Category: Community

Small gestures can have a big impact. In a healthy relationship, people tend to give love and support freely and frequently. They don’t wait for a special occasion to show their appreciation. They genuinely enjoy doing nice things for one another “just because” ― no prompting necessary.

We asked relationship experts to tell us what kinds of things, both big and small, happy couples do for each other without being asked. Here’s what they had to say:

1. They check in with each other.

“Whether it’s a ‘hello’ text or call to ask, ‘How did it go?’ the happiest couples reach out. They call to say, ‘I’m running late,’ or ‘We just landed,’ or ‘Do you need me to stop at the store on my way home?’ The message: I’m thinking of you. The result: A feeling of being connected, being a key part of each other’s lives.”  ― Winifred M. Reilly, marriage and family therapist and author of It Takes One to Tango

2. They give each other compliments.

“This doesn’t have to be a lovey-dovey compliment about being the best wife in the world, but even an offhand remark recognizing someone’s contribution, like ‘great dinner!’ Although some couples do well without positive feedback, the majority of people like at least a little bit of verbal recognition for their contribution, and happy couples are free with positive feedback.”  ― Samantha Rodman, psychologist and dating coach

3. They surprise each other with a card, just because.

“Giving your partner a card that says ‘Thinking of you’ or ‘Thank you for all you do’ is such a sweet gesture. It will make him or her feel special and it’s a great reminder to you as well of all you have to be grateful for. An added fun touch would be to leave the card somewhere your loved one will happen on it. My husband loves to leave cards for me in the refrigerator. I often leave his cards under his pillow.” ― Susan Pease Gadoua, marriage therapist and the co-author of The New I Do: Reshaping Marriage for Skeptics, Realists and Rebels

4. They act generously, instead of keeping score.

“Generosity is something freely given as a gift, with nothing expected in return. When a relationship feels secure, it is easy to want to offer more than your fair share of tasks or thoughtful gestures to show your love for your partner. Whether moving their clothes to the dryer for them or going on their favorite hike again, highly fulfilled couples tend to maintain great satisfaction from being thoughtful and generous toward their partner rather than scorekeeping.” ― Kari Carroll, couples therapist

5. They speak openly about their thoughts and feelings.

“When partners feel that it’s like pulling teeth to get each other to divulge any thoughts or feelings, a relationship can feel very lonely. Happy couples may not communicate constantly on a deep level, but they do it frequently enough to feel that they really know one another.”  ― Samantha Rodman

6. They surprise their partner with their favorite food.

“We all know that food is nurturing and helps people feel connected. But when you go out of your way to bring home a special food you know they will love, it’s a wonderful way to put ‘I love you’ into action. If the favorite food is a meal that you make — rather than, say, a pint of Haagen Dazs — you’ll undoubtedly get even more points.” ― Susan Pease Gadoua

7. Or with a freshly washed car.

“Regardless of whether you do the washing yourself or take the car to a car wash, when your partner sees their squeaky clean wheels on the street or in the driveway, he or she will likely be very grateful.” ― Susan Pease Gadoua

8. They’re in the habit of saying ‘thank you.’

“Despite the mundanity and complacency that can develop within a long-term partnership, a sure way to keep the fire alive and burning brightly is to watch your partner beam when you regularly notice and point out their contributions to your life. People want to be reminded they are of value to you, and secure couples understand that this should be frequent. Although you may assume your love to be understood, in reality, acknowledging your partner’s efforts and contributions consistently builds an even deeper connection.” ― Kari Carroll

All couples argue, but it’s the way they argue that determines if their relationship will go the distance. “Instead of attacking the other person’s character, happy couples color inside the lines and express their own feelings,” psychotherapist Vikki Stark, director of the Sedona Counselling Center of Montreal, told The Huffington Post. “It’s fine to say, ‘I’m furious with you right now!’ It’s not fine to say, ‘You’re a sorry excuse for a human being.’”

What else stands out in happy couples’ approach to arguments? Below, Stark and other relationship experts share eight ways healthy couples argue differently.

1. don’t shy away from discussing topics

Couples in it for the long-haul don’t shy away from discussing topics that could just as easily be swept under the rug. They ask the big, scary questions ASAP — “When, if ever, are we going to have kids?” “What are we going to do if you get that job in another state? I don’t want to move to there!” — so they don’t become bigger isssues in the relationship later on, said Diane Sawaya Cloutier, an author and relationship expert.

“When taboo or uncomfortable topics remain unaddressed, they can turn any benign event into a big drama that could have been avoided in the first place,” she said. “Couples who talk about it can manage potential dramas.”

2. They start slow and take turns talking.

Arguments generally end the same way they began, said Bonnie Ray Kennan, a marriage and family therapist based in Southern California. Couples who’ve mastered the art of arguing fairly take things slow, addressing difficult conversations with a soft, reassuring tone and dialing it down whenever things get too emotionally charged.

“Starting a difficult conversation softly and respectfully dramatically increases the chances of a good outcome,” she said. “Conversely, a ‘harsh start-up’ is very hard to process well, especially for men.” Couples who argue with finesse also know the value of give and take: “One person speaks and the other person truly listens,” Ray Kennan said.

3. They don’t name call.

Happy couples in long-term relationships rarely get into knock-down, drag-out fights because they don’t lower themselves to school-yard tactics: no matter how heated things get, there’s no name calling, eye rolling or biting sarcasm.

“Both partners understand that contemptuous behaviors are hard to take back and have a corrosive impact on a relationship,” Ray Kennan said. “Over time, they’ve become mindful of the effects of such dirty fighting and so they take it out of their repertoire.”

4. They know how to cool down.

When things do get out of hand, savvy arguers know how to get a grip on their emotions. They value taking a time out, whether that means counting to 10 and taking slow, deep breaths or simply telling their spouse, “Hey, can we revisit this in the morning?”

“These couples know how to acknowledge and honor their emotions without getting overrun by them,” Amy Kipp, a couples and family therapist in San Antonio, told HuffPost. “They use self-soothing skills to make sure they’re at their best. When both partners are able to soothe themselves and take breaks, they’re usually able to reach a resolution (or agree to disagree!) with more ease.”

5. They set ground rules for arguments.

It’s not that long-time couples have never resorted to low blows or have said something regrettable during an argument. They have in the past — and then they learned from the mistake. Once the emotionally charged fight ends, smart couples lay down some ground rules for arguing so it never gets out of hand again, said author and relationship expert Mario P. Cloutier.

The ground rules could be specific — “We will not interrupt each other when one is giving his or her perspective” — or more big picture: “It’s not about being right. It’s about getting to a common ground and resolving the problem,” suggested Cloutier.

6. They acknowledge each other’s feelings and points of view.

They may be bumping heads but couples in happy, long-time relationships try their best to see the other side of the argument, Kipp said.

“They may say, ‘I know you see it differently than me, but I appreciate that you are listening to my perspective,’” she said. “These positive moments decrease defensiveness and allow for a more productive conversation.”

7. They give each other the benefit of the doubt.

Partners who are able to have healthy and productive arguments don’t jump to conclusions in the middle of fights. They aren’t quick to assume their S.O. wants to jump ship and leave them just because he or she is a voicing a concern. They quiet their insecurities, listen and try to give their partner the benefit of the doubt, Kipp said.

“Healthy relationships mean that people assume their partner is doing the best they can at the moment,” she explained. “In an argument, this means assuming both partners have the same goal: a mutually beneficial resolution. This allows arguments to be a team effort to achieve the goal rather than an adversarial ‘fight.’”

8. They never forget that ultimately, they’re a team.

Even during their most tense arguments, healthy couples never forget that they’re a team: for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…  and until the argument exhausts them and both parties agree that they’d rather call a timeout and get a bite to eat.

“Couples in satisfying long-term relationships are able to remember that, no matter how angry they may be, life will continue after today,” said Stark. “Because of that, they don’t want to do lasting damage. Even in an emotional state, they are able to hang on to the long-term value of the couple. They’re a team, protecting their future together.”

(Courtesy: Huffington Post)

Indian American cardiologist-turned-entrepreneur Dr. Kiran Patel and his wife Dr. Pallavi Patel, a pediatrician, contributed $171,500 along with Habitat for Humanity of Hillsborough County in Florida, to buy a home for Sonya Pratt, a single mother of two boys and a girl, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Tina Swain, the CEO of Habitat Hillsborough praised the couple and the Patel Foundation for their donation which “was made in partnership with the Patel-owned Clearwater Beach Wyndham Grand Hotel & Beach Resort, whose staff members volunteered more than 400 hours to help build homes for many Habitat for Humanity homebuyers.”

Patel attended the home’s dedication ceremony on Monday, March 5 and presented Pratt with the house keys.

Pratt told the Tampa Bay Times that she has always dreamed of owning her own home as until now, she was living with her sister in a two-bedroom apartment along with one other adult and three children.

Patel is thankful to be member of the community and is happy that he can contribute to the Habitat for Humanity of Hillsborough County.

“It’s wonderful being here and this is what happens when fellow human beings help one another. Money is something that people can create, but time is something that God gives us that is so important and so valuable to make life better for others,” he told the Tampa Bay Times.

“I would first like to thank God and then the Drs. Patel, and thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone one else who made this possible,” Pratt told the Tampa Bay Times.

With the help of family members, Pratt completed the required 300 hours of “sweat equity” involvement in building the home as well as the 10 homeownership-related classes she needed to take in order to qualify for the program’s zero-interest mortgage.

Also, Joyce Beeman, a representative of the Tampa Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented Pratt with an American Flag and she also received a handmade comforter, which was created by Nancy Blunk and was given to her by Harriet Blymiller of the Quilter’s Workshop of Tampa Bay.

Pratt will now enjoy her new three-bedroom, two-bath home with her mother Ann Jackson and two sons, her adult daughter Kennethia Blue will soon be living next door to her in another home built by Habitat for Humanity.

A former Chicago-based partner of Indian origin, in the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for scheming with a client to bilk their companies out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Navdeep Arora, 53, was a former partner in the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company Inc.. He was found guilty of plotting with a former internal consultant at State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., to defraud both companies out of phony consulting fees, a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said.

Investigators found Arora also fraudulently obtained money from McKinsey, State Farm and other McKinsey clients in the form of purported work-related travel reimbursements for expenses that were actually incurred on Arora’s personal trips.  The total in fraudulent bills equalled more than half a million dollars at $586,000, the press release said.

Arora falsely expensed personal trips to Scottsdale, Ariz.; Vail, Colo.; Las Vegas, Nev.; London, England; Prague, Czech Republic; Munich, Germany; and elsewhere.  He took the State Farm employee, Matthew Sorensen, on two personal vacations – to Napa, Calif. and New York, N.Y. – and expensed them to State Farm as business expenses.  The costs included flights, hotels, meals, car services and other items.

Arora, of London, England, and formerly of Chicago, was arrested in 2016 at JFK International Airport in New York after arriving on an overseas flight.  He pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud.  U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman imposed the sentence March 14, in federal court in Chicago.

Arora and Sorensen “concocted a fraudulent scheme to benefit themselves during their employment,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunil R. Harjani argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum, according to the press release.  “The defendants’ actions have caused both companies to undertake time and expense uncovering this fraud, destroyed a longstanding relationship between these two companies, and caused reputational harm,” Harjani is quoted saying.

Sorensen, of Bloomington, Ill., also pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge.  Judge Guzman in September 2017 sentenced Sorensen to one year and one day in prison.

