Category: Community

The GOPIO-Upper New York Chapter held its eight Annual Dinner and Dance celebrating the arrival of Indian Indentured Laborers to Guyana on April 30, 2016. This well organized event that drew a capacity audience was held at the Starlite Pavillion, Richmond Hill, Queens, New York. The program was coordinated and emceed by Jhairam Persaud, President of the GOPIO-Upper New York Chapter, who was ably assisted by members of the Chapter’s executives.

After introductions and welcome by GOPIO Upper New York President Jhairam Persaud, GOPIO Tri-state Coordinator Lal Motwani delivered greetings on behalf of GOPIO International. In attendance were also Representatives from the Queens Borough President’s Office and the Office of the District’s Congressman, the Honorable Gregory Meeks. Four members of the Chapter received Congressional Certificates of Appreciation at this event. Those members were Netram Rambudhan, Miss Patsy Leopold, Gurdatt Jagnanan, and Premenauth Singh.

The featured speaker for the evening was Author, Novelist and Professor of English and Asian Studies, Marina Budhos, who was introduced by Dr. Jaigobin Shivcharran.  Her speech on “Immigration -Then and Now” was a compelling presentation and resonated very well with the audience. Her use of slides engaged the audience and kept everyone focused throughout her presentation.

The GOPIO UNY Community Service Award this year went to Cultural and Artistic Director of the Rajkumari Cultural Center, Pritha Singh, who was introduced by Premenauth Singh and the award was presented by GOPIO UNY President, Jhairam Persaud. Gurdatt Jagnanan concluded the event with appreciation and thanks to presenters and attendees.

Picture Caption: From left  to right: Mahendra Sawh, Dev Chedda, Dr. Jaigobin Shivcharran, Savi Narain, Ann Lutchmidat, Patsy Leopold, Gurdatt Jagnanan, Pritha Singh, Tony  Roopnarain,  Premnauth Singh, Jhairam Persaud, Dr. Thomas Abraham, Keynote speaker Marina Budhos,  Lal Motwani and Netram Rambudhan

Dr. Narendra K. Nagareddy, a 57-year-old psychiatrist from Atlanta, GA has been indicted on three counts of murder. As per reports, the drugs prescribed by Nagareddy had killed Cheryl Pennington, 47, and a 49-year-old father named David Robinson. Audrey Austin had died, less than a week after the 29-year-old mother of two left the rehab.

The substances – powerful, addictive pain medications – were allegedly prescribed by Narendra K. Nagareddy, reportedly known for his willingness to prescribe pills to nearly anyone who wanted them. Last week, the doctor was arrested for their deaths.

A Clay County grand jury indicted Nagareddy, known in the media widely as “Dr. Death,” on three counts of murder, and 59 additional counts of unauthorized distribution of pain prescriptions, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Nagareddy has denied the allegations from the outset, according to news reports. Nagareddy is accused in court documents of giving refillable painkiller prescriptions, taboo in the medical community because patients can fill the prescriptions prematurely.

“Unequivocally, we will be ready to defend this matter,” Steve Frey, Nagareddy’s attorney, told the Journal-Constitution after the indictment. “He is innocent of all of these charges.” It’s the latest development in a years-long investigation into Nagareddy’s medical practice.

A probation officer was among the first to flag Nagareddy after she noticed that three people in her caseload who had died were patients of the doctor, according to an AJC investigation. She reported the pattern to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which worked with local law enforcement to build a case that led to Nagareddy’s initial arrest in January.

He was charged with violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act by allegedly prescribing medications that had no legitimate purpose. Nagareddy was later released on a $100,000 bond, the Journal-Constitution reported. One month after his January arrest, the Georgia Composite Medical Board voted to suspend Nagareddy’s license.

New York: The Consulate of India in association with the Tagore Society of New York organized an event at the Consulate to celebrate the 155th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore on May 7. The event was attended by a large number of enthusiastic crowds owed by the life and times of one of the greatest sons of India.

The evening began with the singing of Indian national anthem composed by the great Rabindranath Tagore followed by presentation of other Tagore songs by members of Tagore Society of New York. Consul General Ambassador (Mrs.) Riva Ganguly Das during her address recollected some of her personal involvements surrounding Tagore during her postings as a diplomat in various countries and noted how Tagore’s ideology was recognized and the affection people have for him around the world. The program featured ‘Glimpses of Rabindra Sangeet’, a presentation by members of Tagore Society.

The program efficiently compered by Renee Lobo, community activist and TV journalist and New York City Commission on Human Rights had variety of singers devoted to Rabindranath Tagore and ended with a dinner.

Washington, DC: Sachin Dev Pavithran, an Indian-American has been reappointed by US President Barack Obama as a Member of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, a key independent government agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities.

Created in 1973 to ensure access to federally-funded facilities, the Board is now a leading source of information on accessible design. “These dedicated individuals bring a wealth of experience and talent to their new roles and I am proud to have them serve in this Administration. I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come,” Obama said in a statement yesterday.

