NRI physician charged with child sex abuse; pleads innocence

April 19, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Vamsimadhav Korrapati, 41, a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, emergency room doctor, charged with sexually abusing two children under 13, backed out of a plea deal last month, maintaining he was innocent, and will face trial in October, reports here say.

When he is tried, the Indian American physician Korrapati will face charges of felony counts of indecent assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children. If convicted, Korrapati will face prison time and must register as a sex offender.

Last November, Korrapati took a deal, pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, which did not involve the allegations of sexual abuse. But moments before he was about to be sentenced, the ER doctor backed out of the plea arrangement. His defense attorney, Brian McMonagle, said in court that Korrapati “has expressed to me that he maintains his innocence and he wants to go to trial.”

Korrapati, who before his arrest in 2015, practiced at several local hospitals, has been free on bail of $200,000. At a preliminary hearing, a young boy testified that Korrapati had fondled him. The boy unfalteringly said that the doctor had done the same thing to a girl. The Morning Call newspaper reported that Korrapati knew both of his victims, and smiled in court at the boy as he recalled the horrific incidents.

The two children provided statements of the alleged abuse to county caseworkers. The alleged molestations went on for several years, according to police. Northampton County, Pennsylvania, prosecutors said that Korrapati displayed “reckless conduct” toward the two children that “may have placed them in danger of serious bodily injury.” According to his Facebook profile, Korrapati attended the A.P.R School, in Gandipalem, Andhra Pradesh, and then attended Siddhartha Medical College in Vijayawada.

H-4 Visa holders get 180-day reprieve from layoffs

April 10, 2017 Staff ReporterTravel 0

It’s not an easy time to be an immigrant working on an H-1B visa in the U.S. It could be about to get a lot worse. The visa program used by several industries to bring skilled foreign workers — many of them Indian citizens — to the U.S. is facing potential curbs under President Trump. Their partners and children could be next in the line of fire.

Until 2015, H-4 visa holders – who often had skill levels comparable to their spouses – were not allowed to work. In 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that some H-4 visa holders, whose spouses were on track for permanent residency in the U.S., would be able to work. As per this initiative, spouses of H-1B visa holders waiting for green cards were eligible to work in the U.S. on H-4 dependent visas, thanks to a rule introduced by President Obama. Indian women are overwhelmingly the recipients of H-4 visas; about 180,000 of them are currently eligible to work.

However, under Trump administration, H-4 visa holders, who are concerned that their ability to continue to work could be rescinded by the Trump administration, got a 180-day reprieve from layoffs when the government filed for additional time to ponder its next move.

At issue is a 2016 lawsuit filed by the organization Save Jobs USA against the Department of Homeland Security, which contends that H-4 visa holders – the spouses of H-1B holders who are on track for legal permanent residency – take jobs from U.S. workers. An earlier lawsuit was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in Washington, D.C., who found that giving work authorization to certain H-4 visa holders did not unfairly impact the American work force.

Chicago, Ill., attorney Tejas Shah, who leads Franczek Radelet’s immigration practice and co-chairs the South Asian Bar Association’s immigration panel, told India-West that – in his law practice – he has seen a lot of concern about the overturning of the H-4 rule. He noted a leaked executive order issued by the White House which sought to eliminate the program.

“There is definitely a school of thought in the Trump administration that the program is unnecessary. Will that express itself in policy?” he queried. Shah notes that he has seen H-4 holders attempt to switch their visas to H-1Bs, which is difficult as it requires the sponsorship of a U.S. employer, and luck in the lottery system which allocates the coveted visas.

DHS was initially granted a 60-day abeyance in the case; the government filed a motion April 3 to extend the abeyance “to allow incoming leadership personnel adequate time to consider the issues.” DHS said it had concluded – during the first abeyance – “that it is appropriate to actively reconsider whether to revise the H-4 rule through notice-and-comment rulemaking.”

Nikki Haley proposes; India rejects offer to mediate with Pakistan

April 10, 2017 Staff ReporterIndia, Politics, U.S. 0

India has rejected an offer from the U.S. to help de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan April 4, saying that its position on the bilateral redressal of all issues between the two countries has not changed. India further said that the international community needed to address the terrorism coming out of Pakistan. “Government’s position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn’t changed,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

“We, of course, expect the international community and organizations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which continues to be the single biggest threat to peace and stability in our region and beyond,” he said.

“I would expect that the administration is going to be in talks and try and find its place to be part of that process,” the former governor of South Carolina said, adding that she “wouldn’t be surprised if the president participates as well.”

The reaction came after Indian American Nikki Haley, the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, said April 4 that the U.S. was concerned about relations between India and Pakistan, and that President Donald Trump might get involved in a peace process between the two South Asian countries.

“This administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward,” Haley, who holds a cabinet rank in the Trump administration, said. During his campaign in 2016, Trump had offered to mediate between India and Pakistan, but was careful to add that it was only if the two nations wanted him to. In an interview to The Hindustan Times, Trump said that he “would be honored” to be a moderator. “I think if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator.”

Haley’s comments were in response to a question from a reporter at her news conference on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for the month of April. The reporter pointed out that India does not want a mediator for talks with Pakistan, while Islamabad wanted the U.S. or another country to facilitate talks, and asked if the U.S. would get the leaders of the two countries to meet.

Her statement about India-Pakistan relations, therefore, is important, and is the first high-level Trump administration statement on India’s relationship with Pakistan. While it is not clear what steps the U.S. could take, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet Trump in Washington in May where the two could potentially discuss the matter.

“We don’t think we should wait until something happens,” Haley said. “We very much think we should be pro-active in what we are seeing, tensions rise and conflicts seem to bubble up and so we want to see if we can be a part of that. So, that will be something you will see, that is something that members of the National Security Council participate in,” she said

Haley also said that she sounds strong because that’s how her Sikh parents raised her in Punjab. She said she does her “job to the best of my abilities and if that comes out blunt, comes out strong, I am one of two brothers and a sister and my parents raised us all to be strong.”

Her father Ajit Singh Randhwa, is from Amritsar district. He is an agriculture science professor. Her mother is Raj Kaur Randhwa. One of her brothers, Mitti Randhwa, was an Army officer who saw action in Operation Desert Storm, 1990-91, leading a company tasked with finding chemical weapons.

Just over two months into her office as the first Indian American to be appointed to a cabinet-level position, she has made waves by calling a spade a spade. She has called the UN Human Rights Council “corrupt”, the UN of being a partner of a “corrupt” government, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a “war criminal”, and declared she was free to “beat up on Russia”.

And she perceives her job as shaking up the UN and pulling it by its purse strings, kicking and screaming, to carry out reforms.

NRI students among KPCB Design and Engineering Fellows

April 10, 2017 Staff ReporterEducation 0

There are as many as 11 Indian-American students among the 2017 are among this year’s KPCB (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers) Design and Engineering Fellows who will spend the summer with Silicon Valley startups. Students were chosen from nearly 2,500 applications from over 200 universities, a statement on the KPCB Fellowship website said.

Anushree Agrawal of Yale, Vaibhav Altekar of UC Davis, Rajat Bhageria of UPenn, Advith Chelikani of Caltech, Shrey Gupta of Stanford, Jayendra Jog of UCLA, Shivani Mall of UC San Diego, Aneesh Pappu of Stanford, Ishaan Parikh of University of Maryland, Hrisheek Radhakrishnan of Georgia Institute of Technology, and Akshay Ramaswamy of Stanford are the Indian-American students, who, over the course of the summer, will join KPCB portfolio companies, where they develop their technical or design skills and will be mentored by an executive within the company. Fellows will also be invited to attend both private events held by KPCB as well as by its portfolio companies, where they can meet other talented engineering and design students, network with luminaries in their respective fields, and explore the San Francisco Bay Area, the statement said.

Agrawal, who graduated from Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science in Denton, Tex., will be working at the San Francisco-based Mango Health. After graduating high school in 2015, Agrawal attended University of North Texas for two years, before moving to Yale in New Haven, Conn. According to her LinkedIn page, Agrawal is active with several student organizations at the university including Yale Float (Women in Computer Science) and the Yale Hindu Students Council.

Joining Agrawal at Mango Health is Ramaswamy, a Computer Science major at Stanford. A graduate of Lakeland High School, Ramaswamy is director of Indians 4 Social Change, a civil rights and social action nonprofit, his LinkedIn profile says. He currently works as a product engineer and consultant at Lyftly, a mental health startup geared towards dynamically collecting, monitoring and analyzing physical and mental health data.

Altekar of Lynbrook, New York, will work as an engineering intern at JuicEro. At UC Davis, Altekar has worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science as well as a Data Science Research Intern. According to his LinkedIn profile, Altekar is also a Systems Engineering Intern at Twitter.

Fellows Bhageria and Parikh will both work at Indiegogo, a crowdfunding website. Bhageria, who’s pursuing his Masters of Science in Engineering, Robotics Engineering and Al (GRASP Lab), is co-founder and managing partner of Prototype Capital, a decentralized venture capital fund investing and adding real value into student-run companies. He completed is Bachelor of Science in Economics, Marketing Operations and Computer Science, his LinkedIn profile says. Parikh is the co-founder of Teaching Assistant for CMSC389K, a one credit course to introduce a modern technology to computer science students. A former president of the university Hackers club, the Montgomery Blair High School student has also interned at the San Francisco-based LendUp, where he developed the iOS and Android mobile apps using React Native.

Joining Slack, which brings team communication and collaboration into one place so you can get more work done, are Chelikani and Pappu. Chelikani, who graduated from the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, completed his Bachelors in Computer Science from Caltech, where he is currently pursuing his Masters. He is also the head organizer of Hacktech. A Product Engineer & Consultant at Lyftly, Pappu graduated from Pullman High School after which he attended the Washington State University at a starter student before moving to Stanford for his Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering and computer science.

A former intern at Apple, Gupta is pursuing his Bachelors of Computer Science at Stanford. He graduated as a Valedictorian with High Honors from BASIS Scottsdale. Jog, of San Ramon, Calif., was a Software Engineering Intern at Facebook and is currently completing his Bachelors in Computer Science at UCLA. He will spend the summer working at Pinterest.

Mall, an incoming Software Engineer at Salesforce, will spend the summer as a software developer and machine learning intern at AppDynamics. Her LinkedIn profile describes her as someone who is passionate about problem-solving and technology, focussed on making a positive impact, driven by innovation, confident in my abilities, playing leadership roles, and seeking to work on challenging projects that enable me to make impact, learn, explore and grow.

Radhakrishnan, a BSCS student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will be working with Synack, has previously worked as a Student Cyber Analyst at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. He has also interned with SalesForce and Digital Scientists.

BAPS hosts conferences In North America to inspire, empower women

April 10, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity, Women 0

Committed to the progress and growth of women worldwide, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha celebrated its sixth annual Women’s Conference in ten locations across North America on March 30, 2013. Building on past topics related to Hindu teachings, this year’s focus was on “Timeless Traditions: Celebrating the Past, Cultivating the Future”. The conference focused on understanding the glory of Hindu traditions, building bridges by communicating them with pride, and nurturing future generations by transmitting a priceless culture and traditions.

Connecting with the audience through their personal experiences and thoughts, the speakers refreshed an age-old subject in everyone’s mind. While Hinduism is rooted within scriptures, it is simultaneously relevant in every aspect of a Hindu’s life. Focusing on this quality of Hindu tradition, the speakers touched on maintaining pride for one’s culture and filling the role of being an ambassador of one’s culture to others.

They also touched on the importance of keeping traditions alive and passing them on to future generations by learning to balance the speed of the future with the richness of the past.
Women of all generations attended the conference, each group finding inspiration in the talks for the current phase of their lives and finding priorities to help shape their future. Not only did the attendees experience a rejuvenation of pride in their heritage, they felt more informed to be able to better represent their faith and values.

BAPS, drawing inspiration from His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, hosts this annual conference as a stage to allow discussion of various topics important to women in society and to serve as a conduit for empowering women of all ages. Many women felt enriched by the discussion and identified the importance of implementing the message in their lives, particularly with their future generations.

The conference was organized by local youth and women volunteers of BAPS who dedicated weeks of their time leading up to the conference to organize a professional forum where women could share their strengths and empower one another. The diversity of speakers invited to present at the conference appealed to a wide variety of interests among audience members. Their personal experiences and adherence to cultural values inspired young women to strive for success while imbibing spirituality into their daily lives, the press release said.

Conferences were held across North America including Robbinsville and Edison in New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Long Island, New York. Some of the speakers were Bianca Pujara, Dr. Gopi Mukhavalli, Middlesex County Freeholder Shanti Narra, Satwant Khanalia, First Secretary at the Embassy of India in Washington, D.C., Dimple Shah, Assistant Secretary at the Dept. of Homeland Security; and Suhag Shukla, executive director of the Hindu American Foundation.

Pratham’s Vocational Training Graduate shares story with NYC Young Professionals

April 10, 2017 Staff ReporterEducation 0

(New York, NY – April 4, 2017) Sanjana Das, a 22-year-old graduate of Pratham’s Vocational Training Program in India, will speak at the next Pratham NYC Young Professionals event (Tuesday, April 11th from 6 p.m. onwards at Stitch Bar & Lounge @ 247 W 37th Street in midtown Manhattan) about her inspiring life journey thus far.

After an early life of poverty, Das is defying the odds. She grew up in the small village of Kusasthali in the state of Odisha and was forced to leave school after her father passed away from a prolonged illness. Despite these challenges, Das persevered, and with the support of her mother, she completed Pratham’s vocational training program and earned a certificate in hospitality. Today, the diligent 22-year-old is employed in the front office at the three-star Lords Plaza Hotel in Jaipur and has realized her dream of financial independence.

“It is so empowering for us to hear the real-life testimonials of people who have benefitted from Pratham’s incredible work on the ground in India to educate and empower the youth,” said Meeta Manglani, co-chair of the New York chapter of Pratham Young Professionals. “Very rarely do we, the supporters of Pratham around the world, have an opportunity to see where our dollars, our energy and our time is going, unless we travel to India and witness it first-hand. Sharing Sanjana’s story is the responsible way for us to engage the next generation of Pratham supporters.”

Pratham’s Vocational Training Program promotes economic self-sufficiency for young adults through training and job placement. Last year, Pratham equipped 22,000 youth with skills and supported 300 entrepreneurs all over India.

Pratham, Google collaborate to democratize learning

April 10, 2017 Staff ReporterBusiness, Education 0

New York, NY, April 7, 2017 – Pratham USA has been awarded a $3.1 million grant from Google.org to strengthen the organization’s technology initiative aimed at making quality education more accessible by creating cooperative learning environments that foster children’s curiosity and improve their learning outcomes.

Studies show that in India, even after several years of attending school, roughly half of all fifth graders can’t read a second-grade text or perform a two-digit subtraction problem. For the last 18 months, Pratham has been exploring the use of technology to sustain the impact of its highly successful literacy programs and to enable students to become self-directed learners outside of school.

The initiative, called Hybrid Learning or H-Learning, leverages tablet-based curricula to empower students in grades five through eight to decide collaboratively what content they will learn and how they will go about learning it. Pratham’s objective is to better understand how a student-focused model can accompany more traditional models, with the goal of scaling these methodologies across India’s rural school ecosystem.

The Google.org funds will support the operational costs, including content development in science, language and math. They will also be used to measure impact and make refinements to scale the program. As part of the grant, Google employees will contribute data analysis.

“This grant from Google is a shot in the arm as we experiment with open learning to achieve education equality,” said Pratham co-founder and President Dr. Madhav Chavan. “We are excited that Google is supporting our work so soon after the Sarva Mangal Family Trust gave us critical capital to develop the digital initiative.”

Pratham is one of nine nonprofits selected for the multi-year grant, which is part of a larger education portfolio to support organizations that are using technology to solve the global education problem.

“Access to learning and information is a part of our core values at Google,” said Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink, Education Lead at Google. “We’re excited to announce our $50M commitment to help scale groundbreaking education nonprofits working to make a quality education a reality for everyone.”

Pratham USA Chairman Deepak Raj also commented on the Google.org grant. “We are very pleased and grateful for this funding, and we celebrate it as recognition of the long-term collaboration between Google and Pratham to bridge the digital divide and provide quality education for all.”

Google.org has been a significant supporter of Pratham for over a decade, having invested $4 million in 2007 to help Pratham establish the autonomous ASER Centre, and again in 2016, awarding $3 million for technology infrastructure to further enhance learning experiences in Pratham’s core programs, including Balwadis (preschools) and Read India learning camps.

Established in the slums of Mumbai in 1995, Pratham is now one of India’s largest non-governmental education organizations, having affected the lives of more than 45 million underprivileged children in the past two decades. To achieve its mission of “every child in school and learning well,” Pratham develops practical solutions to address gaps in the education system and works in collaboration with India’s governments, communities, educators and industry to increase learning outcomes and influence education policy.

Pratham USA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a consistent four-star rating from Charity Navigator that seeks to raise awareness and mobilize financial resources for its work in India. For more information, visit prathamusa.org.

“Hotel Management” Magazine and AAHOA Launch Hotel ROI Conference in Houston

April 10, 2017 Staff ReporterTourism 0

ATLANTA, April 5, 2017 – “Hotel Management,” in collaboration with the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), will launch a new one-day conference in Houston on April 24, designed to offer immediately actionable, location-specific hotel-industry metrics for area investors and developers.

In a unique new format, hotel owners and investors will come together to review local market intelligence and operational best practices. Coming on the heels of lower demand caused by the oil crisis combined with rapid supply growth, this series launches in Houston to help the hospitality industry take advantage of the momentum generated by the 2017 Super Bowl.

To help kick off the series, AAHOA Treasurer Hitesh (HP) Patel will speak as part of the conference’s “Minimizing Costs” panel at 11:00 AM.

“With the city’s energy markets set to experience explosive growth over the next several years and tourism at an all-time high, Houston is rapidly becoming a magnet for hotel-industry investors and developers,” said AAHOA Vice Chairman Bhavesh Patel. “The city expects to welcome 20 million annual visitors by 2018, making its selection as a Hotel ROI location a no-brainer.”

The 2017 Hotel ROI series will also travel to Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Charlotte. The Houston event will be held at the Doubletree Suites in Greenway Plaza.

For more information on Hotel ROI and a list of 2017 locations, please visit aahoa.com. Founded in 1989, AAHOA (www.aahoa.com) is the largest hotel owners association in the world, with more than 16,000 small business owner-members. AAHOA members own almost one in every two hotels in the United States.

German researchers find Yoga helpful for patients with Ulcerative Colitis

April 10, 2017 Staff ReporterHealth 0

A team of Germany’s University of Duisburg-Essen researchers found that patients with ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, assigned to 12 supervised 90-minute weekly sessions of yoga, had a greater increase in quality of life and reduced activity of their colitis; according to a release issued on April five.

The findings suggest that regular yoga may be a valuable adjunct to conventional medical therapies for ulcerative colitis, release of Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, an international journal of gastroenterology and hepatology, indicates.

Yoga can be considered as a safe and effective ancillary intervention for patients with ulcerative colitis and impaired quality of life, the study concluded. “Many people use yoga to increase their quality of life. Our study suggests that it might be worthwhile to consider yoga as part of a multimodal integrative approach for treating ulcerative colitis,” said Professor Holger Cramer, lead author of this Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics study.

This clinical trial randomly assigned 77 patients with ulcerative colitis in clinical remission but impaired quality of life to yoga. Meanwhile, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, called this clinical trial looking into yoga intervention for patients with ulcerative colitis a “step in the positive direction”. Zed urged all major world universities to explore various benefits yoga offered.

Yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted.

Rajan Zed further said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.

According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a “2016 Yoga in America Study”, about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image. Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Zed added.

Debasish Dutta named Chancellor of Rutgers University-New Brunswick

April 9, 2017 Staff ReporterEducation 0

A respected Indian American academic and an experienced higher education administrator who has spearheaded change at three top national research universities, Debasish ‘Deba’ Dutta, will become the next chancellor of Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

President Robert Barchi announced Dutta’s appointment today at a meeting of the Rutgers Board of Governors. The university conducted a national search before selecting a new leader of the Big Ten institution, which is also a member of the Association of American Universities – a group of 60 prestigious research universities across the nation, according to a press release.

Dutta will begin serving as chancellor on July 1. Dutta comes to Rutgers from Purdue University, where he serves as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity, with a faculty appointment as a professor of mechanical engineering. Previously, he worked at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

“Dr. Dutta will be an inspiring, collaborative leader and a powerful voice for Rutgers University-New Brunswick at a pivotal time in its history,” said Rutgers President Robert Barchi, in a statement. “He comes here with impeccable academic credentials, solid administrative leadership and deep experience at three Big Ten institutions.

“We also welcome and applaud Deba’s commitment to diversity. He has a proven track record of success in building diverse, inclusive communities, as he has shown in his efforts as Purdue’s chief diversity officer and at Illinois where he served as chancellor’s advisor on diversity.”

As both the chief academic and diversity officer at Purdue, Dutta is responsible for ensuring that diversity and inclusion are a priority in all areas of the university. During his tenure, he has helped increase the graduation rate, enhance student advising, establish new programs in liberal arts, and expand programs in engineering, computer science, business, nursing and technology.

As chancellor of Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Dutta will oversee the largest of the three major Rutgers University campuses with more than 50,000 students, 4,000 faculty, 12 degree-granting schools, nine academic research centers, four administrative units, a premier Honors College, Douglass Residential College and the Zimmerli Art Museum.

“I am tremendously excited to bring the skills I have developed at Purdue, Illinois and Michigan to lead Rutgers University-New Brunswick,” Dutta said. “I look forward to working with the faculty, staff and students to drive innovation and build a new era of success that will elevate the flagship of Rutgers University to even greater national prominence.

“One of my goals is to provide institutional leadership with an urgency to address current needs, ever mindful of history, and with an eye toward the future. This university is rich with highly accomplished faculty, skilled administrators, and talented and passionate students. I truly believe that when we work together, the possibilities are limitless.”

Dutta is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, as well as a scholar in residence at the National Academy of Engineering.

Before joining Purdue in 2014, Dutta served as associate provost and dean of the graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was also Gutgsell Endowed Professor and interim vice-chancellor for research. There, he established several new interdisciplinary programs to help foster new research and create collaborations across colleges. He also helped set standards for more than 300 master’s and doctoral programs across disciplines.

Dutta spent three years at the National Science Foundation, where he served as acting director of the Division of Graduate Education and as IGERT program director.

He started his career in 1989 at the University of Michigan, where he was a mechanical engineering faculty member for 20 years. He served as associate chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and also the founding director of InterPro, an innovative, interdisciplinary academic unit in the College of Engineering that launched new interdisciplinary graduate programs.

“From conducting grant-funded projects as an award-winning mechanical engineer to his program directorship at NSF to his current service as provost at Purdue, Dr. Dutta has nurtured a rich understanding of the power and value of research,” Barchi said. “He is the right leader to build on the great progress that our AAU institution has made in the past five years and take Rutgers University-New Brunswick to a new level of excellence.”

Dutta holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Purdue, a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Evansville and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Jadavpur University in Calcutta, India.

He will succeed Richard Edwards, who is returning to the faculty after serving as chancellor of Rutgers University-New Brunswick since 2014.

Dr. Sanjiv K. Patel appointed President and CEO of Relay Therapeutics

April 9, 2017 Staff ReporterBusiness, Health 0

Relay Therapeutics, a biotech company dedicated to developing breakthrough medicines by focusing on insights in protein motion, has appointed Dr. Sanjiv K. Patel, as the President and CEO. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Relay Therapeutics is a private company launched in 2016 with $57 million in Series A financing from Third Rock Ventures and an affiliate of D. E. Shaw Research.

Dr. Patel brings to Relay over 20 years of life sciences industry experience. He succeeds interim CEO Alexis Borisy, a Partner at Third Rock Ventures, who is assuming the position of Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sanjiv as the CEO of Relay Therapeutics. Sanjiv’s strategic acumen and business experience coupled with his deep commitment to patients will help fulfill the transformational potential of Relay,” said Mr. Borisy. “Along with this key leadership appointment, our new board members, Laura Shawver and Markus Warmuth bring to Relay an incredible depth of research, development and entrepreneurial experience in building great biotech drugs and companies. We are enthusiastic to partner with them as Board members as we build a great company that will make a transformative difference for patients.”

Prior to Relay, Dr. Patel was at Allergan for over 10 years, and played a key part in Allergan’s sustained growth and value creation over that period. He was most recently part of Allergan’s Executive Team, as Chief Strategy Officer and at the center of some of the industry’s largest transactions. Prior to this, he held roles of increased responsibility, including leading Global Strategic Marketing for all franchises and general management of Allergan’s fastest growth geographic region, the Emerging Markets. Prior to Allergan, Dr. Patel was a Management Consultant at Boston Consulting Group in London and he started his career as a surgeon in the U.K.’s National Health Service. Dr. Patel received his MBA from INSEAD, MBBS from the University of London and has a M.A. in Neurosciences from Cambridge University.

“This is a rare opportunity to join a team that is fully dedicated to treating diseases where today, no truly effective therapy exists,” said Dr. Patel. “Relay is uniquely positioned to design innovative drugs by visualizing protein motion through integrating emerging computational and experimental methods. I look forward to working with the team to build a pipeline of groundbreaking therapies with an initial focus in oncology.”

Relay Therapeutics is building the first dedicated drug discovery pipeline centered on protein motion. Bringing together the latest scientific advances in structural biology, biophysics, computation, chemistry and biology, Relay’s drug discovery engine illuminates the full mobility of a protein and the ways in which protein motion regulates function, according to a press release.