Arora and Sorensen had a longstanding business relationship through Arora’s work overseeing the consulting services McKinsey provided to State Farm, according to the press release.  At State Farm, Sorensen provided input and recommendations about whether to hire outside consultants for company projects and who to retain.

According to the charges, their fraud scheme began in 2007.  Arora and Sorensen used two corporate entities – “Gabriel Solutions” and “Andy’s BCB” – to defraud their employers out of the phony fees.  Sorensen, the press release said, billed McKinsey for the bogus work purportedly performed by the companies, while Arora allocated the fees to the State Farm projects to which he was assigned.  As a result, McKinsey and State Farm paid $38,265 for consulting services purportedly performed by “Andy’s BCB,” and $452,710 in fees billed by “Gabriel Solutions.”

Sorensen pocketed a large majority of the money, while Arora received a substantial salary and benefits from McKinsey for maintaining its business relationship with State Farm, the press release said.

Popular Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi has been sentenced to two years in prison for human trafficking, according to a BBC report. The BBC reported that in 2003, Mehndi and six others were accused of taking large amounts of money from people and making false promises of taking them to the U.S. and Canada to look for jobs.

“I have been granted bail. We will appeal in higher court,” the singer said.  The Court of Judicial Magistrate Nidhi Saini, held Daler Mehndi guilty under section 420 (Cheating) and 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code (Conspiracy). Mehndi was granted bail after he furnished a bail bond and said he would challenge the verdict.

The singer apparently made these people a part of his performing troupe so that when they went on tour, they could be “illegally” dropped off to get jobs in the North American region. According to an NDTV report, in 1998 and 1999, Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Singh had allegedly taken two troupes to the U.S. during which 10 people were supposedly “dropped off” illegally in San Francisco and New Jersey.

Though police had seized documents in 2006, including a list of the victims who had paid the alleged “passage money” to the brothers, after raiding the offices of Mehndi at Connaught Place in New Delhi, they claimed that he was innocent.

However, the court had upheld that the singer be prosecuted as there was “sufficient evidence against him on the judicial file and scope for further investigation” and soon after the police registered a case against Mehndi and Singh, 35 more complaints came in, “alleging that the two brothers had taken ‘passage money’ from them to help them migrate to the U.S. ‘illegally’ but had failed to do so,” according to an NDTV report.

Mehndi was convicted on Friday, March 16 in the Patiala state of Punjab, but was soon released on bail and told the Associated Press that he is innocent and that his brother was the main accuser, who died last year.

Mehndi rose to fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s with his energetic, Punjabi songs including the hit numbers “Tunak Tunak Tun,” “Bolo Ta Ra Ra” and “Saade Naal Rahoge Toh” and has lent his voice for Bollywood film songs as well.

A Chicago alderman and former Democratic candidate for governor has announced plans to launch One Illinois, a statewide, nonprofit digital news outlet, in April.

Billed as nonpartisan, the progressive news site clearly will be aimed at countering the conservative Illinois Policy Institute and Breitbart News, among others.

Founder Ameya Pawar, who will serve as president and executive director, said the effort will be funded through a Kickstarter campaign and contributions from readers, philanthropists, agencies and organizations. (Here is the link.)

“We want to build a lasting coalition of neighbors around the issues that unite us,” Pawar said in announcing the startup Wednesday. “We believe journalism and storytelling is the best way to shape a new narrative about Illinoisans reconnecting with one another.”

In an obvious jab at the Illinois Policy Institute’s media enterprises, Pawar said: “There are outlets out there — we know who they are — and we’re out to change their prevailing narrative that casts state politics as a zero-sum game with only winners and losers. We’re going to change the way people perceive communities as deserving and undeserving by putting a human face on public policy and its effects on residents across the state.”

An alderman from Chicago’s North Side since 2011, Pawar dropped out of the gubernatorial race last fall, citing insufficient campaign funding.

Longtime Chicago journalist Ted Cox, a veteran of the Daily Herald, DNAinfo Chicago and the Chicago Reader, will serve as editor of One Illinois. At the outset he’ll oversee a staff of freelance writers, video producers and podcasters.

“Our goal is to build a broad-based audience across party lines, across race and class, and across Illinois to help shape a more positive and unified narrative,” Cox said in a statement. “Our journalism is committed to giving voice to the people. . . . We’re going to let Illinoisans talk to each other and tell their stories through good, solid journalism, and that’s going to have an impact.”

One Illinois is the second Chicago-based digital news startup announced in recent weeks. Three former editors from DNAinfo Chicago also unveiled plans for Block Club Chicago, a new neighborhood news website to be funded by reader subscriptions.

Chicago IL: Umiya Mataji Sanstha Chicago Midwest (UMSCM) Celebrated colorful legendary Festival of  Holi, symbolizing victory of God over Evil by Hindu’s all over the word, by sprinkling  colors with Dancing & Chanting,.

 This occurred on Saturday – March 03, 2018. It is unusual for any event to be held outdoors in Chicago is this time of year in month of March due to the unpredictable freezing cold weather. Believers in trust faith and miracle of the Mataji ignored the standard and against the odds of snowy weather, held the celebration outdoor at Umiya Mataji Temple Chicago, 1800 Joliet Street, West Chicago, IL 60185. Over 500 community members braved the weather and showed up in big turnout including prominent community leaders, sponsors, committee members, volunteers, friends, and well-wishers, participating in half day event.

Holi is a Hindu festival that marks the arrival of spring. Known widely as the Festival of Color, it takes place over two days, and is a celebration of fertility, color, and love, as well as the triumph of good versus evil.  Holi split into two events: Holika Dahan and Rangwali Holi. Holika Dahan takes place the night before Rangwali Holi. Wood and dung-cakes are burned in a symbolic pyre to signify good defeating evil (in Hindu Vedi scriptures, the God Vishnu helps burn the devil Holika to death). The next morning, people gather in public spaces and take part in Rangwali Holi. This is a raucous affair where people chase each other around, throwing handfuls of colored powders (known as gulal) at one another, while getting drenched in water.

Holi celebration was aimed to garner the spirit of giving and scattering joy, commencing with variety of delicious food. The event started with appetizer including Hot Bhajiya (Pakora), Gota & Tea served as light refreshments. Subsequently at the end of Holi celebration, Steamy hot Dinner was served with Khichadi, Kadhi and Thepla. This event was free of charge for participants by Umiya Mataji Sanstha Chicago Midwest.

It was a great joy to see the children having a good time in the woods playing with colors with their friends and family as well as participating in the community enrichment activities of Holi. Whole area was covered with clouds of vibrant colors. It was a memorable breathtaking celebration.

Shree Umiya Mataji is a Kuldevi of all Kadva Patidars Samaj. It was a heart touching religious moments eclipsing with Aarti & Bhajans. All the devotees prayed at Mataji in temple with a great gusto by dancing and singing devotional songs. The audience repeatedly chanted ‘Shree Umiya Mata Ki Jai!!’ and the whole atmosphere was festive devotional saintly and spiritual.

“We celebrate this festival to forget the outgoing year’s pains and begin the New Year with feelings of love, sympathy, cooperation, equality and positive energy. Occasions like this are a good opportunity to introduce kids to the cultural aspects of our tradition,” said by Lalbhai Patel

“Holi solemnizes the love of Radha and Krishna. The spraying of colored powders recalls the love dance of Lord Krishna and His devotees. The color, fun and frolic that accompany the celebration of Holi are the witness to a feeling of oneness and sense of brotherhood. The festival brings home the spirit of cultural and social harmony” Said by Khodabhai (Ken) Patel.

Umiya Mataji Sanstha of Chicago Midwest (UMSCM) plans to build Umiya Mataji Mandir. They purchase Church with land acquired at $ 1. 4 million at 1800 Joliet Street, West Chicago, IL 60185, Lot Size is 8 and ¾ acres, Current Pre-existing Building size is 8000 sq. feet attached house of 3 bed room house. UMSCM is a not for Profit, 501 3 (c), organization was establish in 2016 with an objective to build a first ever Temple of Mataji along with great Community center. The main purpose of the association is to provide a platform for Cultural, Educational, Social, Religious and spiritual needs of Kadva Patidar Samaj.

UMSCM executive board: Jayantibhai P. Patel (Chairman), Shailesh R. Patel (Vice Chairman), Lalbhai M. Patel (President), Dipal G. Patel (Vice President), Devandra Patel (Secretary), Jignesh H. Patel (Jt. Secretary), Saurabh Patel (Jt. Secretary), Piyush Patel (Treasurer) and Hasmukhbhai P. Patel (Jt. Treasurer)

UMSCM working team: Ashok S. Patel, Ashvinkumar A. Patel, Vishnubhai G. Patel, Dashubhai R. Patel, Girishkumar Patel, Jagdish N. Patel, Jayesh V. Patel, Jitendra Patel, Mahendra R. Patel, Navnitkumar Patel, Pulkitkumar N. Patel, Rajendrakumar Patel, Sanjay G. Patel, Bharat Patel Kantibhai (KS) Patel, Kishan Patel, Jitubhai Patel and Rasik Patel

Anuradha Kedia, cofounder of The Better India with her husband Dhimant Parekh — both have engineering backgrounds — started the effort in 2009 as a side-project blog. They spent their weekends writing posts about people doing good work that reflected a side of Indian communities they felt wasn’t represented in mainstream news at the time.

“There was so much negative and sensational news out there about all the issues that existed within our country. We know that coverage is important,” Kedia said. “But we knew a lot of people who work on the ground, who work in the social sector helping people, some in their own small ways, and we felt none of these organizations and none of their good deeds really got any mainstream coverage.”

Over next few years, the site started to spread beyond their network of friends and family. Journalists from larger news organizations sent The Better India tips for social issues and solutions-focused stories that didn’t fit at their own organizations, Kedia and Parekh said. (In those early days, when he spoke to mainstream media editors, Parekh claims, many told him there would be no readership for explicitly positive stories; the market incentives simply weren’t there.)

The two soon realized that places they spotlighted would sometimes get a flood of interest from strangers wanting to help out. A couple of years into the blog’s existence, they had written a post about a school for deaf students, Parekh said, and a week later the school got in touch to say a group of people had driven over to volunteer and donated money for renovations.

“It was a huge revelation: If these kinds of stories, read by just a few thousand back then, could drive this kind of response, then imagine what we could achieve if we got to hundreds of thousands, then millions, of readers,” Parekh said.

Kedia quit her job to focus on building sources, reaching out to people working in sectors from health and science to education to gender rights to hear about what was changing, what approaches they were trying, on-the-ground realities: “The work done in those years formed the backbone of the site; we still get stories to this day that come through that network.” By 2014, the site had grown too big for one person to run it; Parekh also left his job to join The Better India full time. At the beginning of 2015, they raised around USD $160,000 from angel investors to hire more staff. It’s also gotten some funding from the Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation.

The Bangalore-based operation is now a profitable organization with 27 full-time staffers, and its good news mission sprawls across all the usual distribution channels, plus some: The site now has 1.9 million followers on Facebook, 565,000 on Twitter (“no traffic, just influencers”), 52,000 on Instagram, and 10,800 subscribers on YouTube. It also has about 100,000 subscribers to its email newsletters (in additional to a regular briefing, it even offers customized corporate packages), 35,000 subscribers to its WhatsApp channel, some content partnerships with larger organizations including radio stations, and ambitions for a TV show, Kedia and Parekh say. 30 percent of its audience comes from outside of India (mainly, the U.S., U.K., and Singapore).

“We still see ourselves as, we would call it a solutions-based media platform,” Parekh said. “What we really focused on, as Anuradha talked about earlier, are innovations, initiatives by common citizens, grassroots-level change.”