Pavithran was first appointed to Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board in 2012 and has served as Chair since 2015. He is Programme Director of Utah Assistive Technology Programme at Utah State University’s Centre for Persons with Disabilities, a position he has held since 2011.

He has served in a variety roles at the Centre since 2002, including Programme Coordinator and Disability Policy Analyst. He has more than 15 years of experience as a consultant in developing, testing, and training users of assistive technology and accessible websites.

He serves on the Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs National Board, the Research and Development Committee of the National Federation of the Blind, and the National Multicultural Council of the Association of University Centres for Disabilities.

In 2016, Mr Pavithran was selected as one of Government Technology’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers for his accomplishments in using technology to improve government operations.

The couple Sunitha Guntipally and Venkat Guntipally, Pratap “Bob” Kondamoori and Sandhya Ramireddi, allegedly used three California corporations to orchestrate the improper submission of more than 100 H-1B specialty-occupation work visa applications, said the statement from the US Attorney’s Office Northern District of California.

In a 33-count indictment filed last weekend, all the four are charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud, false statements, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering and aiding and abetting these offences.

The defendants submitted to the government, or caused to be submitted, H-1B visa application materials stating that the foreign workers named in the applications would be placed at specific companies in the US, the statement read. However, those companies either did not exist or never intended to receive the foreign workers named in the defendants’ applications.

The indictment alleges that through their ownership, direction and control of two companies — DS Soft Tech and Equinett — the Guntipallys generated net profits of about $3.3 million and gross profits of approximately $17 million from 2010-2014.

According to the indictment, the husband-wife team founded and owned DS Soft Tech and Equinett where Venkat served as president and Sunitha as vice president of both the firms.

Kondamoori from Nevada is alleged to be the founder and owner of SISL Networks and Kondamoori’s sister, Ramireddi from Pleasanton, is alleged to have been the human resources manager and operations manager of all three companies. In addition, Kondamoori, Sunitha Guntipally and Ramireddi are charged in connection with alleged efforts to conceal the defendants’ conduct.

Manjit Singh, president of Agilious, a software technology consulting firm he founded in 2013, has been appointed by President Obama to his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships on May 12th.

Singh is the co-founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national Sikh American advocacy organization.  He served as a member of the board of directors of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation and also as a member-at-large on the board of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington.  He has an M.S. from the State University of New York at Albany and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Bombay, India.

“These fine public servants bring a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their important roles,” President Obama is quoted saying in a White House press release.  “I look forward to working with them.”

Singh has been active in the Washington D.C. metro area Sikh American community since early 1993. Post 9/11, he was instrumental in parlaying SALDEF’s relationships in D.C. to develop and create training videos to educate and inform law enforcement on Sikh Americans. Singh has also appeared in print and on broadcast media including CNN, Fox News, Voice of America, BBC, Al Jazeera, NPR, Washington Post, Washington Times, New York Times, among others, according to his bio on the SALDEF website.

Washington, DC: Revathi Balakrishnan, an Indian-American woman elementary teacher at Patsy Sommer Elementary School in Texas was honored by US President Barack Obama at the White House for her excellent work in the field of education. Revathi Balakrishnan, described as a gifted teacher was also named 2016 ‘Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year’.

“It is not work for me. It is actually a passion,” said 53-year-old Austin-based Balakrishnan who has taught in the district’s talented and gifted programs for nine years. Currently teaching math classes in third through fifth grade at Sommer, Balakrishnan, who was honored last week, will now represent Texas in the ‘National Teacher of the Year’ competition.

“I’m an Indian-American, so I think the Indian community is feeling a lot of pride and joy,” Balakrishnan said, adding that about 30 per cent of the students at ‘Sommer Elementary’ are Asian or Indian.

“I feel proud to represent those and I can convince a lot of younger generation Indian kids to turn to teaching for a career. So I feel I can actually have some impact on that,” she said. Balakrishnan has taught at ‘Sommer Elementary’ for six years before teaching at Forest North Elementary for three years.

Originally from Chennai, Ms Balakrishnan was a systems analyst with Liberty Mutual, managing databases and programming for about 12 years before becoming a teacher. Terming her style of teaching as “no nonsense”, Ms Balakrishnan, who earned her economics degree from University of Madras, attributes her success in the field of education to her love of teaching.

She said the excitement of teaching, learning with students and the opportunity to shape students who are the “leaders of tomorrow” drives her. “Not one day is the same, which is what I like. I don’t like structure. I just go with the flow and I love what happens,” Ms Balakrishnan said.

The ‘National Teacher of the Year Program’ identifies exceptional teachers in the country, recognizes their effective work in the classroom, engages them in a year of professional learning, amplifies their voices and empowers them to participate in policy discussions at the state and national levels.

Ajinka Kelkar, a 20-year-old resident of South Brunswick in the state of New Jersey, who allegedly sought to take a revenge on a man who was dating his ex-girlfriend, accidentally targeted the wrong house and caused $10,000 in damage to vehicles parked in the driveway.