Prof. Krishna Rajan leads multimillion dollar hunt for new materials

April 9, 2017 Staff ReporterScience & Technology 0

Prof. Krishna Rajan, an Indian-American professor, who heads materials science research at the University at Buffalo, just received a multimillion dollar grant from the Toyota Research Institute for his department. The $2.4 million for materials science research grant announced March 31, aims to make next generation vehicles carbon-neutral.

Krishna Rajan, the Erich Bloch Endowed Chair of the Department of Materials Design and Innovation (MDI) at UB, is the grant’s principal investigator.

The award — part of a $35 million investment involving several universities and a materials research company — funds projects that use artificial intelligence to help accelerate the design and discovery of new materials. The materials will help create technology for batteries and fuel cell catalysts designed to power future zero-emission and carbon-neutral vehicles.

“At the University at Buffalo, we are committed to finding innovative and cost-effective solutions that transform how society addresses climate change, national security and other pressing issues,” said Rajan, who received his doctorate in materials science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978, minoring in science and technology policy.

An internationally renowned materials scientist, Rajan has authored or co-authored hundreds of publications and is the founding editor-in-chief of the Materials Discovery journal, and serves on numerous national and international panels, including the National Academy of Sciences’ Material Science and Engineering Panel at the Army Research Laboratory.

He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award. that recognizes researchers who have had a significant impact in their discipline – in this case, materials informatics – and are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements.

Indian fair in New Jersey highlights culture, crafts and cuisine

April 9, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity, Culture/Religion 0

Indian art and handicrafts, costume jewelry, traditional dresses, Indian cuisine, and an array of classical and Bollywood dance groups were highlights of a two day South Asian festival at the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center here. The India Fair, held April 1 and 2 attracted thousands of people from the tri-state area and beyond, organizers estimate.

The purpose of the event was to bring together the community, various businesses under one roof, promote local talent, diversity, art, culture and heritage in New Jersey, a press release from Business NJ LLC, the organizer of the annual event said. The event was managed by Royal Events and Entertainment.

Fair goers also got a chance to meet Bollywood actress Genelia Deshmukh, who graciously mingled with her fans and posed for photographs. Over 1,000 performers from the tri-state area from several dance schools participated in the two-day cultural program that was coordinated by Arun Anand. Local singers as well as winners “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” 2016 entertained the attendees with both popular songs and yesteryears classics. Musical attractions, radio and television artists, and non-stop entertainment with live band dominated the cultural show. ndian cuisine – vegetarian and non-vegetarian – was also a major attraction at the fair. Banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies, long distance calling companies, and real estate companies were among the many businesses that participated in the fair.

Priyanka Chopra is 2nd most beautiful person in the world, says poll

April 9, 2017 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Accomplished actor and singer Priyanka Chopra has added another feather to her cap: she is now the second most beautiful person in the world, edging past Angelina Jolie, Emma Stone, Michelle Obama and Gigi Hadid among others, according to a poll run by website Buzznet. Beyonce was voted the most beautiful women in the world.

The 34-year-old Quantico actress beat the likes of Angelina Jolie, Emma Watson, Michelle Obama and secured the second place. Topping the charts was the Queen Bee, Beyonce.

After receiving the ‘title’ of being the ‘2nd Most Beautiful Woman of 2017’, Priyanka Chopra took to Twitter to express her gratitude and also praised Beyonce for being the undisputed number one. The Indian American actress took to Twitter and expressed her gratitude, “Thank u @BUZZNET and all who voted. @Beyonce is my number 1 too!!”

Model and Victoria’s Secret angel Taylor Hill is at number three followed by Watson, Dakota Johnson and Hillary Clinton at fourth, fifth and sixth position respectively. Jolie is on eighth number, while this year’s Oscar winner Emma Stone is at number 12. Supermodel Gigi Hadid is on 13 position and the former first lady is on number 21.

From being called Hollywood’s most bankable badass by Marie Claire, to being among the top paid television actors, Chopra has made her mark in Hollywood. A regular guest on large night talk shows, and gaining recognition in the mainstream as Alex Parish in “Quantico,” Chopra is now gearing up for her film “Baywatch”, starring Seth Gordon, Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron, scheduled to release on May 26.

Recently, the actress took her fans by surprise by flaunting her new talent. She took to her Instagram and shared a picture, her painting. She captioned the snap, “Sunday shenanigans.. thank u @jazmasri @mdesante for the lesson!! #paintingisfun.” In the picture, Chopra is seen holding a palette and painting her imagination on a canvas.

Chopra ranks among the top paid television actors in the world by Forbes Magazine, and Priyanka Chopra has been making a global impact with her series Quantico which just got renewed for a third season.

Priyanka Chopra will also be making her much awaited Hollywood debut in Baywatch which has been directed by Seth Gordon, starring Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach and Jon Bass.

Largest Sai Temple in North America near completion

April 9, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

CHELMSFORD, MA (April 4, 2017)– New England Shirdi Sai Parivaar, which is nearing the completion of North America’s largest Sai temple this summer, today announced the launch of its final nationwide campaign to raise $500,000.

“We are very excited that we are nearing the completion of this giant project, and we would like to thank our donors from around the country,” said Mahender Singh, president of New England Shirdi Sai Parivaar, known as NESSP. “We have received an overwhelming response from Sai devotees from across North America. Now, we have launched our final fundraising campaign before the completion of the temple this summer.”

The two-story, 40,000-square-foot temple is being built on a 28-acre site in Groton, MA. The temple currently operates out of a 7,200-square-foot rented facility in Chelmsford, MA, and will relocate to the new facility when it is completed this year.

NESSP acquired the land for $1.14 million and is spending an additional $10 million to build the new complex. As of now, the temple has raised over $7.5 million. When completed, the new temple will be largest Sai Temple in North America.

The first phase of construction of the temple complex includes a temple building, a kitchen, a big dining hall and few community rooms. The second phase will include three residential units for priests and a 500-seat auditorium.

The temple will be will be open to everyone and people can hold weddings, ayengetrams and other community and cultural events. The temple complex will provide a great venue for poojas, learning and weddings where havans in open can be held and barat (wedding party) can come with horses and full festivities like in India.

NESSP has brought in Reading, MA-based NM Construction Corp. as a general contractor. The project architect is Braintree, MA-based BD Nayak Architects. Both have extensive experience in building religious institutions in New England.
About NESSP

Founded in 2006, New England Shirdi Sai Parviaar (NESSP) is a non-profit organization. Its mission is to promote the philosophy of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba and to accordingly support religious, spiritual, cultural and charitable activities. NESSP was formed by devotees who share their love for Shri Shirdi Sai Baba and are inspired by His teachings. For more information, visit www.NESSP.org.

Hempstead town celebrates Pakistan’s Republic Day, Lahore Resolution

April 9, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

2017 marks the 77th anniversary of the resolution and the third flag raising by the Hempstead town on Long Island, NY. “America’s largest township is proud of its diverse family, and we are happy to celebrate the myriad of cultures and traditions that make Hempstead Town a great place to live and raise a family,” said Santino.

“Flying the Pakistani Flag alongside the American Flag is a wonderful symbol of unity and inclusion.” March 23 is a national holiday in Pakistan which celebrates both the Lahore Resolution of 1940 and Republic Day (1956). The Lahore Resolution called for the creation of an independent state. This led to the creation of Pakistan, which celebrates this occasion with the national flag being hoisted on public and governmental buildings at dawn.

Hempstead Town Clerk Nasrin Ahmad presents a citation to members of the Pakistani American Society of NY during the Flag raising ceremony celebrating Pakistan Republic Day and the Lahore Resolution. Pictured from left to right are Rafi Fazli, Mohammad Bin Moghni, Dr. Safdar H. Chadda, Clerk Nasrin Ahmad, Magbool Malik and Fazluz Haq Syed.

Navnoor Kang’s alleged fraud leads to New York reforms of pension fund

April 9, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

NEW YORK: A former New York state pension fund manager was accused in a sweeping federal indictment Wednesday that alleges rampant corruption and extravagant bribes — which included cash, drugs and prostitutes — in exchange for granting brokerage firms millions of dollars in government business.

The former New York Common Retirement Fund manager, Navnoor Kang, is charged along with broker Deborah Kelley — in a case involving multiple counts of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction of justice for the scheme, which prosecutors say lasted for at least two years.

According to the charging documents, Kang, 37, who served as the office’s director of fixed income and head of portfolio security, repeatedly accepted bribes from Kelley and other brokers in exchange for millions of dollars worth of fixed-income business to their brokerage firms from the pension fund — which, with $184 billion in assets, is the United States’ third largest.

In the wake of alleged fraud committed by New York state pension fund’s former director of fixed income and head of portfolio strategy Navnoor Kang, an Indian American, the state controller’s office is making reforms to its hiring practices and other policies.

Controller Thomas DiNapoli released a report on April 6th outlining the findings of an internal review he ordered after Kang was charged in 2016 by then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara with accepting more than $100,000 worth of bribes.

Kang is accused of accepting cash, cocaine, prostitutes, fancy watches and trips from two brokerage firms that wanted to do business with the $184 billion state pension fund, reported the New York Daily News. Kang had previously been fired from his last job for accepting gifts, according to the feds — something he misled hiring managers about and that the third-party company hired by the state to vet its employees, Korn Ferry, missed.

Going forward, all candidates will have to list all former employers, along with contact information for supervisors, provide three references including their most recent employers, and reference checks must be performed by a Common Retirement Fund staff member — not an outside company. Relevant employers over the last decade must be contacted and asked, among other things, if they’d hire the employee again, the report says.

Kishori Amonkar: Legendary Indian singer dies

April 9, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Renowned Indian singer Kishori Amonkar has died at the age of 86. Amonkar, who enthralled audiences with her soulful singing for decades, died on Monday, April 4th at her house in Mumbai. The singer followed the classical Hindustani school of singing, but was known for creating her own distinctive style.

Many, including legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar, have paid tributes to Amonkar, and acknowledged her “great contribution” to music. As news of her death broke, many people took to social media to pay tribute. The hashtag #kishoriamonkar has begun trending on Twitter India.

Medicine’s loss was music’s gain. She had planned to cure ailments of the body, but fate planned her to instead to minister to the soul through her incomparable voice — and innovations. Schooled directly and indirectly by stellar proponents of her Jaipur gharana, Kishori Amonkar never remained bound by its style only to emerge as one of the foremost exponents of Indian classical music.

Always eclectic in outlook with her naturally sweet voice, and talent augmented by a capacity to assimilate, she was well versed in nuances of Western classical music (she thought Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata was something akin to the Indian tradition), appreciated light classical music — with her favourites including Noor Jehan, Begum Akhtar and especially Jagjit Singh, whom she admitted to liking watching on TV.

She had been convinced to do the title song for V. Shantaram’s “Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne” (1964) but this had angered her mother, who had taught her Indian classical music was sacred. According to T.J.S. George’s biography of M.S. Subbalakhmi, Amonkar recalled her mother telling her that if she wanted to enter the film industry, the purpose of her teaching would not be served and that she “might gain money and fame but lose much more”.

Amonkar was the leading singer of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana. Born in Mumbai on April 10, 1932, she trained under Anjanibai Malpekar of the Bhendi Bazar Gharana and her mother Mogubai Kurdikar, who herself was trained by Alladiya Khan Saheb, a leading exponent of the Jaipur Gharana.

Amonkar was known, and sometime criticized, for breaking out of the rigid classicism of the Jaipur Gharana and tempering it with influences from other schools of Indian music. Her repertoire was diverse. She could deliver thumris, bhajans and even Hindi film music with the same skill as the more raag-based khayal songs.

She received a plethora of awards, including the Padma Bhushan in 1987 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2002. She was also honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1985 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for 2009.

Tributes and condolence messages poured in from musicians and politicians alike after Amonkar’s death was announced. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi described her passing as an “irreparable loss” to Indian classical music, and Lata Mangeshkar tweeted that she was saddened by the demise of an “extraordina

Shabana Azmi honors women achievers

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterWomen 0

Actress and activist Shabana Azmi believes that no society can claim to be a progressive society until and unless the women in that society are given their worth, are empowered. “A health or wealth of a nation cannot be determined by its GDP alone, but by its human development, in which the empowering of women is a very important yardstick,” she said. Azmi was speaking at the Indian Academy Women Achievers Award, held March 26 at The Marigold here. Indian-American women from all walks of life, as well as student achievers were honored for their contributions in the field of medicine, performing arts, education, finance and social service.

To commemorate International women’s day, Indian Academy Awards launched IAA WOMEN ACHIEVERS AWARDS; a campaign urging NRI women to share their personal success stories so that they could be rewarded and felicitated.

IAA aims at felicitating those women holding positions of decision making. We are requesting NRI women to share their real life stories in their respective field with the intention to empower the women of today.

Conceptualized by Vandana Krishna, director of Brainstorm Entertainment, the awards, an initiative of the Indian Academy Awards, aimed to share the success stories of real women to encourage and inspire the community here. “True stories of women entrepreneurs are an inspiration to change the world,” Krishna said. Today’s women are making the difference with their innovative ideas, seeking solutions and reclaiming their status as equals,” she said, adding, “We want to create a platform to honor these women and to share their success with the world.”

The IAA had invited Azmi’s NGO, Mijwan Welfare Society, to showcase the exquisite hand embroidery called Chikankari by the women of Mijwan. Along with honoring women achievers, the highlight of the evening was a fashion show by well-known designer Manish Malhotra, who showcased the ‘Mijwan Summer Couture 2017’. The fashion show was a fundraiser and the proceeds collected at the event were donated to the NGO to support education and empowerment of the girl child.

Through this event, the IAA is gearing up for its flagship event to be held in the Bay Area this June. Earlier, the academy celebrated the first of its kind, The Indian Worldwide Academy and all that it stands for. The event was announced by superstar Shah Rukh Khan in Mumbai and the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai and in January it was launched by Madhuri Dixit in California. From exchanging cultures to building bridges for tourism, engaging cinema lovers to creating a platform to identify potential talent for the Indian film industry, the IAA, is a real-time celebration for cinema lovers, by cinema lovers and of cinema lovers across the world.

Managed by Asia’s largest production company Cineyug and choreographed by Shiamak Davar, this extravaganza, will bring the best of Hollywood, Bollywood and Tollywood together to create history in the entertainment world and will be hosted at the Oracle Arena in San Francisco.

The Indian Academy will now celebrate woman empowerment through nominations and authenticated online voting process. Women achievers will be honored for their achievements as strong Indian-American women.

2 NRIs in New Jersey sentenced in $200 million credit card fraud

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity, Finance/Economy 0

The two owners of a New Jersey jewelry store who used the business to carry out one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever charged by the Justice Department were both sentenced March 27, for their roles in the scheme.

Vijay Verma, 49, and Tarsem Lal, 78, both of Iselin, New Jersey, were sentenced to 14 months in prison and 12 months of home confinement, respectively. In addition to the prison terms, Judge Thompson sentenced Verma to three years of supervised release and Lal to three years of probation. Each defendant was fined $5,000 and ordered to pay forfeiture of $451,259.

The two jewelry store owners earlier pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton federal court to charges of one count of access device fraud. Verma and Lal were indicted in October 2013 as part of a scheme to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. Several other participants of Indian and South Asian origin were involved in that scheme.

Those accused of masterminding the scheme, doctored credit reports to pump up the spending and borrowing power associated with the cards. They then borrowed or spent as much as they could, based on the phony credit history, but did not repay the debts – causing more than $200 million in confirmed losses to businesses and financial institutions.

These debts were incurred at Verma’s jewelry store, among many other locations, where Verma would allow fraudulently obtained credit cards to be swiped in phony transactions.The scope of the criminal fraud enterprise required other scheme participants to construct an elaborate network of false identities. Across the country, they maintained more than 1,800 “drop addresses,” including houses, apartments and post office boxes, which they used as the mailing addresses for the false identities.

Verma and Lal each admitted allowing others who came to their Jersey City, New Jersey, store, to swipe cards they knew did not legitimately belong to them. Verma and Lal would then split the proceeds of the phony transactions with these other conspirators.

OHMKara concludes tour of Gujarati literature, humor and poetry in NJ

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity, Culture/Religion 0

OHMKara successfully concluded ‘Seven states, seven cities’ tour of Gujarati literature, humor and poetry program, “An evening with Ankit Trivedi”, in the US from February 26 to March 12. This was the fourth consecutive year where OHMKara organized a Gujarati literature and poetry program in their sincere efforts to promote Gujarati language, heritage and culture outside of India.

OHMKara team member Dr. Tushar Patel welcomed the renowned poet, writer, columnist, TV and stage anchor Ankit Trivedi who performed in the wonderfully choreographed and his exceptional poetry style mesmerized the audience in Houston, Rochester-NY, Chicago, Cleveland, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Trivedi performed for more than two hours in his superb language and poetry and covered various current topics and discussed typical life style and common practices of Gujaratis which kept the audience engaged and entertained throughout the evening in a delighted mood.

OHMKara, under the visionary leadership of Pinakin Pathak and team members Dr. Tushar Patel, Nishil Parikh, Kalpana Mehta, Deepak Trivedi and Ashish Mehta once again worked as one team, one mission and organized flawless events throughout the country.

OHMKara is now getting ready for one of the biggest Gujarati music concerts with sugam, lok sangeet, drama and poetry all in one, an experience like never before with renowned artists from India in 10 cities in the US in August and September.

More than 15,000 Gujaratis enjoyed the musical journey which was organized by OHMKara with renowned Bollywood singer Parthiv Gohil, two living legends of Gujarati music Gurang Vyas and Purushottam Upadhyay, renowned poet Ankit Trivedi and Margi Hathi, along with several young and versatile singers and musicians from India. The shows were held in Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Detroit and Maryland. OHMKara and their team under the leadership of Chairman Pinakin Pathak believes in promoting and bringing Gujarati heritage, language and literature via musical or poetry evening outside of India since its inception in July 2013.

The tour concluded with a grand finale event held March 12 at TV Asia Auditorium in Edison, New Jersey, where more than 300 people attended. TV Asia Chairman and CEO H.R. Shah was felicitated by team OHMKara with a shawl and Ganesh statue to recognize H.R. Shah’s three decades of community service to promote Gujarati language, culture, heritage and art in the world via television and other media and his recent selection to receive the Padma Shree.

Indian American scientist Dr. Yashwant Karkhanis dies at 86

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterProfiles 0

Indian-American scientist Dr. Yashwant Karkhanis died March 23 at his home in Fanwood, N.J. after a brief hospitalization. He was 86. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Nalinee Karkhanis, his children Nitin Karkhanis, Anita Kerr, their spouses Lisa Karkhanis and Peter Kerr, nephew Sanjay Dalal, and grandchildren – Brandon N. Karkhanis, Alexa J. Karkhanis, Tara A. Kerr and Peter J. Kerr, Jr. “Jimmy”.

A 44-year resident of Fanwood, Kharkhanis is widely recognized for his work in the fields of immunology and protein chemistry. He applied his keen intellect and knowledge to the betterment of health for humankind during his career and in his retirement, his obituary on the Bronson and Guthlein Funeral Home website says. His work in this area was rewarded by the assignment of numerous patents, papers, and the respect of his peers.

After his graduate studies in Mumbai, Kharkhanis came to the U.S. in 1956 to pursue his doctorate in Biochemistry at Florida State University. His research and intellect not only took him to Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, New York, and the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, but also established him as a post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard.

For major part of his career, Karkhanis worked at Merck Pharmaceutical in New Jersey, where he retired at the age of 70, as a research director.

After retirement, Karkhanis devoted his life to writing scientific articles in Marathi that could be of help to people, in everyday life. A founder member and trustee of Marathi Vishwa, Karkhanis was also dedicated to community service benefiting the Indian-American community in New Jersey.

The family will welcome friends for puja and visitation on Saturday, April 1 from 9:00 am to 11:00 am at the main chapel of Franklin Memorial Park. A private cremation will follow the ceremonies.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to The American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) or the Alzheimer’s Association (www.m.alz.org)

Bihar-Jharkhand Association of North America hosts Holi celebration

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

Approximately 350 people from the tri-state area attended Holi celebrations hosted by the Bihar-Jharkhand Association of North America at Royal Albert’s Palace in Fords, New Jersey, March 26. Members mingled with each other and enjoyed regional cuisine, raffle, fashion show, and musical and dance performances. b JANA President Anjali Prasad, in her welcome address, talked about the achievements of the organization and its interest in expanding their charity work.

p rasad mentioned that this was the third consecutive year that BJANA has partnered with Smile Train to sponsor free cleft lip surgeries for the poor in Bihar and Jharkhand. BJANA will donate to the Community Food Bank, NJ, this November, Prasad said.She also also talked about a keen interest in contributing to the ‘Adopt a Village’ initiative under the Swachha Bharat initiative to improve sanitation facilities in the villages of Bihar and Jharkhand.

BJANA committee members also welcomed Hirshvardhan Singh, who recently joined the gubernatiorial race in New Jersey.

Sikhs of New York to hold Turban Day in Times Square on April 15

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

The Sikhs of New York will present Turban Day April 15th from Noon until 4 p.m. in Times Square as part of the annual mid-April celebration of Vaisakhi, which is commemorated by millions of Sikhs annually.

Volunteers of the non-profit organization hope to tie 7,000 turbans on the heads of Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike to not only celebrate the centuries old birth of Sikhism, but also promote awareness of the continued misplaced violence targeted at people who practice the religion. The organization has invited local politicians to join them for six cultural presentations on a stage next to the Ruby Red Stairs at the TKTS Booth, according to a press release.

“Last year we tied about 3,000 turbans in Times Square and we hope that it will be 7,000 this year,” said Chanpreet Singh, the organization’s founder, in a statement. “We started Turban Day in 2013 at Baruch College to promote and educate people about the Sikh religion and identity. We are spreading awareness about the Sikh turban and culture. The turban is the crown of each Sikh and represents pride and valor. Turban Day provides an opportunity for those that do not wear a turban to experience a turban and learn about its significance first hand.”

The organization, which has about 600 members, also will be unveiling a new video on Turban Day that is designed to show Sikh people come from all walks of life. The video, which features physicians, businesspeople and even a gymnast, is posted online at Facebook.com/SIKHSOFNY.

“When you see a person in a turban, feel safe,” said Jill Jagjeevan Kaur Ruitenberg, President & CEO of Ruitenberg Lind Design Group of Jamesburg, N.J. and a practicing Sikh featured in the video, in a statement. “When you see a person wearing a turban they are Sikh. Sikhism is its own religion founded in India over 500 years ago. It is not derived from any other religion. Part of their beliefs are to help and protect people around them, even at the risk of their own lives. They believe in equality for everyone.”

The cultural presentations at the free event include yoga by SJ Khalsa of Kundalini Yoga East in New York City, who promotes a healthy lifestyle. Featured performances will include Tejveer Singh, also known as “The Lost Strings,” as well as singing and Bhangra dancing. The event begins with turban tying at 12 p.m.

Congress needs a winning strategy: Will the ‘Captain Model’ succeed?

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterEditorial 0

Amid the talk of the Modi Tsunami in Uttar Pradesh, the election victory by Congress Party in Punjab hasn’t received the needed attention it deserved. Captain Amarinder Singh, the leader of the Congress Party in Punjab scored a very impressive win surprising even the most ardent supporters while embarrassing many of the pundits in the media who predicted that AAP would form the next Government.

What is significant about this decisive victory in Punjab is that Captain Amarinder Singh is credited for his charisma, inspiring leadership and simply plain hard work in motivating the party cadre to make this victory possible. Therefore, in the midst of a sea of failures during the 2017 election, Punjab stands out not only as a bright spot for the Congress Party but a case study in planning for the future.

There is indeed a rush to judgment when the party loses, often laying the entire blame at the foot of the Gandhi family. Ultimately, the leadership at the top bears a greater responsibility for success or failures of any entity. However, the collective failures of many in the senior leadership who concentrated on self-development while they were in power and marginalization and decimation of the party cadre during the UPA I and UPA II regimes have much more to do with the falling fortune of the party now than anything else.

However, that does not absolve the tactical errors or strategic failures at the top in dealing with elections and more importantly running the daily operations in a diverse and complex environment. At present, there is too much power concentrated at the top and its inability to communicate in a timely fashion and failure to address recurring conflicts at the local level appears to have done some damage to the credibility and standing of the party apparatus. Many in the top leadership, who are decision makers, are said to be living in their own bubble totally detached from real people never having to see them or even ask for their votes.

If the party has strong leadership at the top – a perception of the public that is critical for influencing events and changing mindsets – similar to the days of Nehru and Indira Gandhi, there would be discipline within the cadre and strict adherence to party directives across the board. However, the current dispensation calls for a rethinking of the status quo with the goal of decentralizing control and ceding more of the decision-making powers to the local level. History teaches us that when the party had stronger regional leadership, it has performed better in those States. K. Karunakaran (Kerala), Sharad Pawar ( Maharashtra), Kamaraj Nadar (Tamil Nadu) and YSR (Andhra Pradesh) are among some of the notable regional leaders who have managed the party and governed their states with the great success of their own.

There has been a strong suspicion among the pundits that many in the High Command were not thrilled about strong personalities at the local level. Consequently, ‘groupism’ was allowed to flourish in every State thereby weakening the local leadership and leaving all the decision making powers at the top. Therefore, those local leaders were forced to travel to Delhi for even minor decisions and wait for days to get resolutions to some of their pressing issues and often the same wait merely to get an appointment to air their grievances. Stories have been abounding of people returning home without an appointment, and some have simply left the party in disgust and joined the opposition simply to vent their frustrations. It is common knowledge that many in the top leadership wouldn’t even acknowledge a letter or an email from the grass roots willing to share their ideas to improve the party’s sagging fortune!