The good news focus is, of course, not an unfamiliar editorial strategy, though The Better India caught an early wave. Its stories are all over the place: A quick scan of recent pieces will get you original interviews, delightful histories, policy explainers, and many original videos — but also a lot of excited headlines on top of aggregation from larger mainstream outlets such as The Times of India, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, and the Week. (All media are watching each other: The Times of India, for instance, now has a Good News & Inspiring News Stories from India section.)

The Better India publishes around 18 to 20 pieces a day — a mix of video, short hits, and longform — around half of which come out of original reporting. Its stories continue to be relentlessly positive, often accompanied by an action item (e.g., This resilient farmer tills his land with a cot frame. Here are his bank details if you want to donate. Reader, he got the bulls.)

Right now sponsored content makes up 80 percent of The Better India’s revenue, a stream Parekh said he expects will continue to grow in the next few years. The “Partner Campaigns” section of its site hosts these sponsored videos and stories. “We were trying to figure out how do we work with that wouldn’t dilute our content. We thought: Hey, let’s look at brands that want to talk about stuff we also want to talk about, if there’s an overlap, we could partner and co-create content,” Parekh said. Programmatic advertising is currently another slice of revenue. The site juststarted to test asking for reader donations as well. (Three additional revenue streams under consideration for the coming year: organizing events around issues such as healthcare innovation and women’s empowerment, providing consulting to companies looking to build corporate social responsibility initiatives, licensing publishing and audience engagement tools it built in-house.)

(A couple of years ago, you may have seen that viral video above — or read one of the many articles about it — about a small company in Hyderabad that made edible spoons. That was one of The Better India’s biggest successes. The video is part of an India Innovates series, and TBI is looking for sponsors for a second season.)

The site also has a section that functions like a contributor network for foundations, NGOs, and other vetted social-good initiatives to post policy ideas, inspirational stories, helpful guides — though here no self-promotion is allowed and no money is exchanged. In all of these sections, the main rule applies: only inspirational, useful, fun topics allowed.

The Better India has earned its reach by being everywhere, and though it’s hampered by being mainly English-language, it’s made more systematic efforts to reach beyond younger, urban readers. It designed a WhatsApp hack to help broadcast a “magazine” digest — a PDF pulled together automatically from posts published to the site that day and fed into a design template, allowing people to read Better India stories offline (about 80 percent of subscribers there who get the content, read the content). It’s started a Hindi edition. It syndicates some of its stories to regional news outlets that translate and run those stories for their own audiences. It’s making a lot of social-friendly video, but not just to “jump on the video bandwagon.” In any case, The Better India has also taken a significant hit from Facebook’s recent algorithm changes.

“This is why we’re experimenting with formats,” Kedia said. “If you’re looking at populations that are lower income, that have not had as much access to education or exposure to technology, video, through sharing, has reached these underserved populations as well. Even if they aren’t able to consume our longform articles in English, they can get the gist of the video.”

Can you unplug from your mobile device and not feel anxious? If not, you’re in the majority — Americans are more tied to their personal technology than ever. The latest statistics from the Pew Research Center reveal that 69 percent of adults use social media, and three-quarters of those look at Facebook at least once a day.

Is that troubling? A professor at Arizona State University says asking that question is becoming more urgent. “It’s a very recent phenomenon,” said Matt Sopha, clinical assistant professor of information systems in the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU. His research areas include social media and influence and information systems teaching methods. “There have been murmurings of it over the years, but we do have to rethink our relationship with technology,” he said.

A nationwide initiative called the National Day of Unplugging is asking all Americans to do just that by going on a 24-hour “digital detox,” from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday.

Instead of looking at their devices during this time, people would instead go outside or connect with each other face to face.

Sopha is available to comment on our relationship with our mobile devices and what we can do to develop healthier habits.

Question: Are you worried about how we engage with our devices?

Answer: I have a deep affinity for technology and for gadgets and gizmos and all of that stuff. But I do make a concerted effort to unplug from the devices from time to time. I try to not actively engage with my phone when I’m at home or out with my loved ones.

The nature of how we engage with these devices has taken on a new meaning in the zeitgeist.

I was reading the other day that on average we spend about four hours a day on our devices. If you’re awake time is 14 or 15 hours a day, you’re talking 20 percent of your day is spent glued to this device.

I wonder what that does to us.

One of the questions I ask my grad students all the time is: “We have evolved technology. But we have to take a step back and look at how technology is evolving us.”

If you think about how our brain processes stimuli, are these devices training our brains in a way that we don’t necessarily understand? It’s tapping into pleasure centers and dopamine receptors.

We were at a concert not too long back. The young lady sitting next to use was fascinating to me because she spent the entire show on Snapchat, recording the concert and photographing the concert and snapping her friends. She was experiencing the concert through the screen rather than through the environment around her. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was missing out on something.

What happens when technology takes over and we forget how to human?

Q: Are young people concerned about how much time they spend on their devices?

A: This is one of the things they always want to talk about because theirs is a generation of digital natives. Whereas with my generation, the internet wasn’t really a thing until I was a teenager.

They’re very versed in this, almost to the point where they take it for granted sometimes. The class tries to reposition their thinking about technology in the workplace and technology as a tool.

The young people that I teach are so much smarter than I ever was at their age. They ask bigger questions. They are intellectually curious. They observe the world around them in a way that is incredibly powerful.

That gives me hope.

But I will live a thousand years and I will never know what Snapchat is for.

Q: Why is it so hard to put down our phones?

A: If you think about social media feeds, they’re by design endless. It’s not like, ‘OK, you’ve reached the end of your updates and you’re done.’ They’re constantly feeding you more stuff. And companies like Facebook and Twitter do that because they want to serve you ads and they want to mine your data.

It’s the old adage that if any service is free, you’re not the customer, you’re the product.

And they trigger these pleasure centers in our brain to give us that “just one more post.”

Q: Is completely unplugging is the answer?

A: I try to take a healthy middle-ground approach.

If we’re going to use the analogy of an addiction, would you tell someone addicted to a chemical substance, “OK, cold turkey for 24 hours and you’re good”?

I don’t think that completely unplugging form our devices is a healthy way to approach it, because then we limit ourselves from being able to utilize the observable good that they can do.

I’m a marathoner and a triathlete. I put my earbuds on and I listen to podcasts. And I keep my phone with me because if something were to happen to me, there would be a GPS footprint. I get my work email on my phone. And my mom calls me.

All of that is healthy.

I think the thing that’s unhealthy is when it becomes obsessive — when you’re picking up the phone to look at and it and you don’t remember why you picked it up.

Perhaps we need to not break up with our technology but to reassess our relationship — maybe go to couples counseling for our technology.

Oscars 2018 took a somber turn as Tom Petty’s Room at the Top was performed by Eddie Vedder to remember the artistes who unfortunately passed away in 2017 and 2018. Indian cinema icon Shashi Kapoor and India’s first female superstar Sridevi were among those honored at the 90th Academy Awards ceremony here during the “In Memoriam” montage.

The Indian stars got a musical tribute by Eddie Vedder who took the stage to sing Tom Petty’s “Room at the top.”

They were included in the annual montage along with stars such as John Heard, Tony Anne Walker, Jane Foray, Robert Osborne, Martin Landau, Glenne Headly, Roger Moore, George A. Romero and Jerry Lewis.

Actress Jennifer Garner introduced the segment by paying tribute to late star Audrey Hepburn. “There is no joy without sorrow,” Garner said, and then acknowledged the loss of film world with the departed souls.

Actor Sridevi, who died unexpectedly on February 24, and legendary actor Kapoor was remembered during the In Memoriam session at the 90th Academy Awards held on Sunday, March 4^th in California.

Sridevi, known for her ability to slip into myriad roles, expressive eyes, sheer comic timing and her fluid dancing skills, died on Feb. 24. Her death left everyone shocked, and saddened.

Boney Kapoor along with his daughters Janhvi and Khushi bid a final farewell to Sridevi in Rameswaram last week. The first female superstar’s untimely death in Dubai came as a shock to the film industry. Her mortal remains were brought back to India on February 27 after Dubai authorities determined that she had died of accidental drowning in her bathtub.

Son of Prithviraj Kapoor and younger brother of Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor made his debut in Bollywood with the 1961 film “Dharmputra” after working as a child artist. He passed away in December 2017.

Bollywood’s ultimate “charm house” Shashi Kapoor then went on to make a name for himself globally by associating with international cinema. He was honored with the Padma Bhushan – the third highest civilian honor – by the Indian government in 2011. In 2015, he was bestowed with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Also at the event was Kumail Nanjiani, a Pakistan-born actor, who did not let his time on stage go to waste. Before presenting the award for best production design, Nanjiani and Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o, expressed their support for the Dreamers and other immigrants. In what The New York Times describes as the Oscars’ “most pointed political statements,” the two briefly spoke about how dreams are the very foundation of Hollywood. “To all the Dreamers out there, we stand with you,” Nanjiani said.

While the glamorous Priyanka Chopra missed this year’s awards, after sizzling on the red carpet for the past two years, as she was not well. But the “Quantico” actress took to Instagram and gave a shout out to her friends attending the Oscars. “I wish all my friends nominated tonight all the very best! So sick but wishing everyone from bed! Can’t wait to know the winners! #oscars2018,” Chopra wrote on Instagram, posting along with a selfie.

Mindy Kaling  was spotted at the Vanity Fair after party along with her “The Office” star B.J. Novak, sending social media into a tizzy, wishing for the two to hook up soon. Kaling said: “I will freely admit: My relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell. He is not my boyfriend, but he is not my best friend.”

Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman was spotted at the Oscar Concert on March 1. Included in the lineup was his famous number from “Slumdog Millionaire,” the Indo-Asian News Service reported. The concert was held at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, as part of a collaboration between the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Rahman won two Oscars for “Jai Ho,” from British filmmaker Danny Boyle’s film “Slumdog Millionaire” at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009.

The Sikh Coalition on February 22 announced that it has named Satjeet Kaur as its new executive director. In her post, Kaur will lead the day-to-day management of the coalition’s staff and drive the strategic direction of the organization in the U.S., it said in a news release.

“This organization has been built through the outstanding work of so many people over the last 17 years,” said Satjeet. “I’m humbled by the opportunity to use this momentum to further civil rights in this country and empower the Sikh community.”

Since joining the staff in 2010, Satjeet has contributed to every programmatic area of the organization’s work. In her early years, she managed operations, supported education projects, developed Sikh awareness resources and launched the Sikh Coalition’s social media platforms. Recently, as the Senior Director of Development and Finance, she refined organizational branding, incorporated game-changing technology, and installed new processes that resulted in the Sikh Coalition receiving recognition as one of the top nonprofits for transparency and governance. Click hereto learn more.

Of late, as the senior director of development and finance, she refined organizational branding, incorporated game-changing technology, and installed new processes that resulted in the Sikh Coalition receiving recognition as one of the top nonprofits for transparency and governance, the coalition noted.

“Satjeet is undoubtedly the right choice for this job. Her integrity, judgment and commitment to the community have inspired thousands. For nearly eight years, I have admired her endless contributions to our work and her leadership across the Sikh community and within our team,” said co-founder and board chairman Narinder Singh in a statement.

“She has the full support of our board, the complete trust of our staff and the backing of the philanthropic institutions that help support our work,” Singh added.

After serving as interim executive director for the past five months, Singh will return to the board of directors as executive chairman. In this expanded capacity he will chair the board of the Sikh Coalition and provide support to Kaur and the leadership of the organization.