According to police, Kelkar damaged five vehicles parked outside a house on Friendship Road in South Brunswick. He was arrested within a few hours after the incident on May 8 after he was seen damaging the vehicles on home surveillance camera. He was charged with trespassing, vandalism and third-degree criminal mischief. He posted $10,000 bail and was released, police said. If convicted, Kelkar faces up to five years in prison.

According to Tapintonet.com, the family members of the house targeted head some hissing air noise around midnight outside, and came out to check. They found that tires of some of the cars, including guests at home, were slahed and one car had obscenities scratched in to its door and fender and called police.

Officers and family members reviewed the home surveillance tape and found that the suspect moments earlier damaging the vehicle in their driveway. Police recognized the image in the videotape at Kelkar. The report said that police went to Kelkar’s residence but were told by his parents he was not home. Later, officers on surveillance outside his home found that Kelkar was inside his home at 6:30am and took him into custody.

“I refuse to accept that children should be forced into slave labor. I refuse to accept that we cannot do anything about it. Every child matters,” Kailash Satyarthi, who had received Nobel Prize in 2014 for his humanitarian efforts in freeing young children from slavery and bonded labor, declared during a keynote address at the TiE 2016 conference held at the Santa Clara Convention Center May 6 and 7.

Prior to his address, a video presentation had showed to the audience, Satyarthi’s efforts in freeing a total of 85,755 children from slave labor in India. Most of them had been forced into making handmade carpets in North India. In his quest for freeing the children, Satyarthi has had his legs broken, his left shoulder and head bashed, his house ransacked….and yet he continues to march on undeterred.

Satyarthi recounted his first violent confrontation when he and few aides descended upon an illegal brothel where young kidnapped girls were being trained to be used for prostitution. Satyarthi had gone to rescue just one girl at the behest of her father, but they ended up rescuing a total of 36 young girls. This became his first documented case of his liberation of children. “How can slavery and civilization co-exist?” Satyarthi asked rhetorically. “Child slavery has to be recognized,” he stated emphatically. After graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, the activist gave up a lucrative career in Madhya Pradesh and moved to Delhi “because I was passionate about the cause of freeing enslaved children,” he stated.

The Indus Entrepreneurs held its 24th annual global conference at the Santa Clara Convention Center May 6 through May 7 with some of the world’s brightest minds convening to share their stories and provide advice for up-and-coming entrepreneurs looking to disrupt the market and make a name for their companies. A laundry list of panel discussions on several tracks was bookended by keynote speeches on each of the two days at TiEcon 2016, the theme for which was “Dream. Change. Inspire.” TiE has a global network of 61 chapters located in most major North American, Asian and European countries and cities, with more than 11,500 members across 18 countries.

A young man of Indo-Caribbean origin was attacked by several youth in Astoria, Queens, N.Y., last week, shouting “ISIS, ISIS” and punching and beating him. Police are describing it as a bias crime, according to news reports.

Though the 19-year old victim’s name was not revealed by police, Gothamist newspaper reported his father’s name as Ray Bisram, who told media his son was “traumatized” by the attack. The youth who attacked him were carrying a metal pipe which they threatened to use on him, and a baseball bat.

Bisram told Univision TV, “Right now, he’s kind of traumatized, because, you know, a guy punching him and another guy running with a bat and a iron pipe scream out, you know, racist words and stuff toward him, he’s pretty traumatized because he’s thinking what if they would have hit me with that pipe.”

A little after 1 pm, in broad daylight on April 27, the victim was walking on 10th Street in Astoria, when he noticed three tens aged 17-19, following him. One of them shouted to him calling him an “Arab” and punched him in the fact twice when he turned around. They brandished the metal pipe and baseball bat at him. Luckily, the victim was able to sidestep the metal pipe swung at him.

A neighbor, Ron Garcia was on the street when he saw the attack taking place. “They pushed him up there and that’s when they went to take the swing on the pipe with him,” Garcia is quoted saying in the report “He averted it, like he moved out away and midway to me, and when he made his way to me, that’s when they ran up the block.”

The NYPD has put out a description of the attackers — one male, aged 17-19 years-old, short black close cut hair, approximately 5’6″ tall, 160 lbs, last seen wearing a dark colored two tone sweater with vertical lines, black pants and black sneakers. Another male, 17-19 years-old, approximately 5’9″ tall, 180 lbs., chin strap beard and short black hair, last seen wearing a black jacket, black t-shirt, dark colored blue jeans and black sneakers. The third suspect is around 18-years-old, approximately 5’9″ tall, black hair and a beard, last seen wearing a black hooded sweat jacket with white horizontal stripes, black jeans, grey t-shirt and grey sneakers. Police want anyone with information to call NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also go to the Crime Stoppers website or text their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. All calls are confidential.

Long Island, NY: Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj’s visit to the Tri-State region last week has attracted thousands of his followers to listen the wisdom words that are known to have transformed the lives of people around the world through meditation.

On Friday, April 29th, thousands attended the talk in Hindi at the Amityville Meditation Center on