The ‘Introspection’ by the Congress Party after every election is turning into a butt of jokes in many circles simply because little or no action has been accompanied by that process. However, here is an opportunity to look at the Punjab election and re-learn some of the lessons from the past. Captain Amarinder Singh is often referred to as ‘Raja’ for his authoritarian style and imposing mannerism dealing with complex issues involving people. However, he has proved once again that a strong and charismatic leadership can inspire confidence in the cadre and motivate them to work hard for the success of the party. That is the basic essence of political leadership, Gandhiji has taught us, the sheer ability to motivate and mobilize the masses.

If the party can cultivate a new generation of influential leaders at the local level, it is bound to bounce back. Narendra Modi could only keep up with his polarizing and misleading rhetoric for so long and a day of the reckoning appears to be not too far away. However, Congress needs a new awakening, and it can only happen with some decisive restructuring at the top which will allow a new dynamism to flourish and spread across every facet of the party’s life. Only a reinvigorated Congress Party could defend the vision of an inclusive India envisaged by Nehru and Ambedkar, the founding architects of the modern India.

Those who have written off the 2019 election already for another Modi sweep may be making a grave error in judgment. History has taught us that in a democracy two years is a long period to sustain any momentum. A lot could happen in these uncertain times between now and April 2019. For example, in a lesson learned for ages, in 2004, the BJP was so sure of its ‘India Shining’ campaign and confident of a big victory yet they fell short of their goals. Therefore, this moment of disappointment is a time to find new resolve and to fight, not to surrender.

Along with empowering local leadership, Congress party needs go to work urgently with like-minded parties to create a grand coalition, similar to the one that was cobbled up during the election in Bihar. In 2014, BJP was able to collect only 31 percent of the votes cast, and in the just concluded UP election, their vote share zoomed to 42 percent in total. It proves that the plurality of the votes was still cast for secular-minded parties and the Congress Party should do everything in its power to make alliances with regional parties towards a higher index of opposition unity for the ultimate purpose of defeating BJP in 2019.

Undoubtedly, BJP has won UP on a platform of polarization of religious communities, and if they continue to succeed along those lines while splintering the non-BJP vote, the future of a plural India will be at stake. A gain of a 2/3 majority in both houses would even embolden them to transform the nation from a democratic one to a majoritarian one, and hence, history would never forgive the grand old party for its colossal failure in preserving the very idea of India for which their founding fathers have fought
and died. If it takes the ‘Captain model’ of change that we have just witnessed in Punjab to reverse the current tide, go for it!

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

Air India to launch exclusive nonstop service from Washington to Delhi in July

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterTravel 0

Air India announced that it is increasing its services to India from the U.S. to 33 flights per week with the launch of the only nonstop service out of Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Delhi (DEL), starting July 7, 2017.

The Boeing 777-200LR flights will depart Washington three times a week, on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, with a flying time of just 14 hours – more than two hours faster than its nearest competitor. Flight No. AI-104 will depart Washington at 11:00 AM and arrive in Delhi at 10:30 AM the next morning. The westbound flight AI-103 will depart Delhi at 1:15 AM on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and arrive in Washington at 7:15 AM the same day.

Washington Dulles is Air India’s fifth U.S. destination, which also includes Chicago O’Hare, New York JFK, Newark Liberty, and San Francisco International Airports. For passengers traveling beyond Delhi, Air India also offers convenient connections to major cities across India, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi and more. Like Air India’s other nonstop flights, the Washington-Delhi flights will feature First, Business, and Economy Class service, all offering a choice of Continental or Indian cuisine.

“Air India is committed to making service faster and more convenient for our customers, whether traveling for business or leisure,” said Ms. Vandana Sharma, Air India’s Regional Manager-Americas. “Our expanding service also addresses the growing demand of customers living and working in Indo-American communities throughout the U.S. that are looking for fast, direct service with seamless connections to cities across India, and the added convenience of customs and immigration formalities at the final destination. We are proud and privileged to fill that need.”

Air India, India’s national airline, has been in operation since 1932. Today, the airline serves 35 international destinations on four continents, and 66 cities across India. The airline’s fleet of 118 aircraft, including B787 Dreamliners and B777LR’s and ER’s, is one of the world’s youngest. Air India is also a member of the Star Alliance. For more information about the airline, visit www.airindia.in or call1-800-223-7776.

Chicago OFBJP chapter celebrates party’s victory in Indian state polls

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

The Chicago chapter of the Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party celebrated the party’s historic victory in the recently concluded elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarkhand and Manipur. The event was held March 25 at the Rana Reagan Center in Carol Stream, Ill.

The program started with a welcome speech from OFBJP National General Secretary Amar Upadhyay. He extended a welcome to the Bharatiya Senior Citizens group, United Senior Citizens group, OFBJP members, VHPA members and HHS members who were all present at the event. Upadhyay then congratulated the newly appointed Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Aadityanath, Chief Minister of Uttarkhand Trivendra Singh Rawat, Chief Minister of Manipur N. Biren Singh and Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parikar. Upadhyay also shared the experiences and hard work, he, along with Chicago OFBJP coordinator Rohit Joshi and others put in during the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh.

A lamp lighting ceremony was conducted after the welcome speech. Joshi invited guest of honor Dr. Bharat Barai and BJP Communication Cell Convener Khemchand Sharma from the Delhi BJP unit, along with other OFBJP members including OFBJP youth convenor Nirav Patel to light the inaugural lamp.

n his speech, Joshi talked about some of the challenges that currently existed in Uttar Pradesh and the work that needs to be done after experiencing the situation first hand, while Patel highlighted the importance of contributing to the New India pledge wowed by Prime Minister Modi. The hope and aspirations of New India need to be fulfilled by contributions from all of it’s citizens and from all possible sources, he said.

Sharma talked about the upcoming elections for the municipal corporation of Delhi. He also shared ways to contribute to this election campaign through social media, use of voluntary services by making phone calls and any resources that could make a positive impact for the BJP Delhi unit. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Patel.

Sikh couple and their infant in Washington receive threat note inside a diaper

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

A Sikh couple in Richland, Washington, found a note on their doorstep with vague threats in it, including phrases like “You are under attack” and “Watch yourself”. The note, however, was not in an envelope, but strangely, inside a diaper.

The couple have a new-born baby, so it’s possible that the perpetrator was trying to insinuate a threat to their child, or even be mocking them, as Sikhs have been ridiculed by racists for wearing a turban, a tenet of their religion.

The couple, who were not identified by Tri-City Herald newspaper which first reported the incident, are long-time residents of the ti-cities area. The husband works as an engineer and emigrated from India several years ago.

The couple told the publication that they have become frightened. They are more careful of their safety and skip taking walks in the neighborhood. They have also put up security cameras around the house.

“Those things bothered us,” and the diaper and note were strange and upsetting, the husband said. “I’ve never had any bad interaction with any of my neighbors. I was very surprised. Why would anybody do this?”

The couple have reason enough to be worried. A spate of crimes targeting the Indian community has been reported nationwide. Recently, a Sikh woman was sexually assaulted inside a gurudwara in Oregon and a Sikh man, Deep Rai, was shot on his property in the Seattle area of Washington. He survived.

It’s not just Sikhs though, but people of all faiths from India who have become targets of racially-motivated attacks. A Hindu Indian engineer from Andhra Pradesh, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, was shot dead in Olathe, Kansas.

Muslims have generally felt terrified of new policies by the Trump administration which they feel are biased against them. Several mosques around the country have been vandalized.

The Sikh couple are not the only ones in their area to be targeted. The husband told Tri-City Herald that he’s also heard of other local incidents — a harassing note left on a car, harassing comments. Another Indian immigrant said he was yelled at while out for coffee a few months ago.

FIA Chicago welcomes new Consul General

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterTravel 0

The Federation of Indian Associations – Chicago [FIA] organized a welcome reception in honor of the newly appointed Consul General of India in Chicago, Neeta Bhushan March 15 at the Maharaja Restaurant in Rosemont, Ill. The event, attended by hundreds of members from the region, was an opportunity to reaffirm FIA’s support, goodwill and co-operation with the office of the Consulate General of India.

In her address, Bhushan thanked FIA for according her a warm welcome and expressed admiration for the work the associaiton has done over the years. Bhushan said it is her goal to bring the community together to work towards the shared goals as she said our relationships are bound by ‘khoon ka rishta’ as articulated by Prime Minister Modi and not by the color of our passports. Bhushan expressed delight in her posting to Chicago and said that she would keep the doors of her office open for an ongoing dialogue with the community and would look forward to learning from the community’s rich experience.

FIA President Kanti N. Patel in his welcome remarks pledged his support to the consul general and expressed that the 56 organizations of FIA stand with her in lending support as she carries out her responsibilities in the Midwest. Patel said this year FIA would organize a visa camp and a health fair and other events in addition to India Independence Day festivities.

Niranjan Shah introduced Bhushan saying that she comes from a family of high ranking civil service officials. Smita Shah, chair of the Chicago-Delhi Committee to the Sister Cities International, congratulated the consul general and expressed her active support in conjunction with her office. Smita Shah who served as chair for several India Independence Day parades in the past, also presented a special memento to Bhushan.

FIA Trustee Iftekhar Shareef, in his remarks ,assured the consul general that FIA stands determined to work actively with her as she undertakes the responsibility representing India in nine states, Shareef said he looks forward to conducting close-knit planning meetings with the consul general to help her in her endeavor to host major events.

Earlier, Keerthi Kumar Ravoori presented a historical overview of FIA and its contribution to the Indian-American community; while Kanti S. Patel, trustee, outlined the events hosted by FIA.

Bhailal Patel, trustee, introduced FIA President Babu Patel who later introduced Niranajan Shah. Dr. Sanhita Agnihotri, executive vice president, was presented a shawl along with a flower bouquet by Jyoti Patel andUsha Patel. Chirayu Parikh conducted the evening’s proceedings.

In closing remarks, FIA Trustee Satish Gabhawala, described FIA as theonly organization that has its pride of hoisting the Indian flag every Independence Day occasion and looks forward to continuing with that tradition this year. Gabhawala assured the audience that FIA will continue to be a bridge between communities of all faiths and cultural ethnicities.

Kamala Harris, Satya Nadella, Modi are contenders for Time’s ‘Most Influential People’ list

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

This years’s contenders for Time’s ‘Most Influential People’ list include Senator Kamala Harris, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The global list includes leading artists, politicians, lawmakers, scientists and tech and business leaders, and will be announced in mid-April. Although the magazine’s editors will determine this year’s final list, readers are also asked to vote from the probable contenders.

Modi was named among the probable contenders in 2016 and was among the most influential people in the world in 2015. As part of the 2015 list, former President Barack Obama wrote a profile for him. In 2016, a number of Indian American and Indian origin leaders were named to the list, including then Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, tennis star Sania Mirza, actress Priyanka Chopra, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Flipkart founders Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal.

This year’s probable contenders include President Donald Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, actor Riz Ahmed, Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among others.

Meghan Pasricha named recipient of 2017 World of Children Hero

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

The World of Children organization, which funds and recognizes individuals globally who are exclusively serving the needs of vulnerable children, named Megan Pasricha as one of its recipients of the 2017 World of Children Hero Awards. Pasricha is a co-founder of Global Youth H.E.L.P., a nonprofit that runs health, education, and leadership training programs for children in India and the United States.

When she was only five years old, Meghan Pasricha began changing the world with community service work. When she entered high school, Meghan – an asthma sufferer – decided to become a passionate advocate for tobacco control and health. In 2001, she worked to mobilize youth for the successful passage of Delaware’s Statewide Smoking Ban.

While studying at Harvard University, Meghan co-founded Global Youth H.E.L.P., Inc. together with her sister, working to create a global network of youth leaders who are dedicated to making a difference in the world.

In 2007, Meghan received the World of Children Youth Award for her leadership in mobilizing young people to change the world. Since then, the organization has transformed from an anti-tobacco organization into a global youth movement. Today, the organization offers a variety of programs, including anti-tobacco education, leadership training, health camps for underprivileged children, computer literacy, school supply donation programs, and more. For more information, visit www.globalyouthhelp.org.

Meghan received the 2017 World of Children Alumni Award for her extraordinary dedication to global youth empowerment. The Indian American social entrepreneur was chosen for expanding her impact and continuing to unlock the future for even more children with disabilities.

“This award will give us the tools and resources to continue expanding our youth leadership and empowerment programs, and to provide more young people with the tools to become leaders today,” she said in a statement.

Pasricha thrusted herself into community service as a teenager. A sufferer of asthma, Pasricha became an advocate for tobacco control and health when she started high school. And in 2001, she worked to mobilize youth for the successful passage of Delaware’s Statewide Smoking Ban.

Applications for U.S. visa lottery more than doubled since 2007

April 7, 2017 Staff ReporterTravel 0

A U.S. visa program that faces elimination under several bills being considered by Congress has attracted more than 156 million applicants from around the world over the past decade, even though only a small fraction of those applicants end up receiving visas through it.

During the application period for fiscal year 2017, about 19 million people applied for the U.S. diversity visa program, otherwise known as the visa lottery. That’s more than twice as many as the 9 million who applied a decade ago, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. State Department data. During the same period, the number of visas issued to the principal applicants, spouses and children via the lottery has remained stable at about 50,000 per year (due to an annual ceiling set by Congress), or a little more than 500,000 since 2007.

In operation since 1995, the visa lottery seeks to diversify the U.S. immigrant population by granting visas to underrepresented nations. Citizens of countries with the most legal immigrant arrivals in recent years – such as Mexico, Canada, China and India – are not eligible to apply. Legal immigrants entering the U.S. on a diversity visa account for about 5% of the roughly 1 million people who are awarded green cards each year.

Those eligible for the lottery face few barriers when applying. There is no fee to apply; applications are available in many languages and only limited biographical information must be submitted. If selected for a diversity visa, however, individuals must provide detailed background information and submit to visa interviews, security checks and health screenings and pay $330. Upon entry into the U.S., diversity visa recipients are given lawful permanent residence status, which gives them permission to work and live permanently in the U.S.

The U.S. visa lottery program is unique in the world. (New Zealand has a similar program, but it is smaller in scale and only open to neighboring countries in Oceania.) Immigration programs in many other countries prioritize skills, family relationships or humanitarian need.

Open to eligible people from around the globe, the U.S. visa lottery provides a window of opportunity to countries where the idea of “the American dream” holds the most appeal. In fiscal 2015 (the most recent year for detailed data on application countries), about 12% of the 14.4 million people who applied for the visa lottery were citizens of Ghana (1.7 million). An additional 10%, or nearly 1.4 million applicants, were from Uzbekistan. Other top application countries included Ukraine (nearly 1.3 million applicants), Iran (more than 900,000) and Nepal (nearly 900,000). Numbers include principal applicants, their spouses and their children.

In some countries, a marked share of the population has applied for the program. In the Republic of Congo, for example, 10% of the country’s citizens applied for the program in fiscal 2015. Other African countries with high shares of applicants included Liberia (8%), Sierra Leone (8%) and Ghana (7%). European countries such as Albania (7%), Moldova (5%) and Ukraine (3%) also saw substantial shares of their populations submitting applications. In Asia, Uzbekistan (5%) and Nepal (3%) also had vast shares of their populations apply.

Since the program’s start in 1995, the U.S. has awarded about 20,000 visas annually to African citizens and another 20,000 to European citizens. Roughly 8,000 citizens of Asian countries, including islands in Oceania, have received diversity visas each year. Nearly 2,000 are given annually to those from the Americas. (Since 1999, the U.S. has awarded up to an additional 5,000 visas each year to citizens of Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador and Guatemala under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central America Relief Act.)

The origins of those eligible to apply for the lottery have changed over time. When at least 50,000 citizens of a country have immigrated to the U.S. over the previous five years, the citizens of that country becomes ineligible for the visa lottery. For example, due to an increase in immigration to the U.S., citizens of Bangladesh became ineligible to apply to the program beginning in 2013 (which could explain the drop in total applicants in 2013), while Nigerians became ineligible in 2015. Russians became eligible to enter the lottery in 2010 and Poles could begin applying in 2014 because immigration to the U.S. from these countries had declined.

Correction: A previous version of the map graphic gave an incorrect number for Russia. About 265,000 Russians applied for diversity visas in the application period for fiscal 2015 (map rounds to nearest 10,000).

Indian American woman & son found in ‘pool of blood’ in NJ

March 30, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, India 0

An Indian American software engineer and her young son were found dead in their Maple Shade, New Jersey, home, in what police are saying is not a hate crime. Sasikala Narra, 38, and her son Anish, 6, were found by Narra’s, husband N. Hanumantha Rao, in the bedroom of their home on March 23^rd. An autopsy was conducted later on March 24 to identify the murderer.

Bewley said he could not reveal whether there was evidence of forced entry. He also would not state if the husband, Hanumantha Rao, was a person of interest in the ongoing investigation. “No charges have been filed. We’re investigating multiple people at this time, including the neighbors,” he said.

Bewley emphatically stated that the case was not a hate crime. “We have no reason to believe that this is a hate crime based on Indian origin,” he said, adding that that theory was developed early on, and he wanted to dispel that line of thinking. Asked what evidence the police had to prove the fatal stabbings were not motivated by hate, Bewley said simply: “We’re still investigating these crimes.”

Indian-American community leader Prasad Thotakura claimed that Mr Rao allegedly found his wife and child “in a pool of blood” and “with their throats slit”. But in India, Ms Sasikala’s mother, Krishna Kumari, told news agency ANI: “We suspect that they have been murdered following an affair of my son-in-law with another woman there.”

Rao and Sasikala both were software professionals and had lived in the US for 12 years. She worked from home and reportedly picked up her son from school last afternoon before they headed home.

The killing was raised in the Indian Parliament last week. “This is a serious matter. This is very dangerous. Just two weeks back, two Indians were killed and now two more people have been killed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi must take (it) up with the President of America,” said Congress Rajya Sabha member T Subbarami Reddy.Hanumantha Rao – also known as Hanu Narra – had not returned India-West’s calls by press time.

Mohan Nannapaneni, president of the Telugu Association of North America and a friend of the family, told India-West he had spoken to Narra on the morning after the gruesome incident. Narra is a life member of TANA and volunteers with the organization’s crisis services program, known as TEAM Square. “Hanu is in a state of trauma,” said Nannapaneni.

TANA is making arrangements to send the bodies of Sasikala and her son back to a town near Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. The organization is not collecting funds to transport the bodies back to India, as the family has not requested financial help. Sasikala Narra and her husband had lived in the U.S. for about nine years. Anish was born in the U.S.

Sikh-American girl harassed in US, asked to ‘go back to Lebanon’

March 30, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

NEW YORK: A Sikh-American girl was harassed on a subway train here when a white man, mistaking her to be from the Middle East, allegedly shouted “go back to Lebanon” and “you don’t belong in this country,” the latest in a series of hate crimes against people of South-Asian origin.

Rajpreet Heir was taking the subway train to a friend’s birthday party in Manhattan this month when the white man began shouting at her, according to a report in the New York Times.
Heir recounted the ordeal in a video for a Times section called ‘This Week in Hate’, which highlights hate crimes and harassment around the country since the election of President Donald Trump.

Heir said she was looking at her phone when the white man shouted at her saying, “Do you even know what a Marine looks like? Do you know what they have to see? What they do for this country? Because of people like you.”

He told Heir he hoped she was sent “back to Lebanon” and using expletives said, “You don’t belong in this country,” before he left the subway. Heir, a Sikh, said she was born 30 miles from Lebanon, not the Middle Eastern country but a namesake city in the American state of Indiana. Heir said as the man left the train, she saw a young white woman in the train staring at her “with tears in her eyes.”

“What had just happened provided evidence of what I had sensed beneath the surface for a long time – racism that can turn violent and lately does,” she said. The report added that two fellow passengers stepped in to help Heir after the incident on the train. One woman tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she was all right. “That meant something because when you’re a minority, you’re so used to just experiencing things on your own,” Heir said.

Another woman reported the incident to a police officer at a subway station. The report said that as New York City works to respond to a rise in reports of discrimination and harassment, subways have emerged as a source of special concern.

It said the anti-harassment group Hollaback has received nearly double the usual number of reports of harassment on the subway and more than usual involve racist, Islamophobic or anti-immigrant comments since the election of Trump. Heir’s case is a yet another disturbing incident of racial discrimination in which people of South Asian origin have been targets of abuse and hate crime.

Last month, Indian-origin woman Ekta Desai had posted a video online of an African-American man racially abusing her and calling her inappropriate names as she was traveling on a subway train.

India ranks 131 on Human Development Index

March 30, 2017 Staff ReporterIndia 0

New York, March 22: India came down by one slot and was ranked 131st among 188 countries on Human Development Index (HDI) 2016 released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

India fell under the “medium human development category” and its HDI, at 0.624, was behind Sri Lanka and the Maldives in South Asia.

Sri Lanka and the Maldives were ranked 73 and 105 respectively and figure in the “high human development” section.

India was placed behind countries like Gabon (109), Egypt (111), Indonesia (113), South Africa (119) and Iraq (121) among others. The report lists a total of 188 countries.

China occupies the 90th spot. Bhutan is at 132, Bangladesh 139, Nepal 144 and Pakistan is at 147.

Devised and launched in 1990, HDI is a statistic which ranks countries into four tiers of human development on the basis of indicators like life expectancy, education and per capita income.

A higher lifespan, higher level of education and higher GDP per capita results in a country scoring higher HDI.

The top three countries in HDI were Norway (0.949), Australia (0.939) and Switzerland (0.939).

“Identifying those who have been left out of the progress in human development and mapping their locations are essential for useful advocacy and effective policymaking,” according to the report.

“Such mapping can help development activists demand action and guide policymakers in formulating and implementing policies to improve the well-being of marginalised and vulnerable people,” it added.

The report said gender equality and women’s empowerment were fundamental dimensions of human development.

However, globally, women have a lower HDI than men, despite having higher life expectancy at birth, said the report.

South Asia’s Gender Development Index (GDI) is the lowest.

The GDI takes into account the disparity between the HDI of men and women — the higher the disparity, the lower the GDI.

India’s GDI is 0.819, compared to the developing country average of 0.913.

The UNDP report said the sustainable development goals, critical in their own right, were also crucial for human development and helped them realise their full potential in life.

SBI Chief, Raj Panjabi named to Fortune’s ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ List

March 30, 2017 Staff ReporterIndia, Profiles 0

SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya and Indian-origin physician Raj Panjabi have been named by Fortune magazine among the world’s 50 greatest leaders who are transforming the world and inspiring others to do the same.

Bhattacharya, Chairman of India’s largest bank and the first-ever woman to do so, has been ranked 26th on the list while Panjabi, founder and CEO of Last Mile Health, follows closely on the 28th spot.A Indian American physician and social entrepreneur originally from Liberia, Raj Panjabi, has been named by Fortune magazine to its list of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” released March 24.

Panjabi is co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit Last Mile Health, which tackles the “last mile” — the final, critical step of delivering products or services to consumers—a conundrum for businesses and in health care, where last-mile problems hit poor regions especially hard, according to the organization’s Web site.

The nonprofit is striving to change that by training locals in developing countries in lifesaving measures, such as protecting themselves against pandemics and safely burying victims killed by infectious diseases. Last Mile has already proved its mettle; its work in Liberia helped stanch the spread of Ebola during the 2014 outbreak, noted Fortune.

Panjabi, who placed 28th on the Fortune list, also serves on the faculty of the Division of Global Health Equity at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass. In 2016, TIME Magazine named Panjabi to its annual list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World.”

Bhattacharya has steered the SBI through an ongoing battle with bad loans, the surprise demonetization move and will be overseeing the upcoming six-bank merger, an SBI statement said.

“She’s been transformative to convert the 211-year-old institution into the digital era and overhauling human resource for her 200,000-plus employees. The complex six-bank merger she is orchestrating will catapult the SBI into the ranks of the world’s 50 largest banks,” Fortune said.

It noted that Bhattacharya’s effectiveness, frank and outspoken style is well recognized and she has been granted a rare extension to her three-year term at the SBI in October 2016. The 61-year-old professional banker was ranked by Forbes as the 25th most powerful woman in the world in 2016.

Hindu arti worship held weekly at Harvard

March 30, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

A weekly arti is reportedly held at Harvard University (HU), one of the world’s top and United States’ oldest institution of higher education established in 1636. Organized by Harvard Dharma (Harvard’s Hindu Students Association), it is held in Dharma Prayer Space at Canaday Basement in Harvard Yard of HU in Cambridge (Massachusetts) on Fridays at five pm, reports suggest.

Arti is a Hindu worship ceremony/offering performed in adoration/honor of deity/deities by circular movement of a lighted lamp accompanied by hymn singing and may include sounding of handbells and other instruments. Worshippers pass their hands over the flames of the lighted lamp and then touch their faces/heads with these hands, thus transferring the deity’s blessings.

Applauding Harvard for reported provision of dedicated prayer space, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, described it as a step in the positive direction. Zed commended Harvard for recognizing the intersection of spirituality and education, which was important in Hinduism.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged all USA universities, colleges and residential schools; both public and private; to respond to the spiritual needs of diverse student body and provide permanent and dedicated Hindu prayer/meditation room for rituals, quiet reflection, festivals and spiritual exercise. It would help in the personal growth of Hindu students who were present in substantial numbers on various campuses. It was important to meet the spiritual needs of these students, Zed added.

Rajan Zed suggested that these Hindu prayer rooms should have an altar containing murtis (statues) of popular Hindu deities like Shiva, Vishnu, Rama, Krishna, Durga, Venkateshwara, Ganesha, Murugan, Saraswati, Hanuman, Lakshmi, Kali, etc.; besides being equipped with ghanta (big metallic bell hanging from the ceiling), dholak (two-headed hand-drum), Shiva-linga, etc. He or other Hindu scholars would be glad to help, if asked, regarding the structure of “Hindu Prayer Room”, Zed indicated.