The Sikh Coalition’s goal remains working towards a world where Sikhs, and other religious minorities in America, may freely practice their faith without bias and discrimination. In 2018, this work continues through high-impact advocacy in the courtroom, classroom, community and halls of Congress, it said.

“For 17 years, you have depended on us to defend your rights and create lasting impact for the generations that follow,” said Kaur. “I’m honored to help lead this work with our committed team and I am excited about what the future holds for bringing you more lasting results.”

March 8, 2018 (New York, NY) – This week, the Sikh Coalition’s legal team has taken on three hate crime cases, and we are in the process of connecting with other communities on at least three more hate incidents. This is in addition to a hate crime case we have been involved with since January.

While this is an alarming recent spike, it follows a pattern: We estimate that Sikhs in the U.S. are experiencing an average of one hate crime per week since the start of 2018. This figure is likely to be the tip of the iceberg as many individuals of hate crimes do not report them to law enforcement or the Sikh Coalition.

We provide completely free and confidential legal assistance to Sikhs who have been discriminated against or subject to bias based upon their religious beliefs or identity. Please fill out our legal intake form if you believe you have been discriminated against or subject to bias, and would like to request legal assistance from the Sikh Coalition. The Sikh Coalition handles nearly 200 free and confidential legal intakes a year, and we examine every submission on a case-by-case basis.

“Our organization is designed to be your insurance policy when a hate crime occurs,” said the Sikh Coalition’s Legal Director, Amrith Kaur. “Nobody in America has more legal experience dealing with hate crime cases for Sikhs than our organization, and we are always here to protect your rights.”

TAKE ACTION & KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

1. Report Hate Incidents – If you or somebody you know has experienced threats of hate violence, bias-based property damage or hate vandalism, seek medical attention if needed and call law enforcement immediately. Please be aware that law enforcement should not ask you about your immigration status, and in the event that they do, you have the right to not answer this question. Please contact the Sikh Coalition at 212-655-3095 or by filling out our quick reporting form to have a free and confidential consultation with experienced attorneys in either English or Punjabi.

2. Know Your Rights – Download our FAQ guide on hate crimes, hate speech and on how to report incidents to authorities and the Sikh Coalition. Display our hate crime poster at your gurdwara, which is available in both English and Punjabi. Additionally, the Sikh Coalition continues to provide educational brochures that introduce non-Sikhs to the Sikh faith and community. This resource is available in 18 different languages. To get copies of any of our resources please email education@sikhcoalition.org.

3. Share Gurdwara Security Toolkit – Print or email our Gurdwara Security Toolkit, and share it with your gurdwara. In 2017, over 50 gurdwaras worked with the Sikh Coalition to take proactive steps to make their gurdwaras safer. Ask your gurdwara if they have already participated, and if they haven’t, please have a committee member email community@sikhcoalition.org.

4. Share This Information With Your Friends and Family – Forward this email to your immediate circle of friends and family. Encourage them to sign up for the Sikh Coalition’s email alerts so that they can continue to receive related updates on resources and information. Take the next easy step and post this information to your social media accounts. It’s critical that we disseminate this information to everybody in the community so that if a hate crime happens, they know we are here to provide free and confidential legal resources.

GOPIO officials and Chapter Representatives had a fruitful meeting with Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty and other Consulate Officials in New York on Tuesday, February 20th, 2018. The meeting was a follow up to the meeting in September last year when a GOPIO delegation met India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and appealed to launch Know India Program (KIP) during the Summer for the second and third generation PIOs in the US who have not visited India. The Indian Minister had in principle had accepted this proposal and the Indian Consulate in New York had invited a GOPIO delegation to the Consulate for discussion to launch Govt. of India’s Know India Program (KIP) during the Summer for the PIO youth during summer time.

The Indian Consulate officials included Consul General Chakravorty and the other Consuls. The GOPIO officials included Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham, Vice President Ram Gadhavi, Secretary Dr. Rajeev Mehta, Chapter Review Committee Chair Dinesh Mittal, GICC Co-Chair Prakash Shah, GOPIO Media Council Chair Nami Kaur and GOPIO Council on Seniors Chair Sudha Acharya. GOPIO discussed several other issues including providing assistance to NRIs/PIOs in need and joint programs with the consulate.

The Consulate on its part updated activities and services provided for the community. These include joint efforts with the community organizations as well as organized directly by the Consulate such as the India Lecture series. The Consul General reiterated that the KIP proposal presented by GOPIO to Sushma Swaraj had been accepted by the Ministry of External Affairs, and will start in Summer of 2018. This program caters to young PIOs around the world who have not visited India, to make that visit and get to know about the country of their origin.

GOPIO delegation brought the following issues to the attention of the Consulate: PIO youth participation from the US in Know India Program (KIP); High need for social services for the NRI/PIO community in the US; Growing need to address the mental health conditions within the Diaspora; PIOs being charged 10 times fees for off campus enrollment in  Universities; NRI/PIO Seniors experiencing hunger, loneliness and depression; and, Limited Consulate resources to attend NRI/PIO events e.g. Independence Day.

The biggest outcome of this meeting was the plan to launch Govt. of India’s Know Indian Program (KIP) for the 3rd and above generation US PIOs of age 18-30 who have not visited India before. More details of the selection process will come later. The meeting also decided to initiate several new programs with the Indian Consulate, especially in coordinating social services to needy NRIs/PIOs, health series talks and activities of GOPIO International Chamber of Commerce (GICC) hosting Indian business delegation.

The meeting ended with a positive discussion on how GOPIO can play an instrumental role to support the Indian Government’s objectives with respect to their nationals living abroad and helping the Indian Consulate to provide services to the Diaspora community.

Soor Aur Saptak, a group of Indian-American singers has planned a rollicking Bollywood style event Feb. 24, in Portland, Oregon, to raise funds for a foundation that treats visually impaired children in India.

In India, there are an estimated 400,000 blind children out of the 1.5 million around the world. It also notes that 75 percent of visual impairment is avoidable, in a world where there are some 217 million visually impaired and 36 million blind people.

“Recognizing the significance of sight for a child – which includes tremendous opportunities for education, socializing, productivity, and family life – Soor Aur Saptak dedicated their efforts to restoring vision for children in rural India,” the press release says. It chose Seva Foundation to channel the funds it raises because this organization has worked globally to eradicate visual  impairment and blindness, Soor Aur Saptak says.

Soor Aur Saptak, which means “Notes and Octaves” in Hindi, was founded in 2012, and held its first event in 2013, raising $6,500. But in 2017 the event raised more than $43,000 which enabled almost 69,000 children to have eye screenings, it said in a press release. “Selling out each year, bringing people together for an all-singing, all-dancing Bollywood evening continues to be a successful way to help raise awareness and funds for a good cause,” the group says. The Feb. 24 event will be held at the Sonrise Church in Hillsboro, Oregon.

The American India Foundation (AIF) Orange County chapter is expecting to raise $500,000 at their fifth annual gala on March 17, at the Pasea Resort in Huntington Beach, California. The gala will also be celebrating AIF’s contribution to India for 16 years under their five programs of education, livelihood, public health, leadership and gender focus.

The gala is expected to draw a crowd of over 300 local community professionals and will honor the achievements of Orange County contributors and highlight the success made by the OC contributions to the programs.

The evening will be filled with traditional Indian cuisine, a live performance by Molodi Live (as seen on Good Morning America) and a live auction featuring International travel packages, exclusive sporting opportunities, wine and culinary experience.

AIF’s Orange County Chapter was launched in the summer of 2013 with the aim of accelerating AIF’s mission of catalyzing social and economic change in India. Last year they raised over $400,000.

AIF is committed to catalyzing social and economic change in India and building a lasting bridge between the United States and India through high-impact interventions in education, livelihoods, public health, and leadership development. Its programming seeks to achieve gender equity through developing inclusive models that focus on and empower girls and women.

AIF was founded in 2001 by then President Bill Clinton following a suggestion from then Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee. AIF has raised more than $118 million and impacted some 3.7 million lives from across 24 states of India. Learn more about the people who make this a reality—our Board of Directors, Trustees, advisory councils, and international team of development professionals.

 Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, the CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), was the center of attention at the Bihar Jharkhand Association of North America’s (BJANA) first ever “BJANA Talk Show” held in Freehold, New Jersey on Friday, February 9.

Since UIDAI is the main agency of the Government of India which is responsible for implementing Aadhaar, the talk show focused on questions about Aadhaar, the complexity of maintaining privacy and implementation, and how it will reach to 1.2 billion Indians.

The talk show was attended by over dozens of BJANA members and streamlined live on Facebook. Vinay Singh, the president of BJANA, introduced Pandey giving a brief background of his education and success with Aadhaar.

The Facebook live was broadcasted to over 1,000 viewers who actively participated by sending their questions in for Pandey. In the past, Pandey has addressed the questions and concerns of Indian Americans about banking in India, property inheritance without Aadhaar and handling financial and investment accounts.

Today, Aadhaar is the most trusted ID and widely held unique identification system in India which has the facility of authentication online and offline anytime, anywhere. Aadhaar has empowered 1.19 billion Indians with a credible identity.

Nowadays, the fact is that Aadhaar inspires more confidence and trust between person-to-person and person-to-system than any other identity document in India. Almost every sixth person in the world holds an Aadhaar card.

Aadhaar—the 12 digit unique identification number—has tremendous potential to bring revolutionary transformation as it empowers people in myriad ways so that a sense of enhanced security and trust prevails in the life of people at large.

And all this is possible because of Aadhaar, its technology, its platform, its authentication infrastructure and its use as the verifiable identity. Aadhaar has enabled one-sixth population on this planet to prove irrepudiably that s/he is the one whom s/he claims to be and has brought in digital revolution in the life of every Indian.

True to its transformational potentials of cleansing the system of fakes, ghost and duplicates, Aadhaar has turned into a game changer in favour of poor. It has not only been able to create secure and safe environs where people can trust a person with his verifiable ID but has also been an instrument to curb black money, money-laundering, check on benami dealing and banking frauds, improved tax compliance, enhanced transparency in the system, hassle-free deliveries of service, ease of life and business, etc.

However, Aadhaar is often under attack from various quarters mainly on the misconceived grounds of surveillance or Orwellian design that may significantly alter the relationship between the state and the citizen, ill perceived data “breach” or leakages, so-called exclusions and denials, privacy invasion, etc. Let me dispel with due respect to the critics, some of the misperceptions.

At the onset, it is pertinent to know Social Security Number (SSN) story as to how one of the developed democracies United States of America introduced unique identification numbers to cleanse their system through an enactment in 1935 for a limited purpose of providing social security benefits during the Great Depression. Later, in 1942, it expanded the scope through an executive order which mandated all federal agencies to exclusively use SSN in their programs. In 1962, SSN was adopted as official Tax Identification Number (TIN) for income tax purposes. Further in 1976, Social Security Act was further amended to say that any State may, in the administration of any tax, general public assistance, driver’s license, or motor vehicle registration law utilize SSN for the purpose of establishing the identification of individuals and may require any individual to furnish SSN.

Chicago IL: The first ever launch of Ashley’s Music Foundation (also known as AMF) took place at the Tall Grass Clubhouse in Naperville, IL. Ashley’s Music Foundation, is a non-profit organization that was created by a very talented 16-year teenage singer Ashley Singh from Naperville to promote music programs in underprivileged schools in Chicago land area.

