the potential to derail his promised agenda and to threaten the very fabric of the nation that is on the brink of greatness.

The Prime Minister has just returned from a trip to Silicon Valley in California, selling ‘Digital India’, a program to transform India to a digitally empowered society. Addressing the audience in Silicone Valley, he said the following: “I know, to achieve the vision of Digital India, the government must also start thinking a bit like you’.

According to news reports, days later at Dadri, UP, not too far from the Capital of India, a mob converged at the door of Mohammad Akhlaq, based on the rumor that a cow’s slaughtered meat was stored in his refrigerator at home. The mob broke open the door and bludgeoned Mr. Akhlaq; smashed his son’s head with a brick; and then dragged Mr. Akhlaq down 14 cement steps, and out to the main road where he was left for all to see. His son is currently fighting for his life in a hospital. The extremists did not even spare Akhlaq’s mother who is 70 years old, leaving her with a black eye. They also abused his daughter-in-law and granddaughter.

Does this medieval barbarism of lynching of a person for his dietary practice go with the vision of ‘Digital India’?   It may have played a part after all, first to orchestrate the assault using ‘whatsapp’ and ‘facebook’ and then broadcasting to the entire world the aftermath.  According to New York Times which reported the story, many members of the ‘save the cow’ movement are also prominent local organizers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP administration.  Seven of the 10 youths named in the Dadri lynching FIR are said to belong to the family of district BJP worker Sanjay Rana. The list also includes Rana’s son, Vishal. A man is killed and his family is upended because what he eats! It is wrong.

Another sad commentary about this madness is that it has happened to a father of an Air Force personnel, who is serving to protect the country from external threats. Akhlaq’s eldest son, Sartaj is with IAF. Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha termed it as an ‘unfortunate incident’, and promised to move the air warrior’s family out of their area of a residence to a secure air force area.

It is quite incredible that the AkhileshYadav government in U.P. has sent pieces of meat in the refrigerator for a forensic test to find out whether it is beef. Does that mean if the results proved to be positive, Mr. Akhlaq deserved to die?  This is part of the idiosyncrasy that is taking place along with the irrational deeds of the political class, both of which damage the unity and harmony of a nation.

This is not the first such incident. However, something is different this time around. Although the account of the incident is on every news channel, the government refuses to acknowledge it, and Prime Minister NarendraModi’s silence in this regard is especially deafening. While, he cannot be responsible for every incident anywhere in the country, the person who tweets about Billiards championship, can certainly do more to set a moral tone for the country, and calm the situation using his own digital capability. There is no doubt that the Hindutva brigade is getting emboldened since Modi took office, and his silence is interpreted by many as tacit approval of the actions of these far right  groups.

One of the known BJP tactics includes creating panic and polarizing communities ahead of an election. This has happened in Muzaffarnagar, UP before the 2014 Parliament election. I recollect visiting the town and a refugee camp in the aftermath. I have heard story after story directly from many in that Jat community, detailing how Hindus and Muslims were living side by side for centuries without serious incidents. However, an auto accident involving young people was used as a pretext to create a wedge  between two communities, and the subsequent riots resulted in the death of 60 people  and rendered about 5000 people homeless. The violence of this degree did help to consolidate the Hindu Jat vote bank, and delivered almost all of the Lok Sabha seats from western U.P.  to the BJP. As the local elections are fast approaching, one could not discount the possibility of incitement in this case.

One of the ironies about the cow slaughter debate is that India retains its top spot as the world’s largest exporter of beef, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and has extended its lead over the next highest exporter, Brazil. According to the data, India exported 2.4 million tones of beef and veal in FY2015, compared to 2 million tones by Brazil and 1.5 million by Australia. There is also misconception that beef is consumed only by Muslims and Christians, however, poor Tribals and Dalits sustained themselves by consuming beef all throughout the history.

Dadri reminds us of the depth of hatred and barbarism that still exists in the society, and how it is being practiced and nurtured for political ends as some kind of a devotion to the Hindu Rashtra. The people in the rural areas, and many from the backward castes are increasingly falling prey to the Sangh Parivar’s divisive rhetoric, and taking the law unto their own hands.