Harvard Dharma, focusing on Hindu spiritual and cultural life at Harvard University, also celebrates various Hindu festivals like Deepavali, Holi, etc.; organizes discussions and speaker events about Hinduism and related issues on the campus; etc. Priyanka Kumar, Gunjari Raychaudhuri and Aniket Zinzuwadia are Co-Presidents.

HU, whose motto is Veritas (Latin for “truth”) and which has about 22,000 students, boasts of “48 Nobel Laureates, 32 heads of state, 48 Pulitzer Prize winners”. The Harvard Library—claimed to be the “largest academic library in the world”—includes about 20.4 million volumes. Drew Gilpin Faust is the HU President, while Kenji Yoshino is President of its Board of Overseers. It was named after John Harvard, a Christian minister. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.

Indian American Postal Supervisor charged with embezzlement

March 30, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

Amar D. Patel, from Delran, New Jersey, faces charges that he abused his position as a U.S. Postal Service supervisor to steal cash deposits, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced earlier this month.

Patel, 35, is charged by complaint with knowingly embezzling, stealing, purloining, and converting to his use U.S. Postal Service funds exceeding $1,000, according to the Justice Department.

According to the complaint: in July 2016, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General started investigating shortages in cash deposits reported by the Riverside, New Jersey, Delanco, New Jersey, and Delran post offices. Patel – who was a supervisor at those three offices – had access to deposit bags containing cash acquired during retail operations.

As part of the investigation, agents installed covert surveillance cameras inside the Riverside post office. On Jan. 14, 2017, one of the surveillance cameras captured images of Patel tearing open a sealed deposit bag, removing cash deposits, and placing the funds into his pocket. According to U.S. Postal Service financial records and bank deposit records, the Riverside office’s deposit was short $1,650 on Jan. 14, 2017.

Based on this and other information, Patel is accused of stealing $15,700 in U.S. Postal Service funds on 12 separate occasions from Feb. 20, 2016, through Jan. 14, 2017.

The embezzlement charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Diwali declared holiday in New York’s Herricks Public Schools

March 30, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

Hindus have welcomed the inclusion of Diwali, most popular of their festival, as holiday by Herricks Union Free School District (HUFSD) in New York State on its School Calendar for 2017-2018.

Nearby Syosset Central School District, East Meadow School District, Half Hollow Hills Central School District and East Williston Union Free School District recently declared Diwali as an official holiday; while Mineola Union Free School District announced that no home work or examinations would be given on Diwali, reports suggest.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, describing it as a step in the right direction, urged all other public school districts and private-charter-independent schools in New York State to do the same.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that it would be a positive thing to do in view of presence of a substantial number of Hindu students at schools around the state, as it was important to meet the religious and spiritual needs of these pupils.

Rajan Zed indicated that schools should make efforts to accommodate the religious requirements of Hindu students and show respect to their faith by not conducting regular business and scheduling classes on Diwali. We did not want our students to be put at an unnecessary disadvantage for missing tests/examinations/papers, assignments, class work, etc., by taking a day-off to observe Diwali.

If schools had declared other religious holidays, why not Diwali, Zed asked. Holidays of all major religions should be honored and no one should be penalized for practicing their religion, Zed added

Rajan Zed suggested all New York State schools, public-private-charter-independent, to seriously look into declaring Diwali as an official holiday, thus recognizing the intersection of spirituality and education. Zed noted that awareness about other religions thus created by such holidays like Diwali would make New York State students well-nurtured, well-balanced, and enlightened citizens of tomorrow.

Zed urged New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State Education Department Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa and New York State Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia; to work towards adding Diwali as an official holiday in all the 728 school districts, and persuading the private-charter-independent schools to follow.

Rajan Zed further says that Hinduism is rich in festivals and religious festivals are very dear and sacred to Hindus. Diwali, the festival of lights, aims at dispelling the darkness and lighting up the lives and symbolizes the victory of good over evil. Besides Hindus; Sikhs and Jains and some Buddhists also celebrate Diwali, which falls on October 19 in 2017.

Zed thanked HUFSD Board of Education President Nancy Feinstein and other Board members for supporting Diwali holiday. HUFSD, headquartered in New Hyde Park; operates schools in Williston Park, New Hyde Park and Albertson; and its Mission includes promoting “intellectual curiosity and creative expression”. It runs a free half-day Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program and has a Department of Spanish Language Immersion. Dr. Fino M. Celano is Superintendent.

Hinduism is oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.

Sojas Wagle leads sweep of Brain Bee Championship win by NRI kids

March 29, 2017 Staff ReporterProfiles 0

Sojas Wagle, an Indian American teenager, led the victory at the USA Brain Bee Championship here earlier this month, by winning the 2017 national championship at the end of the three-day competition. Sojas Wagle is a 15-year-old sophomore at Springdale’s Har-Ber High School in Arkansas, The championship is held annually at the University of Maryland, according to a report on arkansasonline.com.

Wagle beat runner-up Aarthi Vijayakumar of Minneapolis, and Amit Kannan of Indianapolis, who came in at third place. In addition to going to Washington, D.C., in August for the International Brain Bee Championship, Wagle won an eight-week internship in a neuroscience laboratory. A donation will also be given to the brain-disorder charity of his choice, the Alzheimer’s Association, the website reported. The international competition will be held Aug. 3-6, in conjunction with the American Psychological Association conference.
Winners from 51 Brain Bee chapters in 30 states competed March 17-19 in Baltimore in the event hosted by the University of Maryland, and featured written and oral exams, patient diagnoses using actor patients, and microscopic slide studies.
“I studied harder and kind of perfected the neuroanatomy section to make sure I was familiar with all parts of the brain and could point those out on a brain model,” Wagle told arkansasonline.com.

Amul R. Thapar nominated to top judicial post by Trump

March 29, 2017 Staff ReporterProfiles, U.S. 0

Indian American Judge Amul R. Thapar of Kentucky has been nominated by President Donald J. Trump on March 20, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. If confirmed, Amul R. Thapar of Kentucky will serve as a Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The son of Indian-American immigrants, Judge Thapar serves on the District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. With his 2008 nomination by President George W. Bush and subsequent confirmation and appointment, Judge Thapar became the nation’s first Article III judge of South Asian descent.

Before his service on the bench, he was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Before that, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia. He began his legal career in private practice, after clerkships with Judge S. Arthur Spiegel on the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and then with Judge Nathaniel R. Jones of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judge Thapar received his BS from Boston College in 1991 and his JD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Welcoming Trump’s decision, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “I applaud the President for announcing his intent to nominate my friend, Judge Amul Thapar, to serve on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Throughout his already impressive career of public service, Amul has shown an incredible intellect and an unshakable dedication to the law. He has earned the respect of his colleagues, and I know that he will bring to the Sixth Circuit the same wisdom, fairness, and ability that he has shown on the District Court. President Trump made an outstanding choice and I look forward to the Senate’s confirmation of Judge Thapar.”

Over 100 U.S lawmakers urge India to lift curbs on Christian charity

March 29, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

A group of 107 members of U.S Congress have written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to temporarily lift the restrictions on American Christian charity Compassion International (CI) until a permanent solution can be found. The union government has ordered banks in India to stop processing wire transfers from CI to its Indian partners, bringing the charity’s operations to halt. CI supports 145000 children in India with donations raised in the U.S.

The U.S lawmakers said they were “long time supporters of U.S -India partnership” but the Indian government’s treatment of CI has “caused serious concern within the U.S Congress.”

“It is with this in mind that we write to express our deep concern over the lack of transparency and consistency in your government’s enforcement of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act,” the members wrote.

The Indian government has put CI on a priority watch list, accusing it of carrying out religious conversion in the country. No case has been filed against the organization. American lawmakers, most of them staunch supporters of India, have raised the issue with the Prime Minister’s Office earlier, but the Indian government has not budged.

The letter to the Home Minister has been organized by the Republican Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed Royce and Democrat Ranking Member Eliot Engel.

“As long time supporters of the U.S.-India partnership, we have worked diligently to deepen ties between our two countries. As the largest and oldest democracies in the world, India and the United States share bonds rooted in political pluralism and respect for the rule of law. It is with this in mind that we write to express our deep concern over the lack of transparency and consistency in your government’s enforcement of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act.

The ongoing case of U.S.-based Compassion International, which will have harmful consequences for many Indian children, has caused serious concern within the U.S. Congress. As you may know, Compassion International has worked in India since 1968, and today, its programs support over 145,000 Indian children, providing critical tutoring, health and nutrition, and medical services,” they said in the letter to Mr. Singh.

The members of Congress said: “Tragically, Compassion will soon be forced to terminate its service to India after nearly 50 years of working in your country. We are writing because we believe the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an inter-bank circular preventing all commercial banks in India from processing CI’s wire transfers without prior Ministry approval. As a result, Compassion is unable to process the funds it needs to continue, and will be forced to close its sponsorship programs on March 15th, to the detriment of the hundreds of thousands of children Compassion serves in India. Many of our constituents, who have built emotional attachments through years of building relationships with these kids, are devastated by this wrenching cutoff.”

John Prabhudoss, President of Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations said in statement that the CI program “helps break the cycle of poverty and indignity these children have experienced.”

“We believe that this action by Modi government against Christian aid agencies is an attempt by the political-Hinduism to hijack the rich religious traditions of religious Hinduism and the people of India,” he said. “The hardline approach of the Hindu nationalist government under Modi has the potential to cause serious damage to the US-India relationship,” said Mr. Prabhudoss.

7 Indian American Entrepreneurs on Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List

March 29, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, India 0

Seven Indian Americans have made it to the prestigious Forbes World’s Billionaires list for 2017, released on March 20 and featured more than 2,000 billionaires. The total combined net worth of this year’s billionaires was $7.67 trillion, up from $6.48 trillion last year. The 2,043 billionaires in 2017 is up from 1,810 in 2016, with an average net worth of $3.75 billion.

A total of 101 Indian-origin people made to the list, including Mukesh Ambani at No. 33 and $23.2 billion, Lakshmi Mittal at No. 56 and $16.4 billion, Azim Premji at No. 72 and $14.9 billion, and Dilip Shanghvi at No. 84 and $13.7 billion in the top 100 of the overall list.

Bill Gates of Microsoft fame was once again No. 1 on the list with a net worth of $86 billion. Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett with $75.6 billion, Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos with $72.8 billion, Spain-based Zara’s Amancio Ortega with $71.3 billion and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg with $56 billion rounded out the top five on the list.

Romesh Wadhwani, an Indian American who made his money in the software industry is valued at $3 billion, came in at No. 660. He is the chairman and CEO of Symphony Technology Group, a group of 18 data, technology, healthcare and analytics companies that together take in more than $2.8 billion in annual revenue.

Rakesh Gangwal was ranked at No. 973 with his $2.1 billion worth. The 63-year-old airline veteran made his fortune at InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of his budget airline IndiGo, India’s largest by market share. The India-born mechanical engineer studied at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur before getting his M.B.A. at Wharton.

John Kapoor, with a value of $1.7 billion, was ranked No. 1,234 on the Forbes list. Kapoor came to the U.S. from India to get his doctorate in medicinal chemistry. He stepped down as CEO and chairman of opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics in January 2017. He remains chairman of Akorn, which specializes in “difficult-to-manufacture” prescription drugs. He also owns the Roka Akor Japanese eateries in Chicago, Scottsdale and San Francisco.

Vinod Khosla, who achieved his fortune through venture capitalism, ranks No. 1,290 with a net worth of $1.6 billion. Khosla has run his own venture capital firm, Khosla Ventures, since 2004,

Aneel Bhusri, the CEO and co-founder of Workday, with a net worth of $1.3 billion, following nearly two decades at VC firm Kleiner Perkins, is at No. 1,567 on the list. Bhusri notched up big returns at Greylock in 2007 when storage software outfit PolyServe sold to Hewlett-Packard for $200 million, and OutlookSoft was acquired by SAP.

Brian Sheth, of Austin, Texas, co-founded Vista Equity Partners in 2000 and is the firm’s president. Since then, Sheth has racked up a net worth of $1.1 billion and slides in at No. 1,795 on the list. Additionally, he helped boost his net worth by buying and fixing up a less-than glamorous collection of enterprise software companies.

Bharat Desai, at No. 1,940 on the list with a net worth of $1 billion, fell from the second-ranked Indian American a year ago — No. 688 and $2.6 billion net worth. Desai and his wife Neerja Sethi Desai founded IT consulting and outsourcing company Syntel in their apartment in Troy, Mich., in 1980. They turned it into a multi-million dollar operation.

“iCAN Awards Night Rocked Chicago–A Dazzling Display of Professionalism and Perfection”

March 29, 2017 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Rolling Meadows, IL – iCAN finale night was a dazzling affair as the crème-de-la-crème of Chicagoland added to the glamour quotient and made it a memorable evening on March 18th 2017, The event started with red carpet welcome for all the iCAN nominees. The evening celebrated the achievements of real community heroes with much fanfare and spirit. The show saw some of the most prolific personalities from Chicago’s Indian American Political, Social, Business and Entertainment community walk in along with 200 Plus Award nominees. Amidst fabulous performances, entertainment and glamour, iCAN honored the contributions of these community heroes by giving away its 1st iCAN Trophies to the most deserving social workers, community leaders, and performers across various categories.

With about 700 nominations in various categories and over 100,000 votes, the event had all the trappings of the world famous Academy Awards. The electrifying performance of 150 artists was an icing on the cake. The presence of the 40 generous sponsors was a great morale booster for all those who were associated with the conceptualization and execution of the whole event.

Neeta Bhushan, Hon’ble Consul General of India in Chicago, who was the Chief Guest at the event, had great appreciation for the high profile event which, she said, reminded her of the Oscars!!!! “It’s a moment of great pride to bring the community leaders from different walks of life under one roof and to recognize their spectacular services to the community in a grand function”, she said.

The event, which was a star-studded affair, had all the looks of the world famous Academy Awards. The evening had it all from the Red carpet to the interviews of the top listed nominees, with a special social hour to interact with gorgeous people all around surrounded by yummy appetizers to start and then the show began! Many nominees were heard saying that they felt like a STAR! Jassi Parmar and Mohan Rawat, the very versatile and highly talented EMCEE’s, made the evening a memorable experience for the audience.

The awards ceremony started with presenting Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Bharat Barai-Panna, who is a very eminent Indian Community Leader and recipient of President award. Dr. Deepak Kant Vyas, Chairman & CEO of Redberri Corporation was awarded with Special Jury Award. Harold D’Souza was awarded with iCAN Humanitarian Services Award. Pride of Community Award was awarded to Sonal Rawal. The winner of the Best Community Promoter Award was presented to Dr. Uma Katiki. The awards night continued with Best Restaurant Award – and the winner for the award was Cuisine of India- Rahul Sehgal. Best Chef award was awarded to Chef Raghu Singh from India House. Community Health and Fitness award was awarded to Vidya Nahar. iCAN Friend of India was Mayor Bill McLeod from Hoffman Estates, He said he is very proud and humbled to receive this award on behalf of the people of Hoffman Estates.

Lifetime Achievement Award 2 for Outstanding Humanitarian Service was presented to Satnam Singh Aulakh. iCAN Jury Award 2 was awarded to Ami Patel. Best Entrepreneur Female was awarded to Dr. Anuja Gupta, Fashion Icon Female was awarded to Aishwarya Sharma. iCAN Jury Award 2 for Outstanding Community Service was presented to Hemangini Shastri, iCAN Youth Achiever Award was awarded to Saloni and Savani Nagarkar sisters that teach kids about coding. Youth Icon Award was won by Suhanee Patel. Student of the Year Award winner was Nipun Dubey iCAN Jury Award 3, Young Achiever award was presented to Roni Akurati.

Best Singer Male was Mandeep Singh Saini, Best Singer Female was Nipa Shah, Best Volunteer award winner was Rajeev Bharel, and Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Senior Service was Haribhai Patel. Best Dancer Female was Kajol Topiwala, Best Choreographer was Sweta Bhagwakar, Best Entrepreneur Male was Rahul Wahi, Best Innovator was Anil Oroskar. Lifetime Achievement Award 4 for Outstanding Community Service was Jayantilal Thakkar. Best Performing Artist was awarded to Ashley Singh, Most Emerging Personality winner was Natasha Trikha. Fashion Icon Male was Syed Hussaini. Most Humble Person was Swapna Pula. Social Media King winner was Noman Khan, Social Media Queen was Farah Khan, Best wife Biwi No 1 winner was Farhana Bukhari, Best Couple Jodi No 1 winner was Puneet and Sim Sabarwal. Best Show Promoter Group was SAHIL and LA TAN, Best Dance Group/ Academy was Kalashree Dance Academy. Best Community Leader was awarded to Moon Khan. Best Community Organization was Blind Foundation for India. iCAN Jury Award for Best Community volunteer Organization was Sant Nirankari Mission, Chicago.

The iCAN Awards Night was launched in association with Star Plus & Life OK, 2 of the leading TV channels along with 40+ local sponsors. The event felicitated people from the Chicagoland’s Indian Community, who have done a remarkable job in their field and have served as an inspiration to others. A total of 38 awards were presented in the field of dance, music, community, health, performing arts et al. The event was lit with vibrant performers, a total of 108 to be exact. “I have been to a lot of community events, but have never witnessed an award show of this magnitude”, opined the audience unanimously.

Indra Nooyi, Fareed Zakaria among 2017 Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipients

March 29, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

PepsiCo chief executive officer Indra Nooyi and journalist and author Fareed Zakaria are among six Indian-Americans named recipients of this year’s Ellis Island Medal of Honor. A total of 88 honorees were announced on March 21. Joining Nooyi and Zakaria are Harman International Industries Chairman and CEO Dinesh Paliwal, cardiologist and a Professor of Cardiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City Dr. Annapoorna S. Kini, Yashvant Patel, Mohan H. Patel, and Pakistani American Dr. Adil Haider.

The National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations – NECO is the sponsor of the Ellis Island Medals of Honor that are presented each year on historic Ellis Island to a select group of individuals whose accomplishments in their field and inspired service to our nation are cause for celebration.

Nooyi has been the CEO at PepsiCo since 2006 and chairman since 2007. She was previously the president and chief financial officer at the company, as well as senior vice president, and senior vice president of corporate strategy and development, reported Connected to India, an online publishing platform serving NRIs and Indian diaspora.

Nooyi has also worked at Asea Brown Boveri, Motorola, The Boston Consulting Group, Johnson & Johnson and Mettur Beardsell Ltd. She earned a Bachelor’s from Madras Christian College, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Kolkata and a Master’s from Yale University.

Zakaria is the host of CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” as well as a columnist for The Washington Post. He has also served as a columnist at Newsweek, an editor at Newsweek International and editor-at-large of Time.

Paliwal has worked and lived in six countries on four continents, including the United States, China, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, and India. Dr. Kini performs over 1,000 minimally invasive coronary interventions annually (the highest number by a female interventionalist in the United States) with extremely low complication rate, less than 0.5 percent.

‘We are here to stay’, say Indian-Americans amid growing hate crime incidents in the US

March 29, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

WASHINGTON: “We are here to stay”, Indian-Americans have vowed while holding a series of meetings to express their concern over growing hate crime incidents against ethnic and religious minorities in the US.

“No matter what gunmen or the President (Donald Trump) say, this is our country, we are here to stay, and we will keep demanding our rightful and equal place in this quintessential nation of immigrants,” said Suman Raghunathan from the South Asian Americans leading Together (SAALT) at a town hall discussion here on Friday.

Initiated by SAALT, South Asian groups are planning to organise a number of similar town halls across the country. Prominent community leaders who addressed the town hall were Arjun Sethi of the Georgetown University Law Center, Dr Revathi Vikram of ASHA for Women, Shabab Ahmed Mirza of KhushDC, Darakshan Raja of Washington Peace Center and Kathy Doan of the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition.

“This is a seminal moment for our communities to be united for action, to take stock of what our communities need, for our communities to know our rights as we come into contact with law enforcement, and for our communities to build power through deep solidarity,” Raghunathan said.

Indian-Americans also joined Jewish and Muslims for a candle light vigil to express solidarity against the hate crimes that have hit them in recent weeks. “This is about having peace throughout all communities and religions and races,” Rochelle Berman was quoted as saying by local WJLA TV, an affiliate of ABC News. “There should be no discrimination based on race, or gender or skin color,” Shruti Vhatnagar told the news channel as the participants lit candles and stood in solidarity.

“Immigrant, Muslim, Arab, Sikh, Hindu and South Asian American communities continue to be targets of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric. It remains critical for elected officials to speak out early, loudly and often against hate violence and the policies that fan the flames of violence,” New York Congresswoman Grace Meng said in a statement.

Appreciating the efforts of SAALT in supporting the South Asian community, she hoped that through collective efforts, they can reverse the “horrible trend” of heightened intolerance and violence. At another round table discussion, Senator Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, held Trump responsible for the current anti-immigrant atmosphere.

“It starts with the leadership. President Trump’s comments as a candidate and a President is just the opposite of what you need,” Cardin said. A recent SAALT report documents over 200 instances of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric during last year’s general election. “There is an acute relationship between policies and rhetoric that criminalise Muslim, Arab, and South Asian American communities and the hate violence targeting these communities,” said Lakshmi Sridaran.

“While the judiciary doggedly blocks the President’s ‘Muslim Bans’, the damage continues to be done as each week uncovers a new inventory of victims of racially motivated attacks,” she added.

300 attend vigil in memory of Srinivas Kuchibhotla

March 24, 2017 Staff ReporterProfiles 0

Over 300 people attended a vigil in memory of Srinivas Kuchibhotla on March 10 in Boston, Mass on Saturday, March 19th. The vigil was the first of its kind in Massachusetts to honor Kuchibhotla and address the recent wave of hate crimes across the country, Sonali Lappin, organizer of the event and President of the Indian American Forum for Political Education-Massachusetts (IAFPE-MA), told the media. Lappin also noted that even though the majority of the attendees were Indian-American, members of other communities and ethnicities were also spotted at the event.

“It is incredible how many people volunteered and participated in this vigil. Among our donations were lights, flowers, money, and notes for the victim and his family,” she said. “This is a tragedy that transcends religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, or race and one that demands we unite, and stand together in the face of hate.”

Lappin said the vigil sought to peacefully gather Massachusetts-based Indian- Americans to honor the life and memory of Kuchibhotla, who was tragically killed on Feb. 22, by Adam Purinton who, according to witnesses, shouted anti-immigrant slurs, and yelled “Get out of my country”, and later admitted to shooting two men who he thought were Iranian. Three more attacks on Indians and Indian-Americans have been recorded within the two weeks since Kuchibhotla was murdered.

The vigil encouraged participants to raise tea lights in silent demonstration of their feelings towards hate crimes and people sang and chanted together to honor Kuchibhotla, his family and other victims of hate-fueled violence.Vigil attendees were joined in solidarity by members of communities across Massachusetts and drew bipartisan support from elected officials. Vigil attendees included families and youth from across the state as well as Indian American community leaders and representatives of Massachusetts based organizations, including Encore Boston, IIT AGNE, TiE-Boston, Massachusetts Historical Society, Hampden County District Attorney’s Office, MetroWest Chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), MA Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the Massachusetts Commonwealth Seminar, State Representative Tackey Chan, and State Representative Donald Wong.

Many groups came out to declare this a hate crime fueled by the racism and xenophobia that continues to grip the United States. This vigil also sought to denounce hate, violence, and hate fueled violence towards people based on the color of their skin, minority status or their cultural, social or political differences.“Violence is unacceptable. This vigil helps us to remember the fallen and reminds us not to tolerate any prejudice,” said Commissioner Jonjy Ananth, Asian American Commission of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Raj Melville, President of IIT AGNE, said that it was heartening to see the support from a wide cross-section of both South Asia and other community members coming together peacefully to show their support for the family of the victims of the tragedy in Olathe, Kansas. “The strong, diverse turnout showed that love and hope is universal and will ultimately triumph over hate and hate-filled violence,” said Melville.

Rita Advani, an Indian-American community leader, added: “I felt it was important for me to show up for the vigil in honor of Srinivas Kuchibhotla to honor his life and what his horrific death represented to our community. We grieve together and stand together against hate. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that hate does not win.”

NJ Town rejects mosque proposal

March 24, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

A local Muslim community in Bayonne, New Jersey, was, last week, denied space for building a mosque by the zoning board. The proposal for a mosque and community center at the site of an empty 8,500-square-foot warehouse has been the subject of much debate and discussion for the past year-and-a-half, Waheed Akbar, founder and secretary of the nonprofit group Bayonne Muslims, was quoted to have told the media.

The proposal for a mosque and community center at the site of an old warehouse on East 24th Street has been the subject of much debate for more than a year. After a lengthy and crowded held at the high school instead of City Hall, the board failed by one vote to pass the motion to allow creation of the mosque and community center.

Residents who chose to comment at the meeting were in some cases reprimanded by the board for their “anti-Muslim rhetoric.” There was even “fist-shaking by some neighbors, shouting down and rounds of applause and cheers,” according to reports by PIX 11.

“Everyone’s turning it into a religious issue, but we are only fighting it because it’s in the wrong area,” one resident said. The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called the decision “bias motivated.”

“As has happened with several New Jersey Muslim communities, local anti-Muslim opponents to new mosque construction have attempted to hide their bigoted intentions behind zoning technicalities,” CAIR-NJ executive director James Sues said.

“In the case of Bayonne, these intentions were not very well hidden. The zoning board has a moral obligation to rule on the basis of the benefits to the community, and that includes community members of all faiths.”

Despite paying $1 million for the property in 2015, Akbar said he and his group have faced an angry campaign by local residents, graffiti slurs outside their temporary prayer hall in a local school and numerous zoning and planning hurdles.