Ashley Singh is a junior at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, IL and has been a prominent member of the Waubonsie music program for the past 3 years. She is incredibly passionate about music, as she started training in Indian classical music at the age of 4. After learning various styles of singing for 12 years, she grew very fondly of music. She is fully convinced about the importance of music learning for young minds such as integration of left and right brain, concentration, self-confidence and self-identity. She herself is the beneficiary of leaning music and changes she has experienced in her life. She believes that music education should be an integral part of every child’s learning curriculum.

Nothing pains her the most when she hears that school districts cut back on music programs due to lack of funding and resources. To make a difference in the lives of children in those school districts who are struggling with their own music programs, Ashley decided to start her own music foundation. This foundation is dedicated to spread the love music education among young children. Ashley made it her mission to implement music programs in schools that did not have one, to inevitably help each student become more in tune with music, education, and their own identity. As a pilot program, AMF has started the music program at Excel Academy of Englewood under the name Matanoia Choir as pilot program in January 2018. She plans to extend the program to other schools on south side Chicago in the academic year 2018-2019.

The AMF launch began around 6pm, when all members of the community who came to support Ashley and her foundation. The event formally started with a lamp lighting ceremony and the honors were done by Ashley Singh, Rita Singh, Sanjeev Singh, MaCassa Johnson, Matthew Obrzut, Sunil Shah, Neil Khot, and Ashfaq Hussain Syed. After the lamp lighting ceremony, Ashley gave a powerful presentation on how music is so important and why every child should have access to music education. She also spoke about AMF and explained her mission for the foundation. MaCassa Johnson, who is the founder and executive director of State of Emerge-A-City and advisor of AMF, and Matthew Obrzut, the principal of the Excel Academy of Englewood also joined Ashley and spoke more about AMF mission, current activities and future plans. They shared how much the foundation is positively impacting the lives of the students in Excel Academy of Englewood. Following Ashley’s presentation, a video by the principal of Waubonsie Valley High School, Mr. JasonStipp, was played. Mr. Stipp unfortunately could not attend the event but wanted everyone to know how supportive he is of AMF and the foundation’s mission. The night ended when our community leaders, Sunil Shah, Neil Khot, and Clarence Welton shared their kind words and wishes for the future of AMF.

Ashley’s Music Foundation (AMF) was created in June of 2017 and continues to help students in Chicago Public Schools through the power of music. Partnered with the State of Emerge-A-City, a non-profit organization helping students through leadership programs and much more, AMF has already implemented a choir program into the Excel Academy of Englewood. This school acquires students from 15-21 years of age, each either having been expelled from their previous school or had aged out of their grade. Each student faces detrimental adversities like drug abuse, violence, and lack of security on a daily basis. So through the power of the gift of music, AMF strives for each of these misguided students to be geared towards a path of passion, dedication, and retention.  AMF’s mission is for every student in the Chicago land area to have access to a music program through their school. AMF emphasizes the importance of music and its goal is to raise awareness of this. Ashley Singh, founder and CEO of AMF, has been deeply affected by the fine arts and aspires to see other students be beneficially impacted in the same manner. For more information, please visit www.amfchicago.org

The landscape of relationships in America has shifted dramatically in recent decades. From cohabitation to same-sex marriage to interracial and interethnic marriage, here are eight facts about love and marriage in the United States.

1Love tops the list of Americans’ reasons to marry. About nine-in-ten Americans (88%) cited love as a very important reason to get married, ahead of making a lifelong commitment (81%) and companionship (76%), according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey. Fewer said having their relationship recognized in a religious ceremony (30%), financial stability (28%) or legal rights and benefits (23%) were very important reasons to marry.

However, being a good financial provider was seen as particularly important for men to be a good husband or partner, according to a 2017 survey by the Center. About seven-in-ten adults (71%) said it was very important for a man to be able to support a family financially to be a good husband or partner, while just 32% said the same for a woman to be a good wife or partner.

As far as what helps people stay married, married adults said in a 2015 survey that having shared interests (64%) and a satisfying sexual relationship (61%) were very important to a successful marriage. More than half (56%) also named sharing household chores.

2Half of Americans ages 18 and older were married in 2016, a share that has remained relatively stable in recent years but is down 9 percentage points over the past quarter-century. One factor driving this change is that Americans – particularly men – are staying single longer. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2017, the median age at first marriage had reached its highest point on record: 29.5 years for men and 27.4 years for women.

Marriage declined most among those with a high school diploma or less education. In 1990, 63% of this group were married; by 2015, that had dropped to 50%. In contrast, 65% of those ages 25 and older with at least a four-year college degree were married in 2015.

As the U.S. marriage rate has declined, divorce rates have increased among older Americans. In 2015, for every 1,000 married adults ages 50 and older, 10 had divorced – up from five in 1990. Among those ages 65 and older, the divorce rate roughly tripled since 1990.

3The number of U.S. adults cohabiting with a partner is on the rise. In addition to the half of U.S. adults who are married, 7% were cohabiting in 2016. The number of Americans living with an unmarried partner reached about 18 million in 2016, up 29% since 2007. Roughly half of cohabiters are younger than 35 – but cohabitation is rising most quickly among Americans ages 50 and older.

4Remarriage is on the rise. In 2013, 23% of married people had been married before, compared with just 13% in 1960. Four-in-ten new marriages in 2013 included a spouse who had said “I do” (at least) once before, and in 20% of new marriages both spouses had been married at least once before.

Remarriage is more common among men than women. Among previously married men (those who were ever divorced or widowed), 64% took a second walk down the aisle, compared with 52% of previously married women, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of 2013 Census Bureau data. One possible reason for this disparity is that women are less interested than men in remarrying. Among previously married women, 54% said in a 2014 Pew Research Center survey that they did not want to marry again, compared with 30% of men.

5One-in-six newlyweds (17%) were married to someone of a different race or ethnicity in 2015.This reflects a steady increase in intermarriage since 1967, when just 3% of newlyweds were intermarried, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center analysis.

While Asian (29%) and Hispanic (27%) newlyweds are most likely to intermarry in the U.S., the most dramatic increases in intermarriage have occurred among black newlyweds, 18% of whom married someone of a different race or ethnicity, up from 5% in 1980. About one-in-ten white newlyweds (11%) are married to someone of a different race or ethnicity.

Intermarriage is more common in certain metropolitan areas, as well as in urban rather than rural areas. For example, 42% of newlyweds in Honolulu were intermarried – by far the largest share of the 126 metropolitan areas analyzed. By contrast, about 3% of newlyweds in Jackson, Mississippi, and Asheville, North Carolina, married someone of a different race or ethnicity.

6. Public support for same-sex marriage has grown in the past 10 years. In 2007, Americans opposed legalizing same-sex marriage by a margin of 54% to 37%. In 2017, more favored (62%) than opposed (32%) allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally.

Surveys conducted by Gallup found that about one-in-ten LGBT Americans (10%) were married to a same-sex spouse in 2017. Now, a majority (61%) of all same-sex couples who live together are married.

7. Sizable minorities of married people are members of a different religious group than their significant other or identify with a different political party. About four-in-ten Americans (39%) who have married since 2010 have a spouse who is in a different religious group, compared with only 19% of those who wed before 1960, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center survey. Many of these interfaith marriages are between Christians and those who are religiously unaffiliated.

Meanwhile, marriages and partnerships across political party lines are relatively rare in the U.S. Large majorities of members of both political parties say their spouse or partner belongs to the same party. In 2016, 77% of both Republicans and Democrats who were married or living with a partner said their spouse or partner was in the same party.

8. Americans are increasingly looking for love online. A total of 15% of American adults have used online dating sites and/or mobile dating apps, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, up from 11% who reported doing soin 2013. Roughly four-in-ten Americans (41%) know someone who uses online dating, and 29% know someone who has entered a long-term relationship via online dating.

The growth in online dating can be seen particularly among young adults. The share of 18- to 24-year-olds who use online dating has almost tripled in recent years, from 10% in 2013 to 27% in 2015. Mobile dating apps are partly responsible of this increase: 22% of 18- to 24-year-olds now report using mobile dating apps, up from just 5% in 2013.

For the most part, people today view online dating positively. About six-in-ten (59%) say it is a good way to meet people, and 47% agree that it is easier and more efficient than other ways of meeting people.

“We, retired civil servants belonging to different Services and batches, wish to register our deep concern at the continuing incidents of mindless violence in the country, especially those targeting the minorities, and the lackadaisical response of the law enforcement machinery to these attacks.

The killing of Mohammed Afrazul, a migrant worker from West Bengal in Rajsamand, Rajasthan, on the 25th Anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid has deeply shaken each of us. The recording of the brutal act on video and the circulation of the justification for the killing over the internet cuts at the roots of an inclusive and pluralistic society drawing its inspiration from the teachings of Buddha, Mahavira, Ashoka, Akbar, the Sikh Gurus, Hindu Sages and Gandhi. The violent incidents in Udaipur in support of the alleged killer are a pointer to how deep the sectarian poison has spread among the population of this country.

In the last nine months, we have seen the death of Pehlu Khan on 3rd April after he was attacked by a crowd of so called Gau Rakshaks near Behror, Alwar, on 1st of April. The killers named by him have not been arrested so far. However, seven others have been arrested and subsequently let off on bail.

The second killing on 16th of June of Zafar Khan was in the name of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The Municipal Chairman and other Safai Karmacharis in Pratapgarh reportedly beat him to death while he was opposing the naming and shaming process for making Pratapgarh open defecation- free. There is no arrest so far with the police claiming that Zafar Khan died of a heart attack.

The third killing in June 2017, was that of 16-year-old Junaid Khan on a train returning after Eid shopping in Delhi following a dispute over seats on the train when following abuses and insults he was stabbed and thrown out of the train at Asoti station, where he bled to death.

Following an outcry against this incident both within and outside India, the Prime Minister made a statement that “killing people in the name of ‘Gau bhakti’ is unacceptable”. He repeated this once again a day before the Parliamentary session started on 15th of July, 2017, at an all India meeting of the BJP, where he placed the onus on taking stringent action in these cases on the State governments. However, the killings continue without any check.

The fourth killing happened on 27th August, 2017, when Anwar Hussain and Hafizul Sheikh, both 19 years of age, who were transporting cattle purchased from Dhupguri in West Bengal to Tufangunj in Cooch Behar. As they got lost on the way, a mob accosted them in the early hours and when they could not pay the 50,000 rupees demanded of them, beat them both to death. Though three persons were arrested for the lynching, efforts to identify others in the mob have not produced any result so far.

The fifth killing happened on 10th of November, 2017, when Umair Khan and his friends transporting cows were fired on by so called Gau Rakshaks in Govindgarh Tehsil in Alwar district. Umair Khan was killed and his body was carried to the railway track in an attempt to destroy all evidence. Of the seven killers only two were arrested. However, two of the victims, Tahir and Jawed, were placed behind bars.

The Indian Express of December 25 quotes a BJP MLA from Rajasthan – Gyan Dev Ahuja of Ramgarh – who said that “if one engages in cow smuggling or slaughters a cow, he will be killed.” Such language is an open incitement to violence, acts of which are slowly poisoning the body politic and examples of which are listed above. Such words and actions have no place in a civilized society and fly in the face of established jurisprudence. Vigilantism is let loose upon a hapless group with all its tragic consequences.