While Modi is touring continents and rubbing shoulders with tech CEOs, and promoting the transfer of technology and inviting investments, Mahesh Sharma, his Minister of State for Culture said the following; “we will cleanse every area of public discourse that has been westernized and where Indian culture and civilization need to be restored – be it the history we read, our cultural heritage or our institutes that have been polluted over the years.”

For Sharma, globalization is a one-way street. Promoting Yoga on a worldwide stage or sharing India’s culture, food and festivals in various capitals may be fine with him. But his appeal to the rest of the world may sound like this: bring in only the money and the soft code!  There is no doubt that these regressive policies are part of a deliberate and larger effort to transform India, and to impose upper caste culture on all Indians. Sadhvi Prachi, a BJP leader known for her controversial remarks justified the Dadri lynching. “Those who consume beef deserve such action against them”.

The ongoing saffronization of secular institutions, and the silence of those who are in power when minorities are attacked may only lead to more political instability and social disharmony at home.  Speaking on a seminar on communal amity, Vice-President of India, Hamid Ansari said the following: ‘article 21 of the Constitution provides for right to life and it was the responsibility of not only the government but people as well to ensure that every Indian is secure. “We have our own religious books, but as a citizen, the constitution is one religious book. It says the right to life is a basic right of every citizen” he said.

George Abraham
George Abraham

(Writer is a former Chief Technology Officer of the United Nations and Chairman of the Indian National Overseas Congress, USA)

Consulate General of India in Chicago Celebrate Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti

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Chicago IL: The Consulate General of India in Chicago celebrated the 146th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, at its premises on Friday 2nd October, 2015. Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, Consul General said that Mahatma Gandhi was trans-national in the range of his influences and in the reach of his thoughts and that there is hardly any country in the world where his ideals are not inspiring people. “This is evidenced by the installation of his statues in the US, Germany, Australia, and in many other countries”, he added.

Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, Consul General of India in Chicago
Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, Consul General of India in Chicago

Sayeed stated that for his ideas of Compassion, Non-violence, Supreme Humanism, Satyagraha(holding onto truth), Swadeshi (preference to domestic products), Universal Brotherhood, Upliftment of All, and, above all, his unparalleled role in India’s freedom movement, he is often named not only among the most important persons of the century but also that of the Millennium.

“The Gandhian ideals will remain more relevant in future than they have been in the past. His philosophy will be greatly instrumental in making this world a happier place to live for coming generations”, stated Sayeed. He invited attention of the audience to Mahatma Gandhi’s own words: “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty”.

“We live in the fond hope of a better world. No one better exemplified this than Mahatma Gandhi himself, and on the auspicious occasion, dedicated to celebrate his life, let us take time to reflect and move ahead seeking this reality”, urged Sayeed.

He added that Prime Minister Narender Modi’s deep commitment to Gandhian ideals, reflected in an array of his initiatives, including “Clean India”, “Make in India”, etc., will further accelerate India’s growth trajectory and empower it to emerge as one of the front-ranking countries of the world.  OP Meena, Consul at the Consulate General, welcomed the guests and conducted the proceedings of the program.

Meena said that Gandhian philosophy of non-violence, peace, and communal harmony has become a source of inspiration in the contemporary world which is characterized by terrorism, conflict, and apartheid. “The wisdom of his philosophy, which is in a perpetual state of reinvention, will continue to be a beacon of light for the younger generations in India and across the globe”, he added. Dr. Ghousia Sultana, an eminent Indian-American of Hyderabad origin, paid rich poetic tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.

The celebrations included Power Point Presentation on Mahatma Gandhi by Dr. Sri Ram Sonti, Peace Harmony Musical Concert by Saraswathi Rangnathan and Dhananjay Kunte, and Screening of Documentaries on Mahatma Gandhi by Arun Har Prasad. The visuals of the photos of Mahatma Gandhi, drawn by Arvindbhai, were also displayed in the hall.

The solemn occasion was attended by a large number of distinguished Indian-Americans, from different walks of life, along with their families and friends.

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