The group is also planning to file a federal lawsuit to contest the denial, Akbar said. The federal Justice Department is also undergoing its own separate investigation, he added.

‘Taj Express’ celebrates Bollywood, Indian culture, traditions

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, Entertainment 0

A new musical that’s exploding with the sounds of Bollywood and capturing its vibrant, expressive spirit is currently touring the U.S., taking viewers on a cinematic journey of dance, drama and music.

Taj Express has been touring across the US showcasing Indian culture and traditions with the sounds of India and Bollywood, that have been entertaining billions of people in India for generations. Through a fusion of film, dance, and music. This dazzling international sensation takes audiences on a live cinematic journey through modern Indian culture and society during their 2017 US tour. The production is a high energy celebration of new India’s pop music, Bollywood culture, and deep traditions featuring colorful costumes, joyful dance, and thrilling live music.

Created by the sisters Vaibhavi and Shruti Merchant, whose grandfather B. Hiralal, is considered a founding father of Bollywood, the tour began in February and has been described by critics and audience alike as a high energy celebration of new India’s pop music, Bollywood culture, and deep traditions featuring colorful costumes, joyful dance, and thrilling live music.

Shruti Merchant has been seen as a judge on India’s dance reality show “Dance India Dance”, while Vaibhavi Merchant has worked in over 75 Bollywood films and is known for hits such as “Dhol Baaje”, “Jhoom Barabar”, “Kajra Re” and “Kamli.” Her recent work includes songs for “Sultan”, “Fan” and “Befikre”. She has received numerous awards for her choreography, including the National Award for Choreography, IIFA, and the American Choreography Award.

In this internationally acclaimed stage production, the sisters weave an intoxicating tale of Varsha, an Indian journalist living in Europe. After traveling home to write a story about Bollywood and discover “The Greatest Indian Love Story Ever Told,” Varsha is swept up in a glittery, joyful musical extravaganza all of her own.

“Taj Express” is loaded with action, romance, comedy, a royal wedding Bollywood-style, and larger-than-life dance numbers set to India’s latest pop hits and its folk-music classics. When you hop aboard the “Taj Express”, you’ll embark on an exotic adventure that will have your feet moving, your hands clapping, and your heart soaring.

This years marks the fifth anniversary of the show’s international touring, and the North American tour marks the second leg of finishing a decade. The show is presented in the U.S. by Columbia Artist Management LLC. (CAMI). CAMI is an international leader in managing the careers and touring activities of the world’s most prominent performing artists and institutions. CAMI has been on the forefront of performing arts management and production throughout the world for nine decades.

To learn more about “Taj Express”, visit: http://www.tajexpressthemusical.com/bollywoodmusical/index.html

Indrani Das of NJ wins top prize in Regeneron Science Talent Search

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterProfiles, Science & Technology 0

Society for Science & the Public and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) announced that Indrani Das, 17, of Oradell, New Jersey, won the top award in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition. Forty finalists, including Indrani, were honored tonight at the annual Regeneron Science Talent Search Awards Gala for their research projects demonstrating exceptional scientific and mathematical ability, taking home more than $1.8 million in awards provided by Regeneron.

Indrani Das, 17, of Oradell, New Jersey, won the top award of $250,000 for her study of a possible approach to treating the death of neurons due to brain injury or neurodegenerative disease. A contributor to neuron death is astrogliosis, a condition that occurs when cells called astrocytes react to injury by growing, dividing and reducing their uptake of glutamate, which in excess is toxic to neurons. In a laboratory model, she showed that exosomes isolated from astrocytes transfected with microRNA-124a both improved astrocyte uptake of glutamate and increased neuron survival. Indrani mentors younger researchers and tutors math in addition to playing the piccolo trumpet in a four-person jazz ensemble.

In a laboratory model, Das showed that exosomes isolated from astrocytes transfected with microRNA-124a both improved astrocyte uptake of glutamate and increased neuron survival, it said. Indian American Arjun Ramani, 18 of West Lafayette, Ind., took third place in the competition, winning $150,000. Ramani was chosen for blending the mathematical field of graph theory with computer programming to answer questions about networks, the statement said.

“Now more than ever, we need our nation’s best and brightest young minds to pursue their interest in science and use their talents to solve our world’s most intractable problems,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of Society for Science & the Public and publisher of Science News, in a statement.

The winners announced at the gala took home more than $1.8 million in awards provided by main competition sponsor, Regeneron. Nearly one-third of the 40 finalists were Indian Americans. Three other Indian American students also placed in the top 10, including Archana Verma in fifth place, Prathik Naidu in seventh, and Vrinda Madan in ninth. Verma, 17, of Jericho, N.Y., received a $90,000 award for her study of the molecular orbital energy dynamics of dyes, which may someday result in windows that produce solar energy. Naidu, 18, of Potomac Falls, Va., received a $70,000 award for his creation of a new machine learning software to study 3-D interactions of the human genome in cancer. Madan, 17, of Orlando, Fla., received a $50,000 award for her study of 24 potential compounds for the treatment of malaria, in which she found two potential candidates that appear to target the disease-causing organism in a novel way and may warrant further study.

Arjun Rampal in NJ joins efforts to end hate crimes

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, Profiles 0

Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal joined the local community activists in New Jersey to combat rising hate crimes in the United States, especially against minorities. Rampal was speaking at a panel discussion held March 11 at the TV Asia studios here on hate crimes targeted at the Indian-Americans and the South Asian-American community.

According to the popular star from India, the best way to beat the negative around us is through love and not through hate. “By keeping quiet about hate crimes or discrimination, we are giving victory to the terrorists and the hate mongers,” he said.

Moderated by Dr. Kavita Gupta, panelists included Rampal; Hirsh Vardhan Singh, a New Jersey-based businessman, who has announced his run for the governor’s race; Dr. Sudhir Parikh, publisher of Parikh Media; Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a New Jersey-based physician and executive producer of HealthTime TV; Dia Mathews, an immigration attorney from the Chug firm and Woodbridge Township Councilman Viru Patel.

Diwali on Times Square on Oct. 7

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

New York, NY (March 20, 2017) – EventGuru Inc. is delighted to announce Saturday, October 7, 2017 as the date for this year’s DIWALI AT TIMES SQUARE celebration. Mark your calendars! Diwali is the “Festival of Lights,” is the one holiday that unifies the diversity of Indian regional cultures.This annual celebration is the largest celebration of Diwali outside of India, and it brings the South Asian community together for a fun-filled day showcasing cultural dance and musical performances, a Diwali bazaar, and mouth-watering Indian cuisine. The celebration lights up Times Square with interactive, traditional Diya (lamp) lighting ceremonies, and the world’s best digital fireworks display. There will be a Bollywood celebrity filled evening concert ,and opportunities to interact with your favorite stars. The fun will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 7, 2017 in Times Square!

Diwali at Times Square was established in 2013 by Neeta Bhasin – a nationally recognized business leader specializing in multicultural marketing . She wanted to bring the most vibrant, national festival of India to the “Center of Universe” – New York’s Times Square – to showcase India’s rich culture, heritage, and arts to the world, while invoking a sense of pride among South Asians. This historic event is managed by ASB Communications, a New York-based multicultural marketing agency now celebrating its 20th anniversary which was founded by Ms. Bhasin. Advertising and sponsorship opportunities for Diwali at Times Square are available for businesses and organizations looking to deepen relationships with the South Asian community.

Event Guru World Wide is a premier full service event company specializing in festivals, concerts, trade shows, gala dinners and press conferences. We conceptualize and implement events of all sizes and statures. We have built a team of passionate individuals who are sure to create impactful and memorable experiences for its clients.

Shreya Ghoshal 1st Indian singer at Madame Tussauds

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, Entertainment, Profiles 0

Shreya Ghoshal has become the first Indian singer to make it to Madame Tussauds, with her wax figure set to be showcased at the upcoming Delhi wing of the museum. Ghoshal’s statue will be seen striking a singing pose.

“I am thrilled to be a part of history here at Madame Tussauds and it is an honor to be featured among such talented stars, artists, historians and renowned celebrities. To be immortalized forever is a fabulous feeling. With its brilliant concept, Madame Tussauds has always been famous for bringing joy all across the world,” Ghoshal said.

The installation seeks to celebrate her 15-year-long illustrious career, since her debut in 2002 with songs like “Silsila Ye Chahat Ka” and “Bairi Piya” from the film “Devdas.”

“We are pleased to unveil Shreya’s figure in the Delhi attraction. She is one of the most loved singers of today’s generation. We are excited to see our visitors sing along with her,” Anshul Jain, General Manager and Director, Merlin Entertainments India Pvt Ltd, said.

“She was one of the most requested figures for us to include in the attraction, and we are delighted to be able to honour those fans with this wax figure.”

The museum, which will be housed in the iconic Regal Building, also will also have wax statues of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.

Indian-Americans hold rally in front of the White House to protest against hate crimes

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, India 0

Indian-Americans across the nation have become victims of Islamophobia and xenophobia, the community members said as they held an awareness rally against hate crimes in front of the White House last weekend seeking President Donald Trump’s intervention in the matter.

“Hindus have been recently affected and victimised (in the US) as a result of Islamophobia. It does affect our community as well,” Vindhya Adapa, 27, a Virginia-based corporate lawyer, told e media outside the White House on Sunday, March 20th.

Adapa along with a few dozen Indian-Americans representing various Indian-American groups from in and around the Greater Washington Area held a peaceful demonstration in view of the recent surge in hate crimes against the community.

“A recent example of that is recent shooting and murder of an IT personnel in Kansas, who was mistaken for being an Arab and a Muslim. I do think that the current political climate is eventually going to target all communities including Hindu-Americans,” said S Sheshadri, a young Indian-American doctor and Adapa’s friend.

“We are here today to raise awareness against hate crimes particularly against people of Indian origin. This is not necessarily a protest against the Trump Administration. We are here to seek bipartisan support against the hate crimes that has been happening recently against Indian-Americans,” Adapa said, urging the President to acknowledge and condemn what is happening.

“I would say what is happening against the Indian-American community is a result of xenophobia, Islamic phobia and the anti-immigrant statements that have come out from the Administration,” she alleged.

“A lot of Sikh people and Hindu people are mistaken for being Muslim, for being Middle eastern,” she said, adding that the way to tackle that is to spread awareness about these different communities.

In a petition memorandum submitted to President Trump, the recently established Coalition of Indian American organisations of the USA, which organised the event, urged him to intervene in the matter and take steps to punish the culprits under federal hate crimes law. It also urged the President to allay the fears of the Indian-American community and show his support, and take remediation steps to eliminate the hate. The peaceful protest was organised in the aftermath of a series of hate crime incidents against Indian-Americans.

US to India: No major change in H-1B visa rules

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterBusiness, India 0

The United States has conveyed to India that there is no significant change in the H-1B visa regime, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is reported to have said. Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha that India is articulating its concerns regarding the visa policy vigorously with the new administration in the US.

However, the Minister said, there is no significant change in the H-1B visa regime. US President Donald Trump is said to be preparing to issue executive orders on H-1B visas as part of larger immigration reform efforts, which could impact technology companies such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS that use these visas to send Indian professionals to the US. H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that enables the visa holder to work in a “specialty occupation, in the US for three years, with extensions possible in most cases.

“The fear, at least for 2017, is not proved to be correct. They (US authorities) are saying their current priority is to deal with the illegal immigrants,” she said during Question Hour. Sitharaman said the issue was also taken up by the Commerce Minister recently with visiting Congressional delegation led by Bob Goodlatte and during the visit of Commerce Secretary and Foreign Secretary to the US during first week of March 2017.

The Minister said India’s concerns on visa issues were articulated during the Strategic and Commerce Dialogue 2016 and Trade Policy Forum 2016 held in October, 2016. She said India had decided to continue their engagement on visa issues and reiterated their shared resolve to facilitate the movement of professionals.

Sitharaman said a number of industry bodies have raised concerns on visa policies of the US and these concerns were conveyed to the US authorities by the government. The Minister said the US monitors policies of 73 countries and India may be one of them. “But we don’t recognise any monitoring by any countries. No unilateral policing is acceptable for India,” she said.

Started under President George H Bush, who signed The Immigration Act, 1990, increasing legal immigration by 40%, the total number of years of visa stay allowed was six years including a three year extension. The H-1B cap was 65,000 and the base filing fees was $365. The American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act was enacted during the presidency of Bill Clinton. Under the Act, the number of H-1B visas allotted nearly doubled from 65,000 to 115,000 for the fiscal years 1999 and 2000 respectively.

An amount of $500 was added to the base filing fees of $365 to fund the scholarship and training program. In 2000, the AC21 Act made it easy for H-1B visa holders to change company

American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act was enacted to change rules related to H-1B portability and increase the annual cap quota, allowing them to change employers in certain situations. This Act, under Clinton, raised the cap to 195,000 for fiscal years 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act came into effect under George W Bush. It reduced the annual H-1B cap to 65,000 and introduced a separate pool of 20,000 H-1B visas under the H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption for people having a US Master’s degree. It introduced anti-fraud fees of $500.

The H-1B Visa Reforms Act came under President Barack Obama in the year 2013, and it aimed to cut down the inconsistencies in the H-1B visa program with a focus to prevent misuse and fraud, as well as it doubled H-1B visa fee to $4,000 for companies having more than 50 employees and with more than 50% of them being H-1B or L-1 visa employees.

A joyous celebration of womanhood at ATA women’s day

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterWomen 0

Chicago IL: American Telugu Association -ATA celebrated International women’s day (IWD) on March 19, 2017 at Royal Palace Banquets, Chicago Ridge, IL. International Women’s Day is is celebrated every year on March 8th since 1913.

ATA celebrated women’s day with great dignity & pride to honor women’s rights & celebrate the accomplishments of women in geo, political, economic and social sectors as well as great enthusiasm to showcase the achievements & issues facing women of their respective cultures and to come up with better solutions for a better tomorrow. The venue was packed with almost 250 exuberant women who actively participated in various activities. The theme of International Women’s Day was “Be Bold for Change” resonated with everyone.

The event started with a prayer song and lamp lighting ceremony followed by welcome speech and history of IWD by Sunitha Reddy and opening remarks by Dr. Meher Medavaram speaking on importance and the theme of the women’s day stressing the need for women to come together to work towards reducing the gender parity and recognizing IWD’s important agenda to call to action for gender parity, offering clear actions and solutions to help both individuals and organizations to create inclusive spaces for all the people all over the world.

They also had prominent Physician Dr. Sheela Konda- Vice chair of Radiology, Amita health care speaking on breast cancer awareness which was very informative and educational. She made a slide presentation on facts relating to breast cancer screening and prevention. This was followed by Mary Bedel, President of National Alliance on Mental Illness from Indiana, who spoke on the importance of recognizing the signs of mental illness and how women can reach out to help themselves and their families. She shared community resources that are available for the treatment of mental illness. Swapna Reddy an Attorney and Co-Director of ASAP at Urban Justice Center spoke on the burning issue of Immigration and her work with the refugee population.

The event included various games, like Jeopardy and Telugu speaking competition. Women enthusiastically participated and winners were awarded prizes. Women were entertained by Hari Madhuri with her live singing and they danced to the beats of the DJ. It was an overwhelmingly successful and memorable event made possible with active participation and help of the entire ATA Chicago team. Women from all walks of life shared a wonderful afternoon of learning, networking and empowering themselves.

Researchers find yoga reducing depression

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Columbia and Harvard researchers have found yoga and controlled breathing reduce depressive symptoms, according to The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine which has published this study on March one. A new study demonstrated that individuals with major depressive disorder had a significant reduction in depressive symptoms during a 12-week integrative health intervention that included Iyengar yoga classes and coherent breathing. Participants who took three yoga classes a week were more likely to achieve lower depression scores after 12 weeks than subjects who took two classes, according to the study published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

This randomized controlled dosing study “Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder with Iyengar Yoga and Coherent Breathing” claims to provide evidence that participation in an intervention composed of Iyengar yoga and coherent breathing is associated with a significant reduction in depressive symptoms for individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). It also included researchers from Boston University, Boston Medical, McLean Hospital, ENRM Veterans Hospital, New York Medical, Biostatistical Solutions, and Massachusetts General Hospital.

This published article states that during this 12-week intervention of yoga plus coherent breathing, depressive symptoms declined significantly in patients with MDD. This study supports the use of an Iyengar yoga and coherent breathing intervention as a treatment to alleviate depressive symptoms in MDD.

This article points out that MDD is common, recurrent, chronic, and disabling…depression is globally responsible for more years lost to disability than any other disease…Up to 50% of individuals treated with antidepressant medications for MDD do not achieve full remission…Yoga-based therapies offer promise…

Yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted.

According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a “2016 Yoga in America Study”, about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image. Yoga is the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Zed added.

China outpaces India in internet access, smartphone ownership

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy 0

India and China, the world’s two most populous countries, have long had a competitive relationship and have emerged as major economic powers. But in the digital space, China has a clear advantage. Since Pew Research Center began tracking advanced technology adoption in the two countries in 2013, the Chinese have consistently reported rates of internet and smartphone use that are at least triple that of Indians. That trend has continued through 2016.

In our latest poll, 71% of Chinese say they use the internet at least occasionally or own a smartphone, our definition of internet users. In contrast, only 21% of Indians say they use the internet or own a smartphone.

The gap between China and India is similarly large when it comes to smartphone ownership alone. Nearly seven-in-ten Chinese (68%) say they own one as of spring 2016, compared with 18% of Indians. Reported smartphone ownership in China has jumped 31 percentage points since 2013, but only 6 points in India over the same time period. And while virtually every Chinese person surveyed owns at least a basic mobile phone (98%), only 72% of Indians can say the same.

The digital divide between the two countries mirrors differences in their broader economic trajectories. Between 2001 and 2011, the share of middle-income Chinese, those making $10.01-$20 a day, jumped from 3% to 18%. In India over the same decade, the middle class share of the population grew from 1% to 3%. In 2015, China’s gross domestic product per capita (PPP) was over five times that of India. Our own research has shown a strong correlation between per capita income and levels of internet access and reported smartphone ownership. Furthermore, some analysts have argued that Chinese investment in digital infrastructure accounts for China’s technological lead over India.

In addition to the difference between China and India, digital divides persist within the countries. As is the case across much of the world, younger, more educated and higher-income Chinese and Indian people are more likely to own a smartphone than their older, less educated and poorer brethren.

For example, 94% of Chinese ages 18 to 34 own a smartphone, compared with only three-in-ten Chinese age 50 and older. And nearly four-in-ten Indians with a secondary education or more (38%) own a smartphone, compared with only 9% of less educated Indians. The gap holds for Chinese and Indians above and below their respective countries’ median incomes.

There is also an urban-rural gap on smartphone ownership. More urban Chinese (72%) own a smartphone compared with rural Chinese (63%), and the same goes for urban Indians (29%) compared with rural Indians (13%). In India, there is a gender gap on smartphone ownership. Indian men (23%) are more likely than women (14%) to own a smartphone.

And one more digital gap exists between China and India: social media use. Six-in-ten Chinese say they use social media, compared with only 14% of Indians. Much of this disparity is due to the fact that more people have access to the internet in China. Nearly two-thirds of Indians with internet access (65%) say they use social media. Still, this figure among the Chinese is 84% and has increased sharply since we first began asking the question in 2013.

Note: See here for topline results of our survey, a list of smartphone and social networking examples used in each country and methodology.

Puran Nebhnani appointed Chief Technology Officer of RNC

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterProfiles 0

An Indian-American engineer was appointed as the chief technology officer of the Republican party’s national committee.Puran Nebhnani, an Indian American electronics engineer, is an electronics engineering graduate of the University of Mumbai. He was earlier responsible for the architecture, design and development of the Republican Party’s website as its deputy chief technology officer, the party said in a statement.

Along with Nebhnani, the RNC also appointed Samantha Osborne as its chief digital officer. “The RNC’s investment in our digital operation and technology development paid off in dividends last year when we won back the White House,” said RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

“The additions of Samantha Osborne as Chief Digital Officer and Puran Nebhnani as Chief Technology Officer ensures that we will continue to have the best and brightest leading the way at the RNC. “Our commitment to staying on the cutting edge will give us the tools to help Republicans up and down the ticket win for years to come,” she said.

Nebhnani, who has a master’s of science degree in software engineering from Monmouth University, joined the RNC in 2014 as a lead engineer. He went on to serve the RNC as engineering director and deputy chief technology officer.

Nebhnani, who has done his Master’s of Science in Software Engineering from Monmouth University, joined the RNC in 2014 as a Lead Engineer. He went on to serve the RNC as Engineering Director and Deputy Chief Technology Officer.

Previously, he has held numerous contracting position with National Geographic Society, helping them build their new Content Management System for their website. He had also held various senior technical positions at Corvis Corporation, Pharad, Lucent Technologies and Bell Labs.

Kansas proclaims Indian-American Appreciation Day

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

The US state of Kansas has declared March 16 as “Indian American Appreciation Day” to honour Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla who was killed in an apparent hate crime. Kuchibhotla, 32, was killed and his friend Alok Madasani was injured when Adam W. Purinton, a white man who earlier served in the US Navy, shot them at the Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe on February 22.

Purinton reportedly got into a row with the victims and hurled racial slurs. He yelled “Get out of my country” and “terrorist” before shooting them. An American, Ian Grillot, was injured in the attack.

“Kansas will remain committed to standing with the Indian community,” Kansas Governor Sam Brownback said at an event to commemorate the life of Kuchibhotla. Brownback issued a proclamation at the event to recognize March 16 as the “Indian American Appreciation Day”, reported The Kansas City Star. “We will always reject acts of violence and harm. We reject hatred in all its forms,” he said in Topeka, the state capital. “This is a deplorable act that happened,” Brownback said. “We will not let it define us as a people.”

The March 16 Proclamation expresses “heartfelt condolences” to Kuchibhotla’s family, and notes that “Kansas values of respect, faith, family, friendship and hard work are shared by our Indian-American neighbors.” The Indian community, it recognizes, is employed in high-performance jobs and industries such as computer and software engineering; the medical field; the tech sector; education; and many serve in the military and hold local and state government positions.”

“Thousands of Indian-Americans who have called Kansas home over generations have enjoyed tremendous success through their ingenuity, hard work and determination,” the Proclamation says. Gov. Brownback said the perpetrator would be dealt with to the furthest extent of the law. “Acts of hate and intolerance have no place in Kansas and since the state’s founding, Kansans have fought against injustice and senseless hatred,” the Proclamation says. “We will continue to be committed to protecting our families, our neighbors and our guests; and … we welcome all Indians that wish to come to Kansas to live, work and raise a family in our communities and we thank them for contributing to our state’s prosperity.”

Indian American group to organize events in US to help prevent hate crimes

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterU.S. 0

A Chicago-based Indian-American Public Affairs Committee (IAPAC) has launched a campaign across the US to spread awareness about hate crimes against the community. The committee plans to organize a series of grass root events and town halls across the country. “There is a need to bring understanding about the people of Indian-American and represent their interests,” Ashwani Dhall, one of the founding members of IAPAC, said in a statement.

The group plans to launch a nationwide initiative to raise awareness of the Indian Diaspora in the United States – the intrinsic part they pay in contributing to society and the economy, and subsequently to help cut down hate crimes against the community.

IAPAC touts itself as a bipartisan and grassroots organization to advocate and safeguard the India-US relationship and the interests of Indian Americans. IAPAC hopes to spread the word about how Indian Americans have been an intrinsic part of the American fabric for more than 100 years, according to a statement.

The core feature of the initiative would be events organized by the IAPAC in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas and Seattle. “By bringing together elected officials, local and business leaders and the media, the aim is to assure the Indian-American community that incidents like the hate-crime in Kansas City are not tolerated or repeated,” the statement said.

IAPAC wants to ensure that correct information about any existing policies is disseminated to people and there is no room left for rumors, it said.

“It was heartening to hear President Donald Trump denounce the Kansas City incident right at the start of his address to the Congress,” said Vinesh Virani, president of IAPAC. “We have hope that the current administration will work to bring everyone together.”

He added: “We are a group of people of Indian-origin who are doctors, small business owners, hoteliers, IT professionals, executives, essentially people from all fields, who had been closely involved in the local politics during last year’s general elections.”

Though IAPAC has not termed itself as a political committee, it seems to be on the lines of the Israeli American Political Action Committee, which also is one of the biggest lobbying groups on Capitol Hill. It’s important that local Indian American groups all over the US follow the same initiative by IAPAC and create more awareness in their local communities.

INOC, USA expresses disappointment over Yogi Adityanath as the CM of U.P.

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterPolitics, Profiles 0

‘It is a recipe for disaster for the state of Uttar Pradesh however; it is part of a carefully calibrated plan by the BJP to further sow the seeds of polarization and conflict to profit from especially looking at the upcoming Parliamentary election. The real face of the RSS will be on full display soon’ said George Abraham, Chairman of the Indian National Overseas Congress, USA.

‘We are indeed shocked to see that this firebrand Yogi Adityanath whose virulent public pronouncements often borders outright contempt for the minorities in India is anointed by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India’ said Harbachan Singh, the Secretary-General of INOC.

According to the New York Times report, Mr. Adityanath, 44, was born Ajay Mohan Bisht, and studied mathematics before joining the priesthood. He rose to prominence as part of the campaign to rebuild the Ram temple, and has repeatedly been charged with fanning religious tensions.

In 2007, he spent 15 days in jail on charges of inciting riots, The Hindustan Times reported. He was booked again later in the year, when riots broke out after he made a speech. He is still facing trial in the two cases, the newspaper reported.