Apart from the murders, we are deeply concerned to see the acceleration of a process of ghettoization through organized resistance to sale of properties to Muslims, or refusal by owners to have them as tenants. A recent case reported in the media relates to prevention of a Muslim buyer to take possession of a house in the Maliwara locality of Meerut that he had paid for. The daily indignities that the Muslims face in this and many other ways is bound to lead to an atmosphere of resentment in that religious community that will further vitiate an already poisoned environment. The “love-jihad” campaigns of right-wing Hindu groups are again symptomatic of the efforts by extremist elements of the majority religion to interfere in the basic constitutional rights of citizens to enter into marriage with a partner of their choice.

In the past few weeks in December, we are witness to increasing targeting of Christians around the observation of Christmas. On 15th of December, police detained groups singing carols in Satna. When a group of priests went to make enquiries, they were also reportedly detained by the police. In Uttar Pradesh, the Hindu Jagran Manch warned Christian schools in Aligarh against observing Christmas. In Rajasthan, members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad allegedly stormed a Christmas function on the grounds that this was an attempt at forced conversion.

We seek now and without delay a clear response from the Hon’ble Prime Minister and his government on these issues, along with immediate and firm action against the perpetrators of such hate crimes against minorities in this country by the respective law enforcement authorities.

These recent incidents undermine our Constitutional values and weaken the rule of law to create a new normal in society. Our existing laws provide adequate protection if they are implemented with the necessary will and determination. Legal protection alone however is not a solution when the communal virus has already spread far and wide in the society. It is essential for each of us as individuals to reflect on the repercussions of a situation where the present trends could threaten the peace and cohesion that is a fundamental pre- requisite for our growth and development. And for all of us, most of all for those who belong to the majority community, to go beyond mere reflection, to stand up, oppose and publicly condemn the communalization of our society and our country.”
– (The above letter written to the Prime Minister was signed by dozens of Civil Servants from across India)

Rights group’s world report accuses BJP-led government of promoting Hindu supremacy and ultra-nationalism

Source: UCAN

Civil society groups in India have backed a Human Rights Watch report that condemns the unabated violence that religious minorities suffer at the hands of right-wing Hindu groups.

India’s federal government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has failed to contain rights violations on several fronts, according to the New York-based group’s 2018 World Report.

“The government failed to promptly or credibly investigate the attacks, while many senior BJP leaders publicly promoted Hindu supremacy and ultra-nationalism, which encouraged further violence,” said the Human Rights Watch report.

An increasing threat in 2017 was “vigilante violence aimed at religious minorities, marginalized communities and critics of the government” by groups claiming to support the ruling party, it said.

The report listed several cases of violations including army excesses in the disputed Kashmir region and unequal treatment of India’s indigenous and Dalit people, who were formerly considered untouchable.

“Dissent was labeled anti-national, and activists, journalists and academics were targeted for their views, chilling free expression,” the report said.

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told reporters after the report’s release that Indian authorities have proved unwilling to protect minority religious communities and other vulnerable groups from frequent attacks.

Those responsible for such attacks need to be prosecuted to prevent future attacks, she said.

The report confirms what Indians have been witnessing in the past four years since the BJP government came to power, said Pravin Mishra of human rights organization Jan Sangharsh Manch (people’s resistance forum).

“India is passing through a very turbulent period. Such violence against minorities was never witnessed since the partition of the Subcontinent in 1947,” Mishra told ucanews.com.

The BJP now rules 19 of India’s 29 states and “one can see the graph of violence against Muslims, Christians and Dalits has spiraled specifically in BJP-ruled states,” Mishra said.

P.T. John, general secretary of a tea planters’ union in the southern state of Kerala, told ucanews.com that the government makes no effort to protect minorities.

“Hindu groups who keep targeting minorities defend their actions while protecting themselves as nationalists. They are making a mockery of the law and of the country’s Supreme Court,” John said.

Dalit leader Vinay Kumar, a member of the National Federation for Dalit Land in India, told ucanews.com that oppression of minorities is nothing new in India but it has deepened since the BJP came to power.

Hindu hardliners often present Christians and Muslims as foreigners in India, which belongs to only Hindus. “With such a mindset in place, how can minorities feel secure in the country?” Kumar asked.

Right-wing Hindu groups were once dismissed as “fringe elements” but they cannot be considered so any more as the ruling party depends on their support and attacks have become regular.

Hindus in India number 966 million in a population of 1.2 billion, but Muslims are a considerable minority as they form 172 million. Christians are hardly 28 million and constitute less than one percent in most northern states, where they mostly face violence from Hindu groups.

Persecution Relief, an ecumenical Christian forum that monitors persecution, claims it recorded 600 incidents in 2017 of violence on Christians, including destruction of churches, threats and harassment, social boycotts, hate campaigns, abductions, murder, physical violence and attempted murder.

FIA swears-in a new energized team of leaders

By Asian Media USA ©

Chicago IL: Federation of Indian Associations [FIA] Chicago hosted a grand Indian Republic Day Gala replete with colorful celebrations encompassing traditional, patriotic and stunning contemporary dance presentations remarkably depicting the beautiful majestic elements and soul of India that which was enhanced further by the presence of Consul General of India Neeta Bhushan, legendary Sarod maestro & Padma Vibhushan Sri. Amjad Ali Khan along with wife Subhalakshmi and sons Amaan Ali Bangash, Ayaan Ali Bangash – all fused into an extraordinarily memorable Republic Day celebrations on Friday January 26, 2018 at the Meadows Convention Center in Rolling Meadows, IL.

The highlight of the evening’s celebrations was the swearing-in ceremony of the FIA Executive Board: Sanhita Agnihotri as new FIA President with Executive Vice President Pradeep Shukla, Vice Presidents: Harish Kolasani, Secretary: Saloni Dar, Treasurer: Satish Dadepogu, Joint Secretary: Chris Aryan, Joint Treasurer: Raj Patel and host of Directors Yoga Balaji, Vijender Doma, Shafeeq Khaja and Shabana constituting the newly elected board for 2018-2019.

Chief Guest Consul General of India Neeta Bhushan in her address conveyed her heartfelt Republic Day greetings and congratulated FIA-Chicago for hosting an impressive event in celebration of the Republic of India. Consul General Neeta Bhushan fondly recalled her first attendance at FIA’s Indian Republic Day event in 2017 as the Chief Guest and said she is pleased to be in attendance again in 2018. Legendary Sarod Maestro & Padma VIbhushan Amjad Ali Khan extended warm greetings on the occasion of India’s Republic Day event.

FIA President Sanhita Agnihotri in her debut presidential address unveiled bold ambitious plans to steer FIA in a new direction by launching more meaningful program initiatives significant to the Indian American community. She said the new team teeming with renewed sense of aspirational zeal is determined to help lay foundations to take FIA in a new direction to restore its rich and glorious past.  FIA President Sanhita Agnihotri waxed eloquence with Hindi couplets and expressly thanked Consul General of India Ms. Neeta Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan Amjad Ali Khan for their valued presence and as a token of appreciation presented silk shawls in demonstrating FIA’s appreciation.

The evening celebrations predominantly encompassed breathtaking dance presentations especially an epic ballet dance presentation facilitated by Harish Kolasani with 32-members dancing in unison and harmony adulating India’s ‘Unity in Diversity’ theme hailing India’s landscape of mountain ranges, vast rivers, dark forests, stream, sandy deserts its colorful diversity of people of all castes, creeds, faiths each complimenting the union of India. This dance was choreographed by Rina Thakur of RinaRockers, Jelena Mitchell of Art Ballet of Conservatory and Shanti Johnson of Yoga Planting. Each dance presentations capturing the spirit and essence of India were stunning and some even breathtaking with each performance amazing the audience eliciting extended applause.

Keerthi Kumar Ravoori, FIA Trustee urged the guests to pause on this Republic Day to salute the vanguard of freedom fighters who have shown their  valor to secure emancipation from the colonial rule and achieve Independence which eventually enabled India to attain its sovereign Democratic Republic. Pradeep Shukla, Executive Vice President and Minhaj Akhtar, FIA Trustee intermittently spoke acknowledging the generous sponsorships and publicly thanked Mr. Iftekhar Shareef, CEO of National Bankcard Corporation, Mrs. Malini, Midwest Manager of Air-India, Mr. Syed Hussaini of Win Trust Bank, Mr. Iftekhar and Bernard of MB Bank were acknowledged for their generous sponsorships.

Dr. Vijay Prabhakar, President of Multi Ethnic Task Force thanked FIA for hosting phenomenal gala in commemoration of India’s Republic and went on to introduce Christ Kennedy Junior. Young Chris Kennedy Jr. [Grandnephew of late John F Kennedy] son of Chris Kennedy spoke at length about his family of leaders who have paved the way laying bridges of enduring friendship between United States and India.

The evening concluded with a musical concert presented by Saurin & Foram Thakkar who belted out some of the wide array of Bollywood’s hits that spurred spontaneous dancing from the couples who lingered late into the night of celebration.

‘Sastha Preethi,’ a program organized by New York Namasankeerthanam Group was celebrated at Kubera Hall attached to the Flushing- Queens, Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Temple on Sunday -Jan 7th, 2018.

‘Sastha Preethi’ , as the name suggests, is the worship of Sree Dharma Sastha for the blessing of his divine grace. Lord Sastha, also popularly known as Lord Ayyappa is known to be the off-spring of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu (as Mohini, in his female form). The most famous and well known shrine of Lord Sastha is the Sabarimala [1] (mountain) situated at Kerala, India. Every year millions of  devotees visit this shrine and seek the blessings of the Lord mainly during the Tamil months of Karthigai and Margazhi  (Nov-Jan ) period with great austerity and devotion.

The half-day event comprised a MahaGanapati  Homam, Japam, Rudrabhishekam, Ayyppa Sahasranamarchana, Bhajan and Annadhanam.

The event highlight was Little Girls under the age group of (8 to 12) performed outstanding bhajans for around 2 hours under the guidance of Guru Tiruvarur A. Radhakrishnan. Sabarimala is a Hindu pilgrimage center located at the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghat mountain ranges of Pathanamthitta District, Perunad grama panchayat in Kerala, India. It is one of the largest annual pilgrimages in the world with an estimated 45-50 million devotees visiting every year.

The Sastha Preethi Pooja created an incredible environment and filled the air with holy blessings according to the devotees who attended the program. If you need more information on the Jan 07 event, please contact Madhavan Krishnamachari  at kmadhavan@hotmail.com.

SAMAR (South Asian Marrow Association of Recruiters), a legacy recruitment group of the Be The Match national registry which helps donate blood marrow samples, recently honored donors at their Silver Jubilee celebration held on the auspicious day of Lohri, Makar Sankrant, Bihu and Pongal.

Those who attended the event included long-time supporter Anil Bansal, Freeholder Shanti Narra who chairs the Middlesex County’s Public Safety, some prominent members of the community, patients, donors and board members including the founders Rafiya and Moazzam Khan.

 “An oasis of hope is how the patients and their families refer to SAMAR. It is not just an empty acronym but also a reservoir of dedicated activity to bring solace and comfort to patients diagnosed with leukemia and other fatal blood disorders,” said Khan. Attendees were invited to participate in an interactive session and brainstorm ideas for the year, where the key topic was awareness.

While many suggested spreading awareness through social media to develop strong partnerships with educational, cultural and business institutions, increasing registration of volunteers, others suggested having lunch and learning programs at universities and corporations.

The celebration concluded with all of the attendees agreeing to take measures that would enhance patient survival through awareness and keeping these meetings periodically for the betterment and progress of SAMAR, according to a press release.

SAMAR was started by Rafiya Peerbhoy Khan in 1992 and was initially meant to reach out to and register the severely underrepresented South Asian ethnic group.

SAMAR’s mission is to facilitate a process of education, tissue typing and donor registry enrollment as a means to ensure that no global citizen is ever denied a lifesaving blood stem cell/marrow transplant solely due to the lack of a genetically specific donor, according to their website.

“We serve patients who need a blood stem cell/marrow transplant for leukemia, lymphoma, fatal blood disorders, and other conditions requiring a cellular transplant for a cure. Our focus is all patients requiring blood stem cell/marrow transplants from all races and ethnicities,” it states on the website. In its 25 years, SAMAR (www.samarinfo.org) has registered over 100,000 volunteer marrow donors, served 400 patients and facilitated 250 transplants all over the world including India.

“Hinduism is in danger. It is in danger from a belief, an ideology called Hindutva, which has divided Indians into Hindus and others,” said Nayantara Sahgal, at the onset of a discussion on author parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor’s new book ‘Why I Am A Hindu’. That set the mood of the conversation between Tharoor and poet Arundhathi Subramaniam.

The author-politician admitted that while his book addresses issues that he has been thinking about since childhood and has written about before, “increasingly as political Hinduism in the form of Hindutva came front and centre of our public discourse, it has became more and more necessary to challenge the uncontested assumption that the only Hinduism is the Sanghiwadi’s branch of Hinduism, which it is not.”

“I knew the vast majority of Hindus didn’t share the politics of Hindutva or even some of the not-so-benign assumptions of Hindutva, whereas they are proud of their Hinduism and practice the faith,” he said.

 “The acceptance of difference goes to the heart of Hinduism,” Tharoor said offering an example of what he has seen being practiced at home by his own father. A devout man, he would go straight from his bath to the prayer room but never obliged anyone else at home to join him. “It was an early lesson in the Hindu idea that prayer or worship was between you and your idea of your maker. And if I wanted to pray or worship I had to find my truth,” he said.

Tharoor believes that character of Hinduism – a religion that allowed one choice as well as the right to question – is the right one for a modern democracy. “How such a wonderfully capricious faith, so open, so liberal can be reduced by some into a badge of identity akin to that of the British football hooligans, I don’t know, but I don’t want any part of it,” he said.

Referring to the ideas of people like Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi, as well as some pioneers of the idea of Hindutva including MS Golwalkar and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, he stated: “We are living in a country where, on the one hand, the Prime Minister says the Constitution is his holy book and on the other hand, he extols as a hero and instructs his ministry to study the works and writings and teachings of a man, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, who explicitly rejects the Constitution and who says the Constitution is fundamentally flawed.”

Amidst repeated applause from the audience Tharoor said that those who accuse him of advertising his faith for political reasons don’t know that his book is a result of years of reflection. “At least for two-three generations of Hindus I knew, including mine, would practice the faith in private but would find it unseemly to depict it in public. That was the Hindu way,” he said. As a result, space had been ceded to “those who were not only willingly to advertise their Hindutva, but claim it is the only way of being Hindu”. Tharoor believes it is time for “other Hindus to take back our faith.” This, he stated, is what his book sought to do.

A new green index has ranked India the fourth worst country worldwide in curbing environmental pollution. According to the latest global Environmental Performance Index (EPI) rankings released on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meet in Davos, India is at 177th spot — down from 141st position two years ago — in the list of 180 countries.

The EPI ranks 180 countries on 24 performance indicators across 10 issue categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality.

“India and Bangladesh come in near the bottom of the rankings, with Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nepal rounding out the bottom five,” said the latest biennial report by the Yale and Columbia universities in collaboration with the WEF.

The report said that low ranking of the emerging economies — China (120) and India — reflect “the strain population pressures and rapid economic growth impose on the environment”.

The report said substantial populations still suffer from poor air quality, most notably in India, China, and Pakistan (169).

“Low scores on the EPI are indicative of the need for national sustainability efforts on a number of fronts, especially cleaning up air quality, protecting biodiversity and reducing GHG (green house gas) emissions,” said the report.

It said some of the lowest-ranking nations face “broader challenges (like) civil unrest but the low scores for others can be attributed to weak governance”.

The report has found that air quality was the leading environmental threat to public health worldwide. Switzerland leads the world in sustainability, followed by France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden.

The index offers not only a snapshot of where countries stand but also “reflects important trends in environmental performance at both the national and global levels”.

It said the global community was generally improving on a number of issues, such as health outcomes related to drinking water and sanitation and protection of marine ecosystems, while on other issues significant challenges remained.

“As the world community pursues new sustainable development goals, policymakers need to know who is leading and who is lagging on energy and environmental challenges,” Daniel C. Esty, director of the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy and the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University.

“The 2018 EPI confirms that success with regard to sustainable development requires both economic progress that generates the resources to invest in environmental infrastructure and careful management of industrialization and urbanisation that can lead to pollution that threatens both public health and ecosystems.”

‘Master of None’ chosen to compete in category of directorial achievement

Comedian Aziz Ansari picked up two nominations for the 70th annual Directors Guild of America Awards in the outstanding directorial achievement in a comedy series category with his Netflix series “Master of None.”While Ansari is nominated for the episode”The Thief,” which he directed, Melina Matsoukas has also made it into the category for the “Thanksgiving” episode of the same series. Other nominees include Mike Judge of the Kumail Nanjiani-starrer “Silicon Valley,” Beth McCarthy-Miller of “Veep,” and Amy Sherman-Palladino, for an episode of Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

The “Master of None” creator and actor has been caught in a sexual harassment scandal since an expose on the feminist website Babe.net broke out last week, where a 23-year-old New York woman, identified in the report as Grace, accuses him of sexually exploiting her. Ansari, 34, who became the first Indian-American to win best actor at the Golden Globes, is the latest in a long line of powerful men in Hollywood to be recently accused of sexual misconduct, triggering a debate about what constitutes an awkward sexual encounter versus sexual misconduct.

The standup comedian was conspicuously absent at the Screen Actors Guild awards held Jan. 21 in Los Angeles, California. A notable lack of applause after Ansari’s name was announced reminded audience of the severity of the accusations. He was nominated for his role in the Netflix series “Master of None” and was pitted against Anthony Anderson, Larry David, Sean Hayes, William H. Macy and Marc Maron. The award ultimately went to Macy for his role in “Shameless.”

However it is not all downhill for Ansari. He once again made his way into The Hollywood Reporter’s Top Comedians chart dated Jan. 24. The Top Comedians chart is a ranking of the most popular comedians on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Google Plus with global data provided by social media analytics company MVPindex. The chart’s methodology blends social engagement on the platforms along with weekly additions of followers/subscribers. The latest tracking week ended Jan. 16. Ansari re-entered the chart at number 9. Ansari also got support from actor and fellow comedian Joel McHale, who said he felt like the episode was consensual, the Daily Mail reported.

“The Doctor From India,” a film about Dr. Vasant Lad, the first Indian American Ayurvedic Doctor in the U.S., will premiere at the 2018 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

The feature-length documentary from India has been acquired by Zeitgeist Films who will market and release the film theatrically and Kino Lorber who will handle home entertainment, according to Deadline.

The film, directed by Jeremy Frindel, follows the story of Lad’s mission to bring the Ayurveda, the ancient healthcare system of wellness, from India to the United States in the late 1970s.

Along with documenting Lad’s story, the documentary features Indian American author and Ayurvedic practitioner Deepak Chopra and other interviewees talking about Ayurveda.

Before coming to the U.S., Lad was a professor of clinical medicine at the Pune University College of Ayurvedic Medicine for 15 years.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Ayurvedic medicine and surgery from the University of Pune and a master’s degree in Ayurvedic science from Tilak Ayurved Mahavidyalaya.

His academic and practical training include the study of Allopathy (western medicine) and surgery as well as traditional Ayurveda.

In 1984, Lad founded The Ayurvedic Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico which moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, two years later where he is now the director of the institute. Lad has written 11 books on Ayurveda as well as hundreds of articles and other writings, his work has been translated into more than 20 languages.

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY (January 18, 2018) — The Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, a non-profit organization that promotes religious understanding in schools, workplaces, health care settings and regions of armed conflict across the globe has been awarded Hofstra University’s 2018 Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize, President Stuart Rabinowitz announced here last week.

The Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, founded 25 years ago and based in Lower Manhattan, offers programs and resources providing educators, physicians and corporate leaders with practical tools for addressing religious differences and creating cultures that respect religious diversity. It was founded in 1992 by Dr. Georgette F. Bennett, in memory of her late husband, Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, a humanitarian interfaith leader.

Through its Peacemakers in Action Network, Tanenbaum also facilitates and supports collaborations by a network of individuals from varied religious traditions who promote grassroots and interfaith peacebuilding efforts in armed conflicts around the world. The Network currently consists of 28 individuals from 23 regions.

“Tanenbaum is an extraordinary organization that embodies the principles of Guru Nanak,” said President Rabinowitz. “Tanenbaum empowers people with concrete strategies that lead to greater religious understanding and inclusion in societal institutions.”

Tanenbaum is also an inaugural member of the now 330+ participant CEO Action Diversity and Inclusion movement, and is in the third year of its public education campaign Combating Extremism, which aims to dispel stereotypes, inspire interreligious respect, and provide trustworthy information about current religion-related issues.

Said Dean Benjamin Rifkin of Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: “Tanenbaum’s accomplishments and mission are a perfect manifestation of the vision for this award, which is based on the conviction that we have much to learn from the traditions of others.”

The $50,000 Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize is bestowed every two years to recognize significant work to increase interfaith understanding. The award will be formally presented to the Tanenbaum Center at a banquet in April 2018.

The first Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize was awarded in 2008 to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Since then, eight individuals and organizations have been recognized with the Guru Nanak prize.

“Receiving the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize is an honor of the highest order,” said Tanenbaum CEO Joyce S. Dubensky. “To be recognized as an advocate for the same values embodied by Guru Nanak—justice, equality, respect and compassion—is an affirmation of everything Tanenbaum seeks to achieve.”

The Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize was established in 2006 by Ishar Bindra and family and named for the founder of the Sikh religion. It is meant to encourage understanding of various religions and encourage cooperation between faith communities. Guru Nanak believed that all humans are equal, regardless of color, ethnicity, nationality or gender.

In September 2000, the Bindra family endowed the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies at Hofstra University in honor of the family’s matriarch. Tejinder Bindra, speaking on behalf of the Bindra Family, noted when the award was inaugurated that Guru Nanak espoused a message of universal brotherhood at a time of increasing religious intolerance during 15th and 16th century India.

“It is in this spirit that the Guru Nanak Prize was initiated,” Bindra said. “If one can experience that universality then there is absolutely no room left for differences in race, color, caste, creed, religion or gender, and then as the Sikh scripture tells us ‘I see no stranger’.”

“The awardees may or may not be Sikh and may represent any of the multitudes of faiths or, for that matter, even no particular faith at all,” he said. “It is their dedication that brings humankind to their shared destiny, common purpose and roots that they honor.”

Asian Media USA ©

Chicago: Telugu Association of Greater Chicago (First Telugu association in North America) celebrated Makara Sankranti and India Republic Day with Chicago land area Telugu families at the HTGC Rama Temple Auditorium, Lemont IL.The event was a grand success with an overwhelming response from the Telugu community with over 1000 guests in attendance. The event was conducted on 13th January, 2018 from 3:00PM to 10PM. TAGC Board has decided to do this event with all local talent promoting the Telugu culture, traditions and encouraged youth to preserve traditions. The response from the Telugu community was tremendous as per Membership committee chair Mr. Praveen Vemulapalli more than 1000 guests were attending the event even during the Cold climate in Chicago. On behalf of all TAGC, We wish all our community a happy Makara Sankranthi and advanced Republic Day wishes.