Adityanath was a forceful defender of the Hindu mob who lynched Muhammad Ikhlaq, a Muslim man suspected of slaughtering a cow, and argued that Mr. Ikhlaq’s family should be prosecuted for possessing the meat. When some Indians complained that they should not be required perform a “sun salutation” as part of International Yoga Day celebrations, saying it was a religious act, he recommended that those who were offended should “drown themselves in the sea.”

Adityanath has openly called for India to be enshrined as a “Hindu Rashtra” and supports the rebuilding of the temple in Ayodhya in place of razed 16th-century mosque. During the State Assembly polls, Adityanath was a major campaigner for the party across UP. The Gorakhpur-based politician enjoys a substantial following in Eastern U.P. where he founded Hindu Yuva Vahini whose volunteers are known to use strong-arm tactics during communal riots, cow-protection drives and to prevent ‘love-jihad.’

INOC urges the NRIs in America to strongly express their disapproval of the selection of a Hindutva extremist to be the leader of the most important state in India. ‘Opposing Trumpism in America while remaining silent on the fundamentalist ascendance in India would tantamount to nothing less than duplicity’ the statement added.

Maryland Hindu temple has plans for $20 million expansion with 36’ Hanuman statue

March 23, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

Sri Bhaktha Anjaneya Temple (SBAT) in Ijamsville (Maryland) reportedly has plans for second phase $20 million expansion including another about 51,000 square-foot temple with 36 foot Lord Hanuman statue.

According to reports, designs have been finalized for the second phase, which has already been approved, and funds are being raised for it. The existing about 5,000 square-foot Temple, launched in 2015, cost about $8 million.

Besides worship services and Vedic rituals, SBAT, which opens 365-days a year at 06-30 am; organizes Sanskrit workshops, cultural events, children’s activities, poojas, festivals, summer cultural camps; holds bhajans every second Saturday and concerts every first Saturday of the month; and offers classes in Bharatnatyam, slokas, Ramayanam, Srimad Bhagavatham, Bhagavad-Gita, yoga, etc. It plans to launch some Indian music-dance-languages classes. It also serves as gathering place for the community; besides participating in various community welfare activities, like cooking food for the homeless, donating to area food banks, providing support in disaster relief, etc.

Meanwhile, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, commended efforts of temple leaders and area community towards realizing this Hindu temple and planning a grand expansion.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that it was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society and hoped that this temple would help in this direction. Zed stressed that instead of running after materialism; we should focus on inner search and realization of Self and work towards achieving moksh (liberation), which was the goal of Hinduism.

Mission of SBAT, which is open to all, includes to “Promote Hindu traditions, values, culture and heritage including music, dance, slokas and Sanskrit”. Free-food is available at the temple during its opening hours. It reportedly has ten priests and two shilpis and Bragadeesh Balasubramanian is temple manager.

Suggested donation at SBAT for “Life time pooja for all Deities” is $6,001, “Paaravana Shraadham” pooja is $575 and for “Vehicle Pooja” is $51. Its policies include using dairy products made from the milk of its own cows only, and it strictly discourages “short, revealing, knee-high attire”.

Lord Hanuman is known for incredible strength and was a perfect grammarian. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents. There are about three million Hindus in USA.

Jubilant crowd in USA welcomes Capt. Amarinder Singh’s party’s landslide victory in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Elections

March 16, 2017 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

New York, NY: A large crowd of the Indian National Overseas Congress, USA officials, members and supporters welcomed the long-awaited news of Capt. Amarinder Singh’s party’s landslide victory (77/117) in the state elections in Punjab.

Led by Harbachan Singh, Secretary-General of INOC, USA, loud chants of “Congress Party Zindabad, and Capt. Amarinder Singh Zindabad,” resonated in the hall where a large gathering had assembled. He congratulated the gathering and announced”, “Congress party has scored a phenomenal success. The vibrant Congress spirit is fully focused again. There is no stopping now.” Singh, who congratulated party president Sonia Gandhi and each MLA for his or her victory, was addressing the assembly in the absence of George Abraham, Chairman and Mohinder Singh Gilzian, President of INOC, USA. who were both in Punjab to welcome the election results.

Tejinder Singh Gill, Senior Vice President, Karamjit Singh Dhaliwal, Vice President, and Jasvir Singh Nawanshr, President of Punjab Chapter of INOC, USA greeted the crowd and thanked everyone for their hard work and expressed full confidence in the great leadership of Capt. Amarinder Singh. They believed that the enthusiasm which Capt. Amarinder Singh witnessed in New York during his last visit strengthened his resolve to fight harder for the people. It was acknowledged that Mohinder Singh Gilzian and Tejinder Singh Gill had spent considerable time meeting people in Punjab. Others had kept in touch with their relatives and friends from here.

Harbachan Singh declared that voters are very educated now and know how to stand for their rights and for what is right. The respect for truth and integrity is on the rise as evidenced by the social media stronghold. “Let’s therefore stand up and roll up the sleeves now and respond to the Capt.’s call, “he added. The Capt. wants to hit the ground running and immediately begin work on his progressive agenda and with the help of science and technology, bring hope and relief to people. The Congress Party is over 127 years old and has the most experience of all the political parties in India. “Economic recovery is paramount,” the Capt. laid out, “and it is the will of the people that shall guide his administration in all areas, using state of the art strategies, in the creation of jobs, improving health and education system, eliminating drugs, increasing development, dealing severely with corruption, encouraging industries, modernizing agriculture, transportation and infrastructure, etc.”

Several prominent community leaders took the rostrum and spoke passionately about the dire needs of Punjab which had been neglected for the past 10 years and which, for sure, will be addressed now. Kulbir Singh, Jagir Singh, Piara Singh Bernala, Harminder Singh Panam, Ms.Malani Sshah, Harry Singh, Ms.Jaya Sundram, John Joseph, Baldev Singh, Rajesh Alladad, Ms.Leila Maret, Shangara Singh Rana and Devindra Vora were amongst the many important speakers.

New York launch of centennial commemoration of Indian indentureship

March 16, 2017 Staff ReporterIndia, Uncategorized 0

The 100th anniversary commemoration of the abolition of Indian indentureship was launched at New York by the Indian Diaspora Council, in collaboration with its global affiliates and partners, at the Consulate General of India in New York on March 3rd.

The theme of the event was ”Centennial of Abolition of Indian Indentureship: Challenges, Progress, Achievements and Charting New Frontiers.” It was an over-capacity participatory event with speakers and invited guests focusing on the commemoration of the centennial of abolition of Indian Indentureship; history of Indian Indentureship; perspectives on the end of an era; challenges, progress and achievement; descendants of Indian Indentureship and the PIOs experience, an IDC press release said.

The tristate area of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well as Connecticut and Massachusetts have significant population of PIOs and NRIs who are descendants of Indian Indentured laborers originally from Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname, Jamaica, South Africa and other countries.

March 20, 2017 marks the centennial of the official abolition of Indian Indentureship, an era spanning the years 1834-1917, starting immediately after the formal Emancipation of Slaves in 1834. Indian Indentureship was an intense and harrowing period of Indian migration from several Indian states to far way lands of then British colonies around the world.

The history and consequences of Indian Indentureship are deeply embedded in people belonging to Mauritius, Fiji, Malaysia, South Africa, East Africa, Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname, Jamaica, Belize, Grenada, St. Lucia and other countries of the Caribbean, as well as former French colonies of Reunion Island, Seychelles, Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana.

Commemoration events are held by the IDC and its affiliates in several countries that are impacted by Indian indentureship, including a two-day conference in New Delhi on April 22-23. The New York event precedes the Indian Diaspora World Convention 2017 to be held in Trinidad & Tobago March 17 to 20.

Padma Shri HR Shah honored during IAPC new team inaugural event

March 16, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

The Indian American Press Club (IAPC) held the inauguration of its new Executive Committee on March 4th in New York in the presence of community leaders and officials. H.R. Shah, Chairman and CEO of TV Asia conferred Padma Shri this year, was warmly felicitated at the gala event at Antun’s by Minar.

Professor Indrajit S Saluja, editor-publisher of The Indian Panorama, was sworn in as the new President, taking over from Parveen Chopra, Managing Editor of The South Asian Times and The Asian Era. Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos administered the oath of office to the new IAPC office-bearers including George Eapen (General Secretary) and Biju Chacko (Treasurer).

Ginsmon Zacharia, founder Chairman of IPAC who has interests in print and TV, stepped down after shepherding the organization for three years. The new Chairman Dr. Babu Stephen, who assumed charge as the Chairman of Board of Directors, publishes two community newspapers from the Washington DC area: Express India and India This Week, and is the CEO of DC Healthcare Inc, and president of SM Reality LLC.

H.R. Shah, in his speech, dwelt on his initial struggles in media but said he did not give up. Under him, TV Asia is today the largest TV network for the Indian community in America. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian government for conferring on him one of the highest civilian awards of India. He also thanked Prof. Saluja for IAPC felicitating him.

Comptroller Maragos underscored the role of media in a democracy and lauded Indian American media for doing a great job to promote interests of the community and serving the great American nation in the best fashion. He also revealed his intention to run for Nassau County Executive.

In his keynote address, Jehangir Khattak, Co-Director, Center for Community and Ethnic Media, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, spoke about how he has been fighting for more government dollars for the ethnic media, including desi media. A book, ‘Musings on Medicine, Myth, and History – India’s Legacy’, by Dr. VK Raju and Dr. Leela Raju was launched on the occasion.

IAPC, with six active chapters in the US and Canada, has organized three successful annual international media conferences in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut over the past three years. A highlight of the conference last year was a presidential debate with representatives from Democratic and Republican sides

US Diplomats recognized after visit to Indian markets in Edison, Jersey City

March 16, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

A group of diplomats from Washington who visited Indian market in Edison and Jersey City in New Jersey were recognized at an event held on March 3rd at TV Asia studios in Edison, New Jersey.

The five U.S. diplomats showcased their Hindi speaking proficiency much to the surprise of the audience of prominent community members and professionals. The diplomats studied Hindi at the Foreign Service Institute run by the State Department, prior to their postings in India.

Michael Rosenthal, Political Unit Chief, Office of India Affairs, U.S. Department of State, who led the group, said that he and his colleagues were due for their posting in India in the coming months. “We are learning Hindi and Indian culture at the Foreign Service Institute run by the State Department”, he told the audience. Thousands of U.S. diplomats attend language and culture classes prior to their overseas postings. Rosenthal said that as a part of his language studies he and his four colleagues visited shops and interacted with businessmen in Jersey City and Edison townships.

Addressing the gathering, Nathaniel Farrer, a member of the group, who spoke in Hindi said he and his colleagues enjoyed watching Hindi movies and often debated about the acting talents of Bollywood actors. “We are yet to agree about who among Amir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan is the better actor”, he joked.

The evening also included an outreach event hosted by the Consulate General of India in New York. The event was facilitated by Dr. Manoj Kumar Mohapatra, deputy consul general, who announced that people of Indian origin, who are living in the U.S. on a refugee status, will soon be able to travel to India with a valid travel visa. Mohapatra said the consulate was working on a 24 hours and seven days a week basis in order to provide timely assistance to individual visa seekers, who were in dire and unique situations. He invited applicants to open houses at the consulate so that their issues could be resolved. The consulate holds open houses every first and third Wednesday of every month.

Picture caption: TV Asia Chairman H.R. Shah speaks at an event hosted at the TV Asia studios in Edison, New Jersey, March 3 (Photo: Gunjesh Desai / nayaface.com)

Indian American businesses destroyed in fire in New York

March 16, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, India 0

A fire on Liberty Avenue in South Richmond Hill, New York City, on March 4^th has destroyed at least 7 businesses, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) announced here last week. Among them are several Indian-Americans, who are left homeless and their businesses destroyed. As per reports, a seven-alarm fire that has caused the fires, leaving dozens of people scrambling for alternatives and upset with local elected representatives.

According to community organizations, more than 50 people, young and old, have been displaced and are put up temporarily in hotels. However, they were housed only until March 6, and are now in limbo. Local organizations like Chhaya Community Development Corporation are stepping in to help.

The Indian-American community as well as advocacy groups are demanding Mayor Bill de Blasio and local elected officials step forward to help the scores of people displaced by the devastating seven-alarm fire that destroyed numerous businesses and apartments in south Richmond Hill, March 4.

As per reports, it took FDNY almost four hours to bring it under control with the help of dozens of units from around the city. Luckily, there were no fatalities but several people were injured. Frank Dwyer, spokesperson for FDNY said the station got a call at 10:52 p.m. on March 4 from 110-14 Liberty Ave. Fire trucks arrived at the scene within 3 minutes but it took till 2:40 am next morning to bring the fire under control. The fire started in a two-story building, but it escalated into a 7-alarm fire which took 200 fire fighters from 50 units to put out, Dwyer said.

The affected area is between what locals call “mini-Guyana” and “mini-Punjab.” One of the residents of mini-Punjab who was visiting mini-Guyana told Desi Talk the Wine & Liquor Store as well as Ghazal Beauty Parlor, were owned by Indians.

“The fire extended to 7 buildings which suffered fire damage and an additional 3 building were affected by water,” Dwyer said. Three civilians and two fire fighters suffered non-life threatening injuries. Fire Marshalls are investigating and will update the public on any new developments via their Twitter feed @fdny.

“The city has to do something. Why hasn’t the Mayor showed up? Even the local politicians have no reactions,” Annetta Seecharan, executive director of Chhaya CDC, said. Chhaya deals with housing issues and has already approached small business and other relevant agencies in city government to possibly extended the length of stay for the vulnerable individuals displaced, Seecharan said. “It’s not just the businesses that are affected. It is those living in apartments above the shops, poorer, more vulnerable people.” On March 9, an information session has been scheduled at Tulsi Mandir, 110-24, 111th Street, which organizers hope will update those affected about what the city and elected officials are doing.

New Jersey seniors to hold annual convention in August

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterU.S. 0

The Federation of Indo-American Seniors Associations of North America will hold its annual convention from Aug. 25-27. The announcement was made by President Popat Patel at a FISANA meeting held last month at Gurudev restaurant in Rahway, New Jersey.

In his speech, Poptal Patel promised to bring FISANA to a higher level than where it stands now and announced a bigger and more colorful convention for this year.

The president also introduced Dhiren Parikh, who highlighted future programs and asked all members their inputs to be forwarded to Ratilal Patel or Popat Patel.

Women’s Wing Chair Bina Joshi of the Indo-American Seniors Association of Woodbridge township requested all FISANA members to donate new and used clothes for women and girls for a container she is shipping to Gujarat.

9-year-old Indian American NJ girl battling leukemia needs bone marrow donor

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Anya LeFrancis, an Indian American fourth grade girl from Chester, New Jersey is battling leukemia and looking for a bone marrow donor with similar ancestry: South Asian and European. The little girl’s parents are in search for a donor and asking anyone, regardless of race, to register through DKMS, a bone marrow donation registry. The transplant must take place by May 2017 to save her life.

Out of 25 million registered donors, the bone marrow transplant team at Hackensack University Medical Center did not find one full match, according to an email by her father Robert LeFrancis. Anya’s unique heritage makes it even more difficult to find a perfect match from the donor registries – Anya is part Caucasian/European and part Indian. Only 3 percent of registered donors are of mixed race, and of that 3 percent, finding her mix of heritage in a donor is very challenging, the email said.

“It is unknown at this time if there will be a match at the registry, but we are trying to get as many people to sign up as possible using the link posted on her page,” said Anya’s mother Pratibha LeFrancis, the Patch reported.

The fourth grader is battling leukemia, and doctors believe her best chance at recovery is a bone marrow transplant. She was first diagnosed in kindergarten and went into remission in third grade. During this school year, Anya began complaining of pain again, and on Jan. 11, doctors diagnosed her with relapsed leukemia.

Pramila Jayapal, Joe Cowley introduce resolution asking Trump to end hate rhetoric

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

A resolution introduced by Indian-American member Pramila Jayapal and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley in the U.S. House of Representative on Friday, last week asked the Department of Justice to commit sufficient resources to investigate hate crimes against South Asians and Jews in the country and urged President Donald Trump to “end his inflammatory rhetoric.”

Sixty-seven members of the House have signed the resolution, Jayapal said, addressing a gathering of protesters at Capitol Hill. Crowley and Indian American members Ami Bera and Ro Khanna also spoke at the protest event on Friday, March 10th. Bera and Jayapal were of the opinion that the violence against minority groups in America could not be considered isolated incidents, and there is now a pattern to it. Mr. Khanna, however, has said the South Asian community must remain positive while standing united against hate, given the wide support it gets from other Americans. The Congressman from Silicon Valley pointed out that Google has an Indian-origin CEO and while MasterCard CEO is an Indian-American Sikh.

‘America is our country’

“The victims of recent attacks in Kansas and Washington State were told to go back to their country. I have been told that numerous times. America is our country,” Jayapal said. “I came to this country as a 16-year old student without a penny. I could go on to become a Congressperson and that is the greatness of America,” she said at the event organised by South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a group that works for racial justice and civil rights.

Suman Raghunathan, executive director of SAALT, said a recent study by the group has documented over 200 incidents of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric aimed at South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Arab, and Middle Eastern Americans during the 2016 elections. “Ninety-five percent of incidents motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment. Notably, President Trump was responsible for 21% of the xenophobic political rhetoric we tracked,” she said.

“What we see today is violence against those perceived to be foreign and a slew of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies coming out of the White House. That toxic mix is causing a palpable level of fear in the Indian-American and broader South Asian community. I’m committed to doing anything within my power to stop these acts of violence,” said Crowley.

“The resolution is an act of resistance to Donald Trump’s hateful vilification and ‘otherising’ of immigrants and communities of colour. Acts of violence rooted in racism have spiked since his campaign,” Jayapal said. “Attacking someone based on where they come from or what they look like insults the very core of everything that we stand for as a nation of immigrants. As a nation, we must stand up to these hateful attacks, which means doubling down on our commitments to safety, equality, and the American values of liberty and justice for all,” Mr. Bera said.

Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is away from Washington, told reporters on a teleconference that he was working with lawmakers to press Trump administration to take urgent action against hate crimes. “All Indian-American members of Congress are from the minority Democratic minority. We are trying to work with Republican members of Congress to use the legislative branch’s oversight powers over Justice and Homeland Security departments to effect more active response to the situation,” he said.

Man tries to set fire on store of Indian American in Florida

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, India 0

In an another incident of hate crime in the US, a 64-year-old man has been arrested after he had attempted to burn down a convenience store owned by Indian Americans in Florida as he mistakenly thought it was owned by Muslims.

Richard Lloyd, who wanted to “run the Arabs out of our country,” pushed a dumpster in front of the Port St. Lucie store and set the contents on fire on March 10. As per reports, the store was not open at the time of the incident and firefighters quickly extinguished the fire without it causing any property damage.

“It’s unfortunate that Mr. Lloyd made the assumption that the store owners were Arabic when, in fact, they are of Indian descent,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said. Mascara said Lloyd’s mental health will be evaluated and the state attorney’s office will decide if this was a hate crime.

Lloyd told investigators he tried to buy a bottle of juice at the store a few days ago but was told they did not have any. He was also upset because he assumed the store employee was Muslim, CNN affiliate WPEC reported.

He said he was angry with what followers of Islam “are doing in the Middle East” and thought the store owners were Muslims. Lloyd was charged with first-degree arson and remained at the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of a $30,000 bond as of Mar. 11, the news channel reported.

He told investigators he “was doing my part for America,” and planned to burn the entire building. According to WPTV, deputies said that Lloyd told them his plan was to get a big enough fire in the dumpster to catch the building on fire, and once it was burning he thought the alcohol from the beer and wine inside would burn it to the ground.

Hate crimes against Muslims increased by over 65 percent in 2015, according to FBI statistics. Some religious leaders attribute the crime spike to the rise of President Donald Trump, who critics say fueled Islamophobia and racism as a candidate.

Barack Obama really wants you to read this letter from an Indian-American woman

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterIndia, Profiles 0

When former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle got back recently from a much needed vacation, awaiting them was a letter by an American of Indian origin which the couple now wants everyone to read because they found it exceptionally inspiring.

The letter is from a woman called Sindhu and its subject line reads “I’m in.” Sindhu starts the letter by recalling a day in 1996 and how it changed her life. At the time, Sindhu was a freshman at the University of Chicago.

“One day in Fall 1996, an idealistic 17-year old Indian girl was inspired while sitting in a chapel. She didn’t remember the name of the woman who spoke. But she will never forget the fire that was lit to make something of her life, and to use that life to serve others,” Sindhu says.

That woman was Michelle Obama, a year before her husband entered active politics. vacation+ , we found this note from a woman named Sindhu waiting for us… I’m inspired by Sindhu’s story –so I thought I’d share it with you today…Read to the end (you won’t regret it),” writes Obama who shared the entire letter on Medium.com on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

So moved was Sindhu by the “inspirational powerhouse” that Michelle Obama was, or is, it led her to public and social work that very week. Sindhu signed up to be a volunteer at a hospital and also joined an after-school program teaching creative writing and literature to underserved children in the community.

Sindhu is now 38 and as she puts it, she’s “a bit older in body, sometimes a bit jaded, but much younger in spirit.” In the letter, Sindhu thanks the Obamas “for teaching by both words and example that the best uses of power and influence are in the service of others and our community. “I want a different world. I need a different world. So when you get back from your vacation, I wanted to let you know. I’m in,” Sindhu concludes.

Sikh man’s shooting in Washington investigated as hate crime

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterU.S. 0

It was yet another incident, where the shooter shouted: “Go back to your country,” at a Sikh man, Deep Rai, and shooting and injuring him on Friday, March 10^th in a suburb of Seattle, WA. According to news reports, the gunman – who is still at large – told him to “go back to your own country.” Local authorities have confirmed that the shooting is being investigated as a potential hate crime.

Working with local Sikh community members in Washington, the Sikh Coalition has helped facilitate widespread local and national media coverage and worked with local, state and federal officials, urging them to: conduct a thorough hate crime investigation; improve laws and regulations relating to bias prevention; organize Know Your Rights forums to build resilience in targeted communities; partner with Sikh Americans to expand Sikh awareness and appreciation; and, the Sikh Coalition has urged the Sikhs around the world to practice their faith fearlessly.

Meanwhile, thousands Have Joined the #LoveMyNeighbor Campaign. The U.S. government’s orders on immigration continue to fan the flames of xenophobic backlash. In addition to backlash against Sikhs, threats and violence have targeted Muslim and Jewish communities. It is for this reason that the Sikh Coalition has partnered with Auburn Seminary to launch an interfaith letter-writing campaign to show our solidarity with both communities. This initiative emphasizes to our American Muslim and Jewish classmates, neighbors and colleagues that we are strongest as a nation when we stand together. #LoveMyNeighbor.

Vigil on Capitol Hill honors victims of hate violence

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

On March 10, 2017, the Sikh Coalition joined allied civil rights organizations on Capitol Hill to honor victims of hate violence. Earlier in the day, Interim Program Director, Rajdeep Singh, asked Congressional staffers to push for the creation of a federal hate crime task force. The Sikh Coalition made this request of the White House in an op-ed on CNN in response to a spate of hate crimes targeting Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, and Jewish American communities nationwide.

Dozens of people held a candlelight vigil in southern India March 9 to mark the birthday of an Indian American engineer shot dead last month in Kansas in an attack the FBI is investigating as a possible hate crime.

In addition to marking Srinivas Kuchibhotla’s 33rd birthday, the people in technology hub Hyderabad also protested what they say is a rising wave of hate crimes in America.

According to witnesses, the gunman yelled “Get out of my country” at Kuchibhotla and his colleague Alok Madasani before opening fire at a bar in Olathe, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. Madasani and another bar patron were wounded. Adam Purinton of Olathe was arrested at another bar after telling a bartender he shot two people he described as Iranian. He remains jailed on murder and attempted murder charges.

The participants in Hyderabad included the family of Kuchibhotla. The marchers held candles as well as posters decrying attacks on Indians in the United States in recent days. The placards had slogans such as “Wake up India” and “Stop Racism, Stop Hate Crime.”

Last week a Sikh man, Deep Rai, was shot at by an unidentified man as he worked on his car in Kent, Wash., a suburb of Seattle. Another Indian, Harnish Patel, was killed in South Carolina 10 days ago, but the killing was not identified as a hate crime.

“This gathering is a reflection of the growing concern and disquiet among Indians over the safety and security of their people in the United States,” M. Rajkumar, who heads an organization of parents who have children living and working outside India, said in an Associated Press report.

Rajkumar said he blames U.S. President Donald Trump’s speeches for the increasing attacks against Indians in America. India raised the issue of the killing of Kuchibhotla in “very strong terms,” a top official said March 9, adding that the security of Indians and persons of Indian origin is a matter of serious concern for the Indian government, according to an IANS report.

On a day the issue featured in a major way in Parliament and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the Lok Sabha that the government is taking the issue very seriously, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in a briefing that Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar was conveyed by U.S. officials during his talks in Washington that the Feb. 22 attack on Kuchibhotla and Madasani was an “individual case,” IANS reported.

Baglay said that the Indian Consulate reached out to the families of Kuchibhotla and Madasani, as well as Rai. “You would have also seen the response of the U.S. authorities, beginning with President Trump who referred to the Kansas incident in his address to the Congress. The U.S. Embassy had put out a press release condemning the Kansas killing. Speaker of the House has also condemned it,” said the spokesperson, according to the IANS report.

“This point has also been highlighted by various prominent U.S. dignitaries that such crimes do not represent the views of the vast majority in that country. In fact, several senior U.S. dignitaries have explicitly mentioned in the recent days that Indians are welcome in the United States,” he added.

“Given the high priority the government attaches to the security and wellbeing of Indians and persons of Indian origin abroad, we will continue to remain strongly engaged with the concerned authorities wherever required.”

He also said that the government of Kansas has offered to provide support to the family of Kuchibhotla and has welcomed Indians to the state. Referring to the letter of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, Baglay said, “There is a sense of regret at the unfortunate shooting, commitment to prosecute the matter, support to the family of the deceased, and recognition of the qualities and contribution of Srinivas to Kansas.” Brownback March 8 wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing regret over the violence against Indians.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh March 9 asserted that the center has taken very serious note of the hate crimes against Indians in the U.S. and said the Modi government will come out with a statement on the issue.

“Want to assure the house that the government has taken up incidents against Indians in the U.S. very seriously and the government will give a statement on it next week,” Rajnath Singh said in Lok Sabha after resumption of the budget session of Parliament, IANS reported.

Protest marches have been held in India too. On March 9, the All India Students’ Association held a protest march against hate crimes against Indians in the U.S. and demanded strict action from the government. Members of the left wing student organization marched from Teen Murti to the U.S. Embassy to protest rising cases of racist attacks against Indians in the U.S., IANS reported.

The association demanded the government should hold Trump “accountable for propagating hate against racial minorities.” They asked for a tough diplomatic stand by Modi against increasing cases of hate crimes in the U.S.

The protesters raised slogans such as “America ki dalali nahi chalegi,” “Trump ki dalali nahi chalegi,” which translates to “The American and Trump interference will not be tolerated.”

“We will try to make this a civil society protest later. We are raising an initial voice against the deaths of the Indian Americans in the U.S. Not only Indian Americans, there have also been attacks on racial and religious minorities,” AISA’s national president Sucheta De told IANS.

“The racist attackers see minorities and shout, ‘This is not your country, go back to your country.’ Very interestingly, the Ministry of External Affairs and the prime minister are silent because their own party tells religious minorities here to go (back) to their countries,” she said. “We are here to say that hate makes no country great and that there is a need to be proactive to end hate crimes in the U.S.,” she added

USCIS wants legal aliens to carry documents, or else be fined, jailed

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterU.S. 0

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has ruled that Green Card holders and visa holders, like those on H-1B, L-1, J or F-1, H4 visa, and even those having an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) must carry legal documents papers when traveling in and out of the country and at all times within the United States, or face the risk of being fined or imprisoned, or even both.

With a large-scale immigration crackdown on undocumented foreigners imminent after President Donald Trump’s new executive orders, it’s important for all documented residents in the US to keep proof of their legal status in the country.

And for those in the pipeline for a Green Card, a misdemeanor charge could have terrible repercussions when it comes to being adjudicated for legal permanent resident status. The same applies for Green Card holders who wish to become US citizen.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services rule states: ‘Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d). Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.’

Another sub-section of the rule says: ‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Attorney General is authorized to require any alien to provide the alien’s social security account number for purposes of inclusion in any record of the alien maintained by the Attorney General or the Service.’

USCIS suspends Premium Processing for All H-1B Petitions

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterU.S. 0

Starting April 3, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B petitions, a statement issued by the USCIS stated. This suspension may last up to 6 months. While H-1B premium processing is suspended, petitioners will not be able to file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service for a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker which requests the H-1B nonimmigrant classification. We will notify the public before resuming premium processing for H-1B petitions.

The premium processing service allows an applicant or his potential employer to pay $1,225 to receive a response to his petition within 15 days. If USCIS has not responded within 15 days, the fee is refunded, though the application still receives expedited processing, according to a bulletin issued by the agency March 3. H-1B visas are used by U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers, most often from India, in specialty occupations.

“This temporary suspension will help us to reduce overall H-1B processing times. By temporarily suspending premium processing, we will be able to process long-pending petitions, which we have currently been unable to process due to the high volume of incoming petitions and the significant surge in premium processing requests over the past few years; and prioritize adjudication of H-1B extension of status cases that are nearing the 240 day mark,” said the agency in a bulletin.

USCIS has said the temporary suspension of premium processing could last as long as six months. The agency has said it will reject any form I-907 – request for premium processing – filed with an H-1B petition. If a check is issued to cover both applications, USCIS noted it will have to reject the H-1B application as well.

“Since FY18 cap-subject H-1B petitions cannot be filed before April 3, this suspension will apply to all petitions filed for the FY18 H-1B regular cap and master’s advanced degree cap exemption (the ‘master’s cap’),” noted USCIS, adding that the suspension also applies to petitions that may be cap-exempt.

H-1B petitioners can still expedite their applications if they meet one of the following criteria: a severe financial loss to company or person; an emergency situation; humanitarian reasons; a non-profit organization whose work benefits the cultural and social interests of the U.S., certain Defense Department situations; or USCIS errors. Such requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The temporary suspension does not apply to other non-immigrant classifications.

Devinder Malhotra Named Interim Chancellor of Minnesota State

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterEducation 0

The board of trustees of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Feb. 9 announced that Indian American educator Devinder Malhotra was unanimously voted to serve as the interim chancellor at Minnesota State. Malhotra was chosen on an interim basis following an extensive search that didn’t yield a person to hold the post on a permanent basis, the board said in a news release. He will serve in his capacity until a permanent chancellor is named.

“I am very pleased that Devinder Malhotra has agreed to serve in this critical role,” said Michael Vekich, chair of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees. “Dr. Malhotra is a gifted leader with the experience, the understanding of our system, and the collaborative skills required to lead the system while the search continues. In his previous service to Minnesota State as an interim president of Metropolitan State University, he demonstrated his ability to keep us moving forward. Dr. Malhotra will ensure our ability to serve students and communities across Minnesota so we can meet the state’s need for talent. I thank him for his willingness to serve.”

Malhotra has previously served as an interim president of Metropolitan State University from 2014 until his retirement in 2016, demonstrating the ability to keep MSCU moving forward, Vekich noted.

“Dr. Malhotra will ensure our ability to serve students and communities across Minnesota so we can meet the state’s need for talent. I thank him for his willingness to serve,” the board chair added. “I appreciate the confidence that chair Vekich and the board of trustees has placed in me,” said Malhotra in a statement. “And I look forward to once again serving the students of Minnesota State as we continue our critical work.”

In additional to Metropolitan State, Malhotra served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at St. Cloud State University from 2009 to 2014.

He has also been dean of the University of Southern Maine’s College of Arts and Sciences from 2005 to 2009 and the University of Akron Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences associate dean before that. A tenured professor of economics for more than three decades, he has served on the faculty of the University of Southern Maine and the University of Akron. Malhotra holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s from the University of Delhi, and a doctorate from Kansas State University.

Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy given Thomas Jefferson Medal in Global Innovation

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

Entrepreneur and founder of Infosys N.R. Narayana Murthy has been chosen by The University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello to receive 2017 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals in Architecture, Law, Citizen Leadership and Global Innovation, who included Murthy – the recipient of the Global Innovation medal – founded Infosys in 1981 and grew the Bangalore-based global software consulting company into an IT powerhouse through the design and implementation of its global delivery model for outsourcing services, the foundation said in a news release.

At Infosys, which was listed on NASDAQ in 1999, Murthy served as the chief executive officer from 1981 until 2002, as chair and chief mentor from 1981 to 2011, and as chair emeritus from August 2011 to May 2013.

“In the early ’80s, as a computer engineer, Murthy seized what he saw as great potential in software services and built a company and ultimately an industry that has pioneered major changes in India’s business culture – creating jobs, raising business standards and launching a foundation to help the underprivileged,” said Scott C. Beardsley, dean of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, in a statement. “His innovations and leadership in the creation of a global software and services industry have created true value for humanity.”

In addition to Infosys, the entrepreneur serves on several boards, including at the Ford Foundation, United Nations Foundation and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., as well as a member of the University of Tokyo’s Global Advisory Board.

Previously he served as a member of the HSBC board and the Unilever board, as well as the boards of Cornell University, Wharton School, Rhodes Trust and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He has also chaired the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

Among his accolades, Murthy was considered one of the “12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time” by Fortune magazine in 2012, among the most admired global business leaders by the Economist in 2005, one of the 25 best global business leaders by CNBC in 2014, and among the Financial Times’ list of business pioneers in technology in 2015. He was also the first Indian winner of Ernst and Young’s World Entrepreneur of the Year award, among many other honors.

Other medal recipients included Loretta Lynch, the first African American female attorney general in U.S. history; Alice Waters, founder of the Edible Schoolyard Project; and Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, founders and directors of Grafton Architects.

The awards, which are presented jointly by the university, which Jefferson founded in Charlottesville in 1819, and by the foundation, the independent, nonprofit organization that owns and operates his Monticello home, will be presented April 13, which is Jefferson’s birthday and also known locally as Founder’s Day.

Centenary Celebration of Osmania University in Chicago -An Invitation to Participate

March 15, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

“Glory of Hyderabad”, is organizing “Centenary Celebration of Osmania University”, Hyderabad, India on May 14th, 2017– Sunday, 03:00 pm to 10:00 pm, at Shalimar Banquets, 280 W. North Ave, Addison, IL 60101. Prof S. Ramachandram, Vice Chancellor, Osmania University will be the Chief Guest. Her Excellency Ms. Neeta Bhushan, Consul General of India, Chicago will preside. Mr. Hardik Bhatt, CIO, office of the Governor, IL will be Guest of Honor.

Glory of Hyderabad will also present Osmania University & Siasat Calligraphy Exhibition during the celebration at 3.00 pm and authentic Hyderabadi Dinner and Musical Extravaganza. Osmania University, with 300,000 students and 5000 Staff members, is the seventh oldest in India and the third oldest in South India. It is a multi-faculty and multidisciplinary university, offering rich and varied courses in the faculties of Arts, Sciences, Social Sciences, Law, Education, Engineering, Technology, Commerce, Management, Informatics, Pharmacy, and Oriental Languages.

In the recent past, Glory of Hyderabad hosted Mr. Mohammed Mahmood Ali, Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, Mr. A.K. Khan, Advisor to Government of Telangana for Minorities, Padmashri Mohammad Ali Baig, Founder Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation and Mr. Zahid Ali Khan, Editor Siasat Daily, among many notable Hyderabadis. In addition, Glory of Hyderabad hosted a number of Mayors, Diplomats, Congressmen, etc.

All Osmania’s living in the US and Canada are requested to attend this historic event, along with their families and friends, in large numbers. They are advised to reserve their seats or table at the earliest as the seats are limited. For further details :

Annual New England Gala 2017

March 11, 2017 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

On March 18th, Jaaved Jaaferi from Bollywood will be in Boston for the AIF New England gala at the Copley Marriott. Two surprises wait that night. Jaaved Jaaferi or “JJ” as he is known among friends, is a multifaceted creative and production talent, known for donning various hats with flamboyance: actor, producer, dancer, singer, choreographer, VJ, MC, ad filmmaker among others.

Carrying on the lineage of India’s most popular and legendary actor/comedian, Jagdeep, Jaaved burst on the Indian cinema screens in 1985. The film titled “Meri Jung” had him in a negative role which turned iconic overnight. His dance performance in the song ‘Bol Baby Bol Rock & Roll’ incorporated a path breaking style showcasing his dancing excellence. Jaaved has also been a noted singer and voice artist with a signature baritone that a generation of Indians grew up on.

He has been a part of the choreography for most of his dance performances on film and stage. Along with his regular assignments that continue, Jaaved has recently produced and acted in a Hindi feature film titled ‘BMW- Bombay’s Most Wanted’ which is in post production.

He is also a founder member and patron of IDF (Indian Documentary Foundation), committed to producing and supporting path breaking documentaries and documentary makers in India. Under his patronage IDF has organized TRIGGER PITCH during INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF KERALA (2011 & 2012)

His latest venture is a principal role in MONSOON WEDDING a musical theatre production, directed by Mira Nair and Composed by Vishal Bharadwaj, to be performed in Berkeley CA from 5th May to 7th July. Register early http://aif.org/event/negala2017/ to watch the night come alive!

Ekta Desai racially abused in NJ PATH Train

March 11, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

Hate crimes against Indian-Americans seem to be on the rise. Barely a week after Srivinas Kuchibhotla was shot in a bar in Olathe, Kansas, another Indian-American has reported a hate crime incident in a crowded New York City train.

An Indian-origin girl was racially abused by a stranger in a New York train while she was on way to work. A video of the incident is now going viral on social media. Ekta Desai, a physiotherapist in New York, posted a video on her Facebook profile that shows a man hurling racial slurs at her and another Asian woman on a train.

“So this is something that happened while I was on my way from work today!! This man was on the same PATH train as me along with 100 other passengers, I had my headphones on and was like any other day. Next thing I know he is yelling on my face (Did not bother to listen/react). Knowing it’s pointless I step away, next target alongside an Asian lady!” Desai wrote.

The video as well as Desai’s Facebook page have since been removed after the video went viral. In the video, an unidentified man hurled racial slurs at both Desai and another Asian woman. Desai, who works as a physiotherapist in New York, shared a video of her traveling on the New York subway on her way to work.

“Asian piece of s*** to I will F*** you all right here to get your F***ing ^$$es back to your country etc etc etc” (putting it in the best words here) he went on relentlessly!” Desai said in the Facebook post.

Following the racially-charged, expletive-filled tirade, Desai threatened to inform police of his actions, to which the man continually yelled at the Indian American to stop shooting the video of him and explaining how he didn’t touch anybody. “I just expressed what I feel. Freedom of speech,” the man was heard saying in the video. Not sure the cops found him or even took any action, though they showed up 15 mins after all this drama and he walked away with his friends!” Desai said in her Feb. 22 post.

The video was posted on Facebook Feb. 22 and within six days it got more than 49,000 views. It is being widely discussed after Indian American engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was shot dead in Kansas last week which is being probed as a hate crime.

Ekta Desai,a physiotherapist in New York, shared a video of her traveling on the New York train when she was abused by an African American man. The video which shows the man asking her to go back to her country and yelling at her. Desai says she contacted the metro authorities and the police, but the police were not able to find or take any action against him.

Indian immigrant sentenced to 9 years for multimillion-dollar identity-theft scheme

March 11, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

Amit Chaudhry said it was family loyalty that brought him in an international identity theft scheme so vast it ensnared a television actress. “I never really dreamt of being a felon,” the 44-year-old from Ashburn, Virginia, said in Alexandria federal court on Thursday before being sentenced to nine years in prison. “This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.” On Sept. 21 he pleaded guilty to identity theft and money laundering. He faced up to 20 years in prison.

A native of India, Chaudhry helped relatives overseas operate a multimillion-dollar scam that involved laundering money from stolen credit cards and identities through shell bank accounts. He was part of a related scheme advertising cheap travel packages. Customers’ money would be stolen, and their hotel and airfare would be paid for with stolen credit cards. Many of the more than 1,000 victims found parts of their trips canceled after the fraudulent charges were discovered.

The group made over $25 million off fake credit cards, helped by a co-conspirator working at American Express in India. When their charges were challenged, they would use images of fake passports to back them up.

The scheme was uncovered in part because an FBI agent recognized actress Laura Vandervoort in one of those passports. The image was taken from a scene from the television show “V” involving visas, authorities said. Vandervoort, a Canadian, also played Supergirl on the TV series “Smallville” and last year appeared as the character Indigo on the “Supergirl” series.;

The image, authorities said, helped make clear some of the group’s online behavior. Chaudhry’s attorneys said he was acting at the behest of relatives in India. “This was all done out of family loyalty,” defense attorney Danny Onorato said.

GOPIO-CT officials at Columbia University lecture by India’s Niti Ayog

March 11, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

GOPIO-CT officials were invited by Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) to a lecture by India’s Niti Ayog Vice Chairman Prof. Arvind Panagariya on February 6th at the Italian Academy at Columbia University. GOPIO-CT President Anita Bhat, Immediate Past President Shelly Nichani, Treasurer Biru Sharma and Trustees, Dr. Thomas Abraham and Sanjay Santham interacted with Prof. Panagariya before and after the talk. Prof. Panagariya, holder of Jagadish Bhagvati Chair at Columbia University, is currently on leave of absence from Columbia since he took up the position in India. GOPIO-CT had hosted Prof. Panagariya earlier in 2008 after his book “The Indian Emerging Giant” was published.

Beena Kothari to lead GOPIO-NY new team

March 11, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

GOPIO International called up a meeting of GOPIO-New York, which has not been a good standing chapter for the last couple of years, even though GOPIO-New York has been the first GOPIO Chapter. As per GOPIO-Executive Council discussion, GOPIO Vice President in charge of chapters Mr. Ram Gadhavi called a meeting of the GOPIO-New York members as well as others who want to become chapter members. It was held at the Indian American Kerala Center, Elmont, NY. The meeting was chaired by GOPIO International Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham. Founder President, GOPIO-New York Chapter, Mr. Lal Motwani briefly shared with the attendees, some of GOPIO-New York Chapter’s accomplishments since its inception in 2003.

Dr. Abraham mentioned the most active GOPIO-Chapter, Connecticut’s “exemplary” accomplishments over the years; this chapter’s focus being civic and community-oriented events and activities. After discussing how to make the chapter active again the following officers were elected with a floor nominations.

President: Mrs. Beena Kothari, Executive Vice President: Mr. Inderjit Singh, Vice President: Mr. Mihir Patel, Secretary: Dr. Rohini B. Ramanathan, Joint Secretary: Ms. Meenakshi Varadnani, Treasurer: Mr. John Paul. Board of Directors: Dr. Yusuf Syed; Mr. Shiva Bhashyam; Mr. Amar Malla; Lal Motwani was endorsed as Honorary Chair of the GOPIO-New York Chapter will Dr. Abraham will serve as an Advisor. According to reports, GOPIO-New York plans to undertake several activities in 2017.

GOPIO-New York Team for 2017-’18 with GOPIO Intl and Kerala Center officials. Sitting from l. to r.: GOPIO Intl Assistant Secretary Jaswant Modi, Dr. Rohini Ramanathan, GOPIO Intl Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham, Beena Kothari, GOPIO Intl. New York Coordinator Lal Motwani, Standing from l. to r. Shiva Bhashyan, Kerala Center Exec. Director E.M. Stephen, Kerala Center President Thambi Thalappillil, John Paul, Amar Malla and Dr. Yusuf Syed

Indian-American to build 8 cricket stadiums in US

March 11, 2017 Staff ReporterSports 0

An Indian-American cricket enthusiast has announced plans to build as many as eight cricket stadiums across the US at an estimated cost of $2.4 billion to professionalize the game in the country.

The eight proposed stadiums, each having a capacity of 26,000 people in New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Illinois and California, would create as many as 17,800 new jobs in the US, said Jignesh (Jay) Pandya, chairman of Global Sports Ventures.

Gujarat-born Pandya is a real estate developer in the US and had been travelling across the globe with his two sons to watch popular international cricket matches.

Pandya, chairman Global Sports Ventures, feels he can professionalize cricket in the United States by creating a league that allows athletes to compete at the highest level and allow fans to enjoy the game at these world-class facilities.

These cricket stadiums, Pandya said, would be a part of “lifestyle centers” comprising high-rise residential complexes, shopping centers, entertainment centers and office complexes.

Pandya feels that Americans, are the biggest sports lovers in the world and sports economy in the US is around $87 billion. This leads him to be confident that there is “a great market and a readymade audience for cricket in the US”.

He hopes that this plan will fructify when the International Cricket Council (ICC) hosts any tournaments in line with its strategic framework for USA cricket, potentially hosting the ICC World Twenty20 in 2024.

New Leadership team takes charge at Maheshwari Mahasabha of North America (MMNA)

March 11, 2017 Staff ReporterU.S. 0

Vikas Bhutada (from Michigan) has been unanimously elected as the New President of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of MMNA (Maheshwari Mahasabha of North America) for the four year (2017- 2020) term. A newly elected 9 member team of NEC represents different regional chapters of MMNA in USA and Canada. The leadership team at MMNA is elected by the life members of MMNA as per the election guidelines and the bylaws. Shyam Maheshwari (from Michigan) has been elected as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of MMNA for a 2 year term. A 10 member team of BoT manages the bylaws and provides overall governance.

Highlighting the “Vision 2020” for MMNA, Vikas has defined a roadmap for the next 4 years for MMNA. He has reiterated MMNA’s commitment to its ongoing initiatives for Women Empowerment (SAKHI), Youth ( RAYS), Matrimonial matchmaking and Education Support to needy students in the community. In addition, MMNA would also start new efforts to support its Senior Citizens in the community; promote business – entrepreneurship in the community; and launch the MMNA digital initiative to enable enhanced fellowship amongst its members and efficient implementation of its planned initiatives. Importantly, as per the new vision, MMNA will also significantly enhance its outreach and philanthropic activities in the local communities where its regional chapters are located in North America.

MMNA also organizes its flagship biannual International Maheshwari Rajasthani Convention (IMRC) in North America, that is widely attended by its members and the international community. The next IMRC is expected to take place in the second half of 2018.

MMNA NEC Team members include Jitendra Muchhal, Mukul Rathi, Lata Maheshwari , Abhilasha Rathi,Ashish Daga,Vijayshri Choudhary,Baldev Bhojwani,Rajesh Rathi & Arun Mundra. MMNA BoT Team members include Sushma Pallod, Suresh Deopura, Giridhar Heda, Rajesh Kabra, Vinod Maheshwari, Ghanshyam Heda, Dev Maheshwari, Ghanshyam Birla and PJRathi. For more information about MMNA and its activities, please visit www.mmna.org

Extravaganza to raise funds for people with disabilities

March 11, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Enable, Inc., a New Jersey-based non-profit providing services, resources and support for adults and children with disabilities and seniors, will host a fundraiser featuring Indian music and dance. To be held on March 11 at West Windsor Plainsboro High School South Theater at 4:30 p.m., Winter Manmohini 2017 will include performances by the Satrangi School of Fusion, the Indian Cultural Society of East Brunswick, Sparsh Shah; and Sumukh Bhatia.

“Winter Manmohini 2017 raises funds for Enable’s critical services for seniors and people with disabilities,” a press release quoted Sharon Copeland, Enable’s chief executive officer as saying. “The community comes together to enjoy dance, theater and singing, and self-expression. It is a fun, inspirational event.”

This South Asian entertainment extravaganza supports independent living for children and adults with disabilities and seniors. Open seating tickets cost $20 for adults; $15 for children and students. VIP reserved seats cost $50 (tickets at the door are $25/$20/$50). Doors open at 4 pm at West Windsor Plainsboro High School South Theater; performances start at 4:30 pm.

“The community comes together at Winter Manmohini 2017 to enjoy dance, theater, singing, and self-expression — while raising critical funds that make it possible for people with disabilities and seniors to live independently in the community,” said Sharon Copeland, MSW, LSW, Enable’s Chief Executive Officer. “You won’t want to miss this fun, inspirational event! Or, if you can’t attend, donate a ticket so a child or adult with a disability can attend in your place.”

Led by Rohheet Baxi, Satrangi School of Fusion highlights the event with over 300 dancers and thousands of costumes. Baxi, who lost a leg to cancer as a child, founded the non-profit Dance with Wings which provides free dance lessons to children and families living with autism, Down syndrome and developmental challenges. Dance with Wings students are included in Winter Manmohini 2017.

The Indian Cultural Society of East Brunswick Theater Group will perform “Romance in the Garden: Bhagavad-Ajjuka”. The witty one-act play was adapted from a 7th century Sanskrit farce by director Dr. Farley Richmond, Professor and Director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Georgia/Athens. Barkha Kishnani is assistant director.

Singer and child prodigy Sparsh Shah will also perform. The 13-year-old uses a wheelchair because he was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, an incurable disease that makes his bones extremely brittle.

Gourmet Indian food will be provided by renowned Princeton restaurant Mehek (at an additional cost). Sponsors include: Stark & Stark Attorneys at Law; Saint Peter’s Healthcare System; Provident Bank; Santander; New York Life; NJM Insurance Group; House of Spices (India), Inc.; and Indus American Bank. Winter Manmohini 2017 Co-chairs are Shashi Airi and Gulshan Chhabra. Committee members are Sharon Copeland; Frank DiSanzo; Kadambary Joshi; Vidya Kallur; Diana Kennedy; Barkha Kishnani; Anu Mehta; Abishek Mishra; Cynthia Perri-Rock; Kendall Popowski; Toni Ricigliano; Domenic Sanginiti; Vashvi Shah; Christina Teel; Anthony W. Simmons; John Trench; Frances Chaves.

Nearly one in ten live with a severe disability. Established as a non-profit in 1989, Enable, Inc. serves over 500 New Jersey individuals with disabilities, seniors, and their families. Through in home, residential and day services, Enable helps sustain healthy, independent lives in an environment that provides dignity, respect, and personal fulfillment. For more information, go to http://www.enablenj.org.

For more information, sponsorship, advertising and tickets, go to: http://www.enablenj.org/events or contact Frances Chaves at 609-987-5003 x 138 or email fchaves(at)enablenj(dot)org.

Jaishankar in DC to plan for Modi-Trump Summit

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

With the Trump administration’s state department in disarray amid reports of being downgraded and downsized, India’s foreign secretary S. Jaishankar was at the White House to meet with National Security Council Advisor H.R.McMaster on March 1st to seek a continuation of ever-improving ties with Washington.

According to reports, India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar met Donald Trump’s new National Security Advisor, ahead of the possible Summit between India’s premier Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump. Among other things, safety of Indian immigrants and working professionals in the US was discussed in the meeting. The first personal engagement between Trump and PM Modi is expected to take place in May this year.

“Overall, our sense was that the (US) administration has a very positive view of the relationship and a very positive view of India,” foreign secretary S Jaishankar, who led the Indian delegation, told reporters on Friday after the talks.

“It is natural that any new administration that comes in, takes stock of the progress made, sets new targets and bigger ambitions,” he said. And fixing them is the task that lies ahead for the two sides.

On H-1B, the team, which included Indian commerce secretary Rita Teaotia, told Americans the temporary visa scheme, which is in the crosshairs of several Trump officials including the president himself, will “actually help the American economy to be more competitive”, especially as, and when, the administration brings American companies home. Did it carry? They were met with “a degree of understanding”, Jaishankar said.

The Trump administration urged the Indian delegation in these meetings, and at the highest level in the cabinet, to treat the killing of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian aviation engineer, in a case of hate-crime in Olathe, Kansas, last week as an “act by an individual” and that the “American justice system was at work” and the arrested perpetrator would be brought to justice.

The high-ranking Indian official, considered one of the architects of burgeoning US-India ties, met with Trump’s new National Security Advisor H.R.McMaster even as the new dispensation in Washington is struggling to find its feet. Among his remits is laying the groundwork for the first personal engagement between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi that could take place as early as May by way of a visit, ahead of a possible meeting already on the diplomatic calendar on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg on July 7-8.

Ironing out matters relating to movement of professionals, visa issues, trade barriers, and a defense cooperation agenda, including on the manufacturing front that has already been agreed to by the previous dispensation, are part of the discussions with the new players in Washington, with some familiar faces providing an element of continuity. Jaishankar also met House Speaker Paul Ryan in the familiar Indian outreach that goes beyond the executive to the Congress, where there is bipartisan support for strong ties with India.

The safety of Indian immigrants and working professionals in the U.S following the killing of an engineer from Hyderabad in an apparent hate crime in Kansas featured high in the list of Jaishankar’s talking points going by the statement from Ryan on the meeting, absent a readout from the Indian side. Expressing condolences over the ”senseless murder” of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, Ryan said ”our peoples must stand together,” while calling for building on what he described as a ”critical partnership… by discussing ways to enhance our economic and defense cooperation.”

India, just as many countries across the world, is having to deal with the new reality of a powerful White House and an emasculated State Department, and to that extent, Jaishankar’s experience in Washington, where he was the ambassador before being recalled to New Delhi to become foreign secretary, is seen as an advantage.

Speaker Ryan meets Jaishankar, condoles ‘senseless murder’ of techie

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

After President Donald Trump condemned the killing, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan has offered the condolences of the House for the “senseless” murder of Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla, during his meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar here.

Ryan, in a statement, also said that the two sides discussed ways to enhance the bilateral economic and defense cooperation. The Indian Foreign Secretary arrived here on Feb. 28 on a four-day visit to hold talks with top officials of the Trump Administration.

“The relationship between the U.S. and India is rooted in shared values of democracy and freedom,” Ryan said in a statement after his meeting with Jaishankar. “We had a great opportunity today to build on this critical partnership by discussing ways to enhance our economic and defense cooperation,” he stated.

“In our meeting, I expressed the House’s condolences on the death of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was senselessly murdered last week in Kansas. Our peoples must continue to stand together, and I look forward to working with Foreign Secretary Jaishankar in the years ahead.”

Ohio man stalks NRIs, posts video saying they are taking away our jobs

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

Coming days after the fatal shooting of Indian-born engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, on going anti-immigrants postings and hate crimes have been reported from many parts of the US. An anti-immigration website that features photos and videos of Indian families relaxing in the city of Columbus, Ohio, has alarmed community members in the United States.

A post on the website SaveAmericanITJobs.com called ‘Welcome to Columbus Ohio suburbs – Lets take a walk to Indian park’ features a video of Indian families hanging out in a public park in suburban Ohio. The video’s description mentions how wealthy Indian families have ‘moved in’ to suburban homes in Ohio as “displacement of Americans has occurred”. As of March 6, the video has over 41,000 views on YouTube.

A Buzzfeed report says that the website is created and maintained by Steve Pushor, a 66-year-old computer programmer from Virginia. In the video, Pushor’s camera pans over people playing volleyball and children riding bikes, as he narrates: “The number of people from foreign countries blows my mind out here. You see this whole area is all Indian, amazing. It’s an amazing number of jobs have been taken away from Americans. The Indian crowd has ravished the Midwest. It’s a takeover.(sic)” Pushor sarcastically describes the park as a “mini Mumbai”.

Pushor initially posted this video and the accompanying document ‘Ohio – A Journey To Indian Park’ in August. The document labels India as a “hell hole” and highlights the loss of “Norman Rockwell white people class” in the US. A link to the document now directs to a 403-error page, but an archived version of the page are still available online.

The recent shooting of Kuchibhotla and the anti-immigration rhetoric of the Trump government has caused the video and document to resurface on Facebook posts, forums and WhatsApp groups of Indian immigrants in the US.

Bhavin Bavalia, a US-born IT professional and son of Indian immigrants, said he came across the site and the video when a friend shared it on Facebook. Talking to Buzzfeed news, Bavalia said, “To think that there could be some weirdo filming my cousin’s kids as they’re playing at the park, and possibly fomenting resentment towards them, is just disturbing.”

The website SaveAmericanITJobs.org calls the “Indian IT mafia” as one of the “public enemies” of American IT professionals. A snippet on the website says: “The Indian IT Mafia Mega firms have greatly harmed the American Information Technology Workforce for decades. Their notorious practices and collaborations with greedy US Corporations have resulted in USA IT professionals training their H-1B or L-1 Indian replacements in order to receive severance pay. This is outrageous.”

H-1B visas: Nasscom has a suggestion for Indian IT companies

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterBusiness 0

IT sector needs to work more to educate US policymakers on the mutual benefits of strong India-US trade relations in the software services market, industry body Nasscom said today. This is important as in some cases those “benefits and the actual workings of the visa programs are not well understood”, Nasscom President R Chandrasekhar said.

The comments come after Nasscom took a delegation to Washington DC (February 27-March 2) to discuss issues like clampdown on work visas and flow of skilled manpower between the two nations.

“From recent meetings, it is clear that IT sector has more work to do in educating US policymakers on the mutual benefits of strong India-US trade in IT services… In some cases, those benefits and the actual workings of the visa programs are not well understood,” Chandrasekhar said.

Over the past few months, there have been concerns over the protectionist stance taken by the US administration under President Donald Trump. The US accounts for about 60 per cent of the revenues of Indian IT services firms. While India has been pressing for a fair approach, a number of steps have been proposed by the new administration that is likely to impact the USD 110 Indian IT exports market.

Last week, US temporarily suspended the expedited premium processing of H-1B visas that will lead to process delays for Indian IT firms seeking to send employees on urgent projects. Chandrasekhar said he remains hopeful that further dialogue between government and business leaders in both nations will lead to a better understanding of the high-skill visa issues, which will in turn inform “constructive reforms”.

“We appreciated the openness of the policymakers and their advisors to engage in substantive, candid discussions,” he said. Specific topics of discussion included the H-1B visa program, which faces calls for new restrictions by some members of Congress and allies of President Trump. The delegation met officials like Darrell Issa and Zoe Lofgren, influential members of Congress who have sponsored legislation on the issue.

Nasscom also pushed for a level-playing field, saying any new requirements aimed at protecting US workers should be applied to all visa sponsors. Most of the existing legislative and administrative proposals would not actually protect American workers, since the proposed restrictions would be applicable only to a small group of companies that account for a minority of new visas issued, it added. Any changes in visa regime may result in higher operational costs and shortage of skilled workers for the Indian outsourcing industry.

As per reports, US President Donald Trump is said to be preparing to issue executive orders on H1-B visas, the visas primarily used by Indian IT companies to send Indian professionals to the US. Also, a legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives which among other things calls for more than doubling the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to $130,000.

Indian-origin businessman shot dead in South Carolina

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

With the nation still in shock from the killing of an Indian engineer Feb. 22, an Indian American businessman who was well-liked in his neighborhood was shot dead outside his home in Lancaster, South Carolina, on the night of Marvh 2.

A 43-year-old Indian-origin store owner in the US has been shot dead outside his home, just days after an Indian engineer was killed in Kansas in a hate crime shooting that had sent shockwaves across the country, reports PTI.

Harnish Patel, the owner of a convenience store in Lancaster County, South Carolina, was found dead of gunshot wounds in the front yard of his home on Thursday, coroner and police officials said.

Patel closed his store and drove in his silver minivan to his nearby home where authorities believe he was confronted by his killer. The store is about 6 km from his house, The Herald reported. He had locked up his nearby store less than 10 minutes before he was found dead, police said.

Patel’s death comes two days after President Donald Trump had said the nation condemned as “hate and evil” the killing of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was shot dead in a bar in Olathe, Kansas, by a white man who screamed, “Get out of my country.”

Local officials in Lancaster said they do not believe that Patel’s killing was a hate crime and that investigations are continuing, according to The Herald. “I don’t have any reason to believe that this was racially motivated,” County Sheriff Barry Faile said Mar. 3.

WSOCTV said that in Lancaster there was a lot of anger over the killing of Patel, who was considered an important member of the community and a kind person who treated his customers as friends and helped law enforcement. A sign on the shop door read, “Store closed for few days because of family emergency. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

A tearful customer, Nicole Jones, told the station that when someone didn’t have money, Patel gave them food. “I would have no idea who would do this to him as good as he is to everybody,” she said. A store employee, Keira Baskin, said that he only wanted the best for his employees and his family.

An IANS report from New Delhi adds: The Indian Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, has deputed an official to meet the family of Harnish Patel, it was learnt Mar. 4. “CGI Atlanta is in touch with the family. It is deputing a consular official to meet the family and offer condolences and any required assistance,” a source here said.

Reshma Shamasunder appointed Deputy Director of National Immigration

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterCommunity, Profiles 0

While the nation is dealing with the new, and the old immigration orders promulgated by the Trump administration, The National Immigration Law Center announced on February 27 that it has appointed long-time immigration rights advocate Reshma Shamasunder to serve as the organization’s deputy director. “The National Immigration Law Center is and has been a leading advocate for low-income immigrants and their families for many years,” Shamasunder, an Indian American activist, said in a press statement.

“In these challenging times, NILC’s role in fighting back against a xenophobic and nativist-driven agenda is crucial. I am humbled to take on a leadership role in these efforts at a time when they are more important than ever. I intend to take on my new role with the seriousness and passion this moment warrants,” she said.

In this role, Shamasunder will oversee the organization’s legal, policy and advocacy, and communications strategies. She will also serve as a key member of NILC’s Senior Leadership Team.

“The National Immigration Law Center is and has been a leading advocate for low-income immigrants and their families for many years,” Shamasunder said. “In these challenging times, NILC’s role in fighting back against a xenophobic and nativist-driven agenda is crucial. I am humbled to take on a leadership role in these efforts at a time when they are more important than ever. I intend to take on my new role with the seriousness and passion this moment warrants.”

Prior to joining NILC, Shamasunder played a key role in state-level campaigns in California that benefit low-income, immigrant, and vulnerable communities. For 12 years she served as the executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), helping to spearhead important policy wins, including placing limits on cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration authorities, preserving important health and human services programs, providing access to driver’s licenses for all Californians, and furthering important immigrant integration efforts. Under Shamasunder’s leadership, CIPC became a vibrant statewide organization that now not only helps shape California’s most inclusive policies, but also helps to build the capacity of nascent immigrants’ rights organizations and coalitions throughout California.

Shamasunder also served on the boards of Health Access California and the South Asian Network in Los Angeles, and was an inaugural fellow of the Rockwood Fellowship for a New California, a leadership program for California’s immigrant rights leaders. Shamasunder most recently received Families USA’s Health Equity Advocate Award. Last year she received a NILC Courageous Luminaries Award.

“I am thrilled to have Reshma join NILC’s leadership. For more than a decade she has helped transform the lives of countless California families, and she is poised to help us do the same across the country,” said NILC Executive Director Marielena Hincapié. “Her many years of service to immigrant communities will be a tremendous asset as we advance our mission of ensuring that all people, regardless of where they were born or their income, have access to opportunities that have helped generations of new Americans thrive and contribute to our communities. We are incredibly proud and grateful to welcome Reshma to our team.”

Shamasunder is the daughter of Indian immigrants and was raised in California’s Mojave Desert. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from UCLA and a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She will start in her new role at NILC on March 1 and will be based in NILC’s Los Angeles headquarters.

Sikhs respond to shooting near Seattle with fear, disbelief

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

KENT, Washington: Deepak Rai, a Sikh man (who has chosen to remain anonymous) was shot and injured late Friday in Kent, Washington. According to news reports, the gunman – who is still at large – told him to “go back to your own country.” In an email to the Sikh Coalition, the local police department has confirmed that the shooting is being investigated as a potential hate crime.

This shooting is the latest in a string of attacks on minorities throughout the country – including bomb threats to Jewish community centers, arson attacks on mosques, and the murder of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian-American engineer who was told “get out of my country” before being shot along with two others in Kansas last month.

Fear, hurt and disbelief weighed on the minds of those who gathered at a Sikh temple Sunday after the shooting of a Sikh man who said a gunman approached him in his suburban Seattle driveway and told him “go back to your own country.”

“Everybody who is part of this community needs to be vigilant,” Satwinder Kaur, a Sikh community leader, said as several hundred people poured into a temple in Renton for worship services about one mile from Friday night’s shooting. “It is scary,” she added. “The community has been shaken up.”

Authorities said a gunman approached the 39-year-old Sikh man+ as he worked on his car in his driveway in the city of Kent, about 20 miles south of Seattle. The FBI will help investigate the shooting, authorities said.

Kent Police chief Ken Thomas said the department is investigating the shooting as a hate crime+ . He said no arrests have been made yet after the victim was shot in the arm+ but that he did not believe anyone was in imminent danger.

“This is a top priority investigation, and we are doing everything possible to identify and arrest the suspect,” Thomas said in an email, adding that residents in the city of about 125,000 should “be vigilant” but also not let the shooting hurt their quality of life.

The FBI’s Seattle office said in a statement on Sunday that it is “committed to investigating crimes that are potentially hate-motivated,” the Seattle Times reported. The shooting comes after an Indian man was killed and another wounded in a recent shooting at a Kansas bar that federal agencies are investigating as a hate crime after witnesses say the suspect yelled “get out of my country.”

The shooting was on the minds of many who gathered at a gurdwara in nearby Renton on Sunday morning for worship. Women in colorful saris and headscarves and men wearing turbans sat on the floor on opposite sides inside the worship space.

As they entered and left the services, many expressed fear that one of their own was targeted and said they’re scared to go to the store or other public places. Some said they have noticed an uptick in name-calling and other racist incidents in recent months. Still others expressed hurt and disbelief at the lack of understanding and ignorance.

“Sikhism teaches about equality and peace,” said Sandeep Singh, 24. “It’s sad to see that’s what it has come to,” he said of the violence. “This is our country. This is everyone’s country.” Gurjot Singh, 39, who served in the Marine Corps and is an Iraq war veteran, said he was dismayed that people think others who look different aren’t equal or don’t contribute equally to the community.
“This is equally my country as it is your country,” he said. “It doesn’t anger me. It hurts me.”

Hira Singh, a Sikh community leader, said there have been increasing complaints recently from Sikhs near Seattle who say they have been the target of foul language or other comments. “This kind of incident shakes up the whole community,” he said, adding that about 50,000 members of the faith live in Washington state.

Kent police have not identified the man or released other information. But India’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, identified the victim on Twitter early Sunday, saying, “I am sorry to know about the attack on Deep Rai, a US national of Indian origin.” She said she had spoken to Rai’s father, who told her Rai is out of danger and recovering in a hospital.

Rai told police a man he didn’t know came up to him Friday night and they got into an argument, with the suspect telling Rai to go back to his homeland. He described the shooter as 6 feet tall and white with a stocky build, police said. He said the man was wearing a mask covering the lower half of his face. “All of the information that I have available at this time suggests that the information provided by the victim is credible,” Thomas, the police chief, wrote.

Sikhs have previously been the target of assaults in the US after the September 11, 2001, attacks, the backlash that hit Muslims around the country expanded to include those of the Sikh faith. Men often cover their heads with turbans, which are considered sacred, and refrain from shaving their beards. In 2012, a man shot and killed six Sikh worshippers and wounded four others at a gurdwara near Milwaukee before killing himself.

“Stress Reduction through Yoga” workshop by Sewa

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Sewa team recently conducted yoga workshop “Stress Reduction through Yoga” at Baker Ripley Neighborhood Center on 4th of February, 2017. Most of the members at Baker Ripley center come from low income families and encounter tremendous amount of stress in their daily life. This everyday stress takes a toll on their health and eventually affects the quality of life. Therefore, it is essential that the community members should have access to low cost health care options.

To address this issue, Sewa started an initiative in 2016 by name of Yoga for Sewa. Under this initiative, the “Stress Reduction through Yoga” Workshop is designed for people who have to deal with difficult situations in daily life. The workshop started with warm up exercises, followed by sun salutations to bring up the heart rate, followed by yoga postures to help reduce stress, and breathing practice at the end to calm down the mind.

The workshop was highly successful with attendance of 15+ participants and with interest to make this a regular session at the community center. Sewa team, that designed and implemented the workshop include, Yoga therapist Ms. Hasita Kartick, coordinator Ms. Anuja Deshpande, project coordinator Kavita Tewary, and volunteer/translator Ms. Camila Escobar.

Sewa team is working tirelessly to arrange these free workshops for low income communities in order to serve people who cannot afford high end yoga studios or expensive health care options. If you or your community center is interested in conducting “Stress Reduction through Yoga” Workshop, please give us a call at (281)546 8202 or reach us at contact@sewausa.org. For more information, visit us at https://sewausa.org/chapter/houston/houston-overview.

AAHOA Launches Two-Day Hotel-Development Workshop in Dallas

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterBusiness 0

ATLANTA, March 2, 2017 – The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) launched its “How to Develop a Hotel Workshop” today in Grapevine, Texas, just outside Dallas.

The workshop will span two days and is the second of its kind. The first two-day AAHOA workshop, “How to Form a Management Company,” was held last November. Both workshops sold out in just a few weeks, indicating a demand for intensive high-level instruction that AAHOA will meet with additional workshop dates throughout 2017 and beyond.

This week’s event will be facilitated by Tarun Kapoor, managing director of Kapoor & Kapoor Hospitality. The workshop will cover site and franchisor selection, pre-opening and ramp-up, financing, and design and development.

A panel titled “Lessons from Successful AAHOA Developers” will be moderated by Mr. Kapoor and feature CEOs from some of Texas’ most prolific hoteliers and AAHOA members. Other speakers include Kirsten Mathews, a senior loan officer at Live Oak Bank, and Patrick Campbell, managing member and founding principal at Construction 1.

“We’ve assembled an all-star slate of panelists and speakers for this workshop and have received an incredibly enthusiastic response,” said AAHOA President and CEO Chip Rogers. “Providing first-class opportunities for professional development is a top priority for AAHOA and this workshop is the best available of its kind.”

The workshop will be held at the Courtyard & TownePlace Suites DFW Airport North. Registration and the waiting list are now closed. For information on future AAHOA workshops, please visit AAHOA.com.

Founded in 1989, AAHOA (www.aahoa.com) is the largest hotel owners association in the world, with more than 16,000 small business owner-members. AAHOA members own almost one in every two hotels in the United States.

Indian Americans decry increasing hate crimes in the US;

March 9, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

appreciate support from fellow Americans against bias and harassment

Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC – iamc.com) a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to promoting the shared values of pluralism, tolerance, and respect for human rights, today condemned increasing hate crimes in the US, including those targeting Indian Americans.

On 22 February, Indian engineers Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani were shot by suspected gunman Adam Purinton in Kansas, who yelled “get out of my country,” when opening fire at them. Kuchibhotla died while Madasani was injured. Ian Grillot, who was shot while trying to intervene, has been rightly called a “hero” by Indians, including India’s foreign minister, Ms. Sushma Swaraj.

On March 03, a Sikh man was shot and injured in Kent, WA, near Seattle, with the gunman yelling a similar hateful sentiment asking the victim to “go back to your own country.” Police have confirmed the incident is being investigated as a…

6 students charged in death of Indian American run over after party in Connecticut

March 2, 2017 Staff ReporterUncategorized 0

STORRS, Conn. — Six University of Connecticut students were charged Friday, February 24th with alcohol-related offenses related to the death of a student who was run over by a fire department vehicle after leaving a party last fall.

According to media reports, the students had been hosting an off-campus party at a fraternity-affiliated house Oct. 16 last year during homecoming weekend. One of the attendees was Jeffny Pally, a 19-year-old sophomore from West Hartford.

Police say Pally had been sitting with her back against a garage door of the UConn Public Safety Complex at around 1 a.m. when she was run over by a fire vehicle responding to a call that turned out to be a false alarm. Two additional students have been charged in connection with the false alarm.

Pally’s body wasn’t found until about 30 minutes later when firefighters returned. She died from injuries to her head and torso, the medical examiner’s office determined. The driver of the vehicle hasn’t been charged and the tragedy was ruled an accident.

The charged students are Patrick Callahan, Matthew Moll, Dylan Morose, Austin Custodio, Dominic Godi and Jonathan Polansky. They range in age from 21 to 22 and are from Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts. Some were charged with permitting a minor to illegally possess alcohol.

They were all released pending their arraignment in Superior Court in Rockville on March 8. It couldn’t be immediately determined if they had lawyers.

A university spokeswoman confirmed the students are still enrolled at UConn but said federal student privacy law prevents the university from saying whether any of them face discipline by the school. UConn said all but Godi were seniors, CBS affiliate WFSB reports.

The university noted the Kappa Sigma fraternity recently lost its recognition and housing due to off-campus incidents in September and October unrelated to Pally’s death. The fraternity’s national office also has revoked the local group’s charter.

“Jeffny Pally was a talented, ambitious, promising young woman and her death was a terrible tragedy,” the university said. “The entire university community joins her family and friends in continuing to mourn her loss.”

An arrest warrant revealed Pally had been with her sorority sisters from Delta Gamma during the day, WFSB reports. They were working on a homecoming float and then, she met back up with them later that evening in a dorm where they were drinking before heading to a fraternity party in Manchester hosted by Kappa Sigma.

When police interviewed some of those arrested, they told investigators they did have a fraternity party, but said there was a bouncer hired to check identifications and give wristbands to make sure only those over 21 were drinking.

But, eyewitnesses told police “there were approximately 50 people there and nobody was wearing wrist bands.” Another eyewitness said “nobody asked for identification.” All of the alcohol was provided by the Kappa Sigma house, according to the arrest warrant.

“There were six or seven guys handing out beers in the shed, and at some points there was nobody in the shed,” one eyewitness told police, according to the arrest warrant. “There were six or seven guys handing out beers in the shed, and at some points there was nobody in the shed,” one eyewitness told police, according to the arrest warrant.

That same eyewitness said “after about an hour, the victim and [another girl] were learning on [her] because they were intoxicated.” According to the arrest warrant, Pally’s blood alcohol level was 0.25 that’s more than three times the legal limit.

Eyewitnesses told police Pally left with friends in an Uber and was dropped off in front of her dorm. But, no one said they actually saw her go inside her dorm.

Kappa Sigma recently “lost its UConn recognition and housing based on off-campus incidents in September and October,” but it was “unrelated to Jeffny’s death.” The national office for Kappa Sigma “evoked the local group’s charter.

Bhairavi Desai leads taxi workers to protest

March 2, 2017 Staff ReporterTravel 0

Taxis For All Campaign & the New York Taxi Workers Alliance held a press conference to highlight how deregulating taxi services will destroy NYC jobs and preempt wheelchair accessibility programs by flooding NYC streets with unregulated for-hire vehicles

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which has a significant number of Indian and South Asian-origin cabbies, has issued a statement supporting taxi drivers on strike against Uber’s poverty pay in Qatar and India. The NYTWA is led by Indian-American activist Bhairavi Desai.

In a message issued here, Desai said, “Rights groups are concerned that the proposed Uber legislation discriminates against people with disabilities by not mandating wheelchair-accessibility standards, hurts consumers, erodes labor rights, and will destroy full-time work for professional drivers. Although the bill does not include NYC, it includes all of its surrounding cities and counties, meaning that NYC streets will be flooded with unregulated for-hire vehicles with no wheelchair accessibility mandates, hurting both passengers and professional drivers.”

In New Delhi, thousands of Uber drivers are on strike over issues of rate cuts and what they consider Uber’s global monopoly tactic of flooding streets with vehicles making it harder for each driver to make a living.

“Our brothers in India mobilized after a fellow Uber driver committed suicide from the persistent poverty and pressure to make lease payment,” the statement from NYTWA said, adding that Uber’s only response has been to file an injunction against the drivers’ organizations for striking.

“While multi-nationals often explain away deplorable treatment by pointing out lack of labor law in countries like Qatar, the reality is, Uber does not respect labor law anywhere, whether in Doha, New Delhi or New York,” the statement said.

The NYTWA said its 19,000-members stand in solidarity with the 700 Uber drivers in Qatar who are on their fifth day of strike. “We salute your courage, your determination, your loyalty to each other, and your passion for a world that is just to workers. We understand your strike is over Uber’s low wages and that this poverty for you brings the dire risks of deportation, as you risk losing your work visas when you cannot keep up with your car leases due to low pay.”

According to the NYTWA, the Uber drivers on strike in Doha, Qatar reached out to to them for solidarity after they saw the strength of their strike against the Muslim Ban and the #DeleteUber campaign.

Founded in 1998, NYTWA is the 19,000-member strong union of NYC taxicab drivers, representing yellow cab drivers, green car, and black car drivers, including drivers for Uber and Lyft. We fight for justice, rights, respect and dignity for the over 50,000 licensed men and women who often labor 12 hour shifts with little pay and few protections in the city’s mobile sweatshop. Our members come from every community, garage, and neighborhood. To find out more visit NYTWA.org, follow us on Twitter.com/NYTWA, or like us on facebook.com/nytwa.

TheUNN Corporation

CONTACT US

Follow us

Subscribe to Newsletter