The cultural programs included more than 30 programs with 330 local talents, followed by Chicago famous singers Praveen Jaligama garu, Sailaja garu and Madhavi Merugu garu who entertained audiences with different movie songs.

TAGC President-elect Ramu Billakanti garu welcomed and wished good health, prosperity and wealth to all the guests on behalf of President Jyothi Chintalapani garu. President garu thanked all Sponsors, Volunteers and encouraged to take membership by all attendees.

The program started with Lord Ganesha prayer along with the cultural team and Board of Directors. In the Sankranti and India Republic cultural event 330 participants performed a variety of programs and shows keeping the audience entertained and involved. The program highlight was Men’s skit “Pandu gadi Kotu Gola” and Women’s skit “Mahillallu – Maharanulu”

TAGC President elect thanked and congratulated Cultural Committee Chair Ranga Reddy Lenkala Co- chair Swetha Janamanchi and Uma Avadhuta team members and volunteers who worked for more than 8 weeks to make the event grand success.

Audience was enthusiastic to see all decorations throughout the Auditorium. Bommalla Koluvu, Kite decoration, Harvest Crop themes was a special attraction according to Decorations Committee Chair Mrs. Vani Yetrintala. There was also competitions on Sankranthi theme and Muggulu potti. Gifts were distributed for the Competition winners by Sponsors along with on-spot gift cards for kids who answered correctly about Sankranti and Telugu culture.

TAGC Sankranthi cultural Celebration also included delicious dinner served by Volunteers.. In food “Ghee Ariselu” became the top attraction, which was specially brought from India. Along with Ariselu, more than 10 items were served which include Pongal, Indian Peas curry, Vada and Pizza for kids. Volunteer team led by Food Chair Mr. Srinivas Kandru has streamlined the process and made the lines disappear with minimal wait for more than 1000 guests within an hour. TAGC Board thanked Bawarchi restaurant for providing a tasty food with lot of varieties for a nominal price.

All the board members, various committee chairs/co-chairs, volunteers under the direction of the current President Mrs. Jyothi Chinthalapani, President-elect Mr. Ram Billakanti worked hard with dedication, passion and great enthusiasm to make first event grand successful and memorable with festive experience to guests and participants who attended the event. Youth Volunteers helped in the event in membership validation, ticket distribution and Food serving. All the event was driven by volunteers and did a smooth execution.

Asian Media USA ©

Chicago IL: Entertainment, Elegance and Excitement were the words to describe the NYE 2018 at Ashyana Banquets in Downers Grove, IL last week. It may have been a cold night outside but inside of venue was buzzing with frenzy. Sunil Shah of New York Life and Anil Loomba of Home Mortgage Solutions together grand sponsored the event which was organized by Pratibha Jairath.

 People were impressed from Mr. Surinder Jain of Ashyana Banquets for providing excellent customer service, decor and extraordinary variety of menu. Chair covers, center pieces, neon up lights and a warm smile with personal attention was clearly welcoming.

Raju Bankapur and Pratibha Jairath, the well-known local singers of Chicago, started the entertainment section by performing the dance medleys of new numbers such as Channa mereya, Rashke kamar, Kala Chashma, High heels, Zaalima, Lungi dance, Laila main Laila and so many more.

The Loomba couple who had hosted the ‘VIP meet and Greet’ night for Jinal Pandya and producer Bobby Scott, were in Great Spirits and the first couple to come to the dance floor when the live singing started. They were followed by Mr. & Mrs. Brij Sharma and them within minutes several people came to dance floor. It was good to see that the dance floor had no room left.

Jairath, the emcee of the evening created another surge of excitement when she announced the entrance of the celebrity Jinal Pandya. At first she asked Ms Pandya, about her experiences in Bollywood with making of Hungama 2 and Amrapali 2 with Sanjay Dutt. Then upon public demand, the beautiful actress charmed the audience with her amazing dance performance. Continuing the entertainment segment, the next item was the dance from Belly dancer who performed on Maiya Maiya song with candelabra on her head.

The eagerness to celebrate the NYE was evident by watching audience rush to floor as soon as DJ Sahil started his dance numbers. ‘Great Job’, exclaimed a guest of Mr. Noor Tejani of Midwest Sliver club who brought close to 100 people. Mrs. Vishnu Padma Reddy, who was glowing in her pink outfit and dazzling smile was pleased that she brought close to 80 people and they were thoroughly enjoying the celebration. Mr. Sunil Shah and Ms. Lubna Eliaz were also personally applauded for bringing a lot of esteemed VIP guests and friends.

Men and women were dressed elegant and graceful for the occasion. Talented and Energetic Mr. Suresh Bodiwala was clicking away and guiding folks to capture the best pictures for the event which is his trademark. He starts the event with email blast and finish with his photography and media release. Party favors were distributed and folks were ready with champagne glasses to toast and welcome New Year. Grand sponsors, organizer and Ms Jinal Pandya were on stage toasting to New Year 2018. The balloon drop showered audience who were on dance floor. People danced and dined all through evening into late hours wishing each other Happy New Year.

The rock carving – known to be the earliest form of human expression – found in Burzahama region in Kashmir is on an irregular stone slab with a size of about 48 cm by 27 cm. In an interesting find, Indian astrophysicists have unearthed a nearly 5,000-year-old rock carving in Kashmir which, they believe, is the oldest record of supernova and sky chart found in human history.

The rock carving – known to be the earliest form of human expression – found in Burzahama region in Kashmir is on an irregular stone slab with a size of about 48 cm by 27 cm. The figure shows two bright objects in the sky with rays of light coming out of them and a hunter spearing an animal below the first object.

There is another animal to the left of the hunter drawn above the hunter’s spear, representing a hunting scene. The two objects are a pair of bright stars at the local zenith at the beginning of the hunting season.

The two objects cannot be Sun and Moon since, with such proximity to the Sun, the Moon would be in a partial phase around the new and hence not very bright, said researchers led by Hrishikesh Joglekar from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai.

“The stone drawing is a complete sky chart of the night on which the Supernova was first observed by unknown observers around 4,500 BC,” Joglekar said in a statement on Tuesday.

A supernova is a transient astronomical event that occurs during the last stellar evolutionary stages of a massive star’s life, whose dramatic and catastrophic destruction is marked by one final titanic explosion.

The researchers had ruled out the possibility that the observed object is a star pair or comets, halos and terrestrial events. They investigated the possibility that the rock drawing is the record of the supernova HB9 and found that only one Supernova remnant HB9 meets all the criteria and it exploded around 4500 BC with a brightness comparable to the brightness of the Moon.

“We suggest that the partially drawn object is HB9 since it would be irregular and that the second bright object is Moon since the apparent magnitude of HB9 is closer to that of the Moon,” Joglekar said.

“This is not a terrestrial hunting scene but is actually a sky-map giving location of prominent constellations and the Moon on the day the supernova was first observed,” he noted.

India’s biggest and most extravagant play till date – “Mughal-e-Azam The Musical”  by Feroz Khan has won top honors at the prestigious Broadway World India Awards 2017. The Broadway World Regional Awards takes place in a record number of markets, with a record number of votes – including 56 cities across the United States; with the awards taking place globally in a record-breaking 11 countries, including multiple Canadian cities.

 “Mughal-e-Azam: The Musical” has bagged seven awards including the Best Play (Shapoorji Pallonji & NCPA), Best Director for Feroz Abbas Khan, Best Original Choreography for Mayuri Upadhya, Best Original Costume Design for Manish Malhotra, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Original Lighting Design for David Lander and Best Original Set Design for Neil Patel.

Produced by the original producers of the movie in 1960, Shaporjee-Pallonji, the broadway-style musical saw decadent costumes by Manish Malhotra, a soulful Mayuri Upadhya breathing fresh life into kathak and lighting and projecting design by award-winning David Lander and Emmy-nominated John Narun respectively, which made all of the difference.

Director Feroz Abbas Khan said, “I’m overwhelmed with the awards. This belongs to the entire team of extraordinary artists and rare human beings who gave everything they had, so the world experiences our best. ‘Mughal-e-Azam; The Musical’ is truly India’s pride. On behalf of the entire team, I would like to thank Indian audiences and Broadway World for this honor.”

Deepesh Salgia, (Creative and Strategic Vision: Mughal-e-Azam) said, “An international honor for your first theatre production is a rare feat. It is a moment of extreme pride for Shapoorji Pallonji and the entire Mughal-e-Azam team.”

Shapoorji Pallonji, the producer of the play, .

The announcement comes ahead of the second season of “Mughal-e-Azam: The Musical” in Delhi that will be staged at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Delhi from Feb. 1st to Feb. 11th, 2018. Incidentally, this will also be the 100th show of the world-class theatrical production. Produced by Shapoorji Pallonji, the play has already completed five successful seasons in Mumbai.

Continuing with the tradition of singing Carols and spreading the message of Christmas around the community, members of Our Lady of Assumption Syro-Malabar Catholic Mission in Norwalk CT went around houses across the southern Connecticut, singing Christmas carols and bringing in the joy of Christmas and sharing blessings with members and families and friends of the newly formed Catholic Church in Fairfield County during the weekends of December 16-17, and 22-24, 2015.The  caroling began with the carol, ‘O Come All Ye Faithful.’

Meanwhile, Trumbull Party Timers, a group of families in the Trumbull region shared the joyous Christmas blessings with children leading the Carol singing in each house in the region. “It was fun and while we had a good time we are glad we are able to share with one another the spirit of Christmas; Love, Joy, Peace, and Sharing,” said the youth who were the lead carolers of the group.

Santhigram Kerala Ayurvedic Co., USA, a leading provider of authentic Kerala specific Ayurveda therapies in the United States, having its presence at 12 locations spread all over US including New Jersey, New York, Texas, Illinois and Wisconsin, proudly announces a grand celebration on the occasion of completing 10 years since its inception in US on Saturday, January 20, 2018 at Edison Hotel Banquet and Conference Center, 3050 Woodbridge Ave., Edison, New Jersey.

More than 500 esteemed guests are expected to attend the function on the said day from various walks of life including clients, stakeholders, friends and well-wishers from various parts of US and abroad. It is also expected that the occasion will be graced by the presence of distinguished guests from Elected officials, Media, Community associations, Chambers of Commerce, business and other forums.

Series of programs have been lined up as part of the event, including the launch of much awaited Ayurveda training School, Santhigram Herbal products and “Santhigram Foundation” – A charity wing of Santhigram for advocating and promoting health and wellness and making awareness of the benefits of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) based on “Ayurveda” principles that nurture the human mind, body and spirit and extending the benefit of cost-efficient Ayurveda treatments and medicinal herbs for chronic ailments to low income patients.

Theme of the celebration during the extravaganza evening would be “Celebrating the Spirit of Life and Good Health” which will entail walking the audience through various chores involved in daily life and focus on realizing the supreme importance of staying pristine healthy.

Some of the distinguished members of the community and employees who have supported and contributed immensely to the growth of the unique business model, Santhigram Wellness Kerala Ayurveda which has been successfully adopted in United States, will be accorded due recognition during the function. It will be followed by variety of enthralling entertaining programs replete with a riveting dance and music programs and a sumptuous dinner evening. For further details, please contact on email: info(at)santhigramusa(dot)com

or phone number 888-537-2987 / 732-709-3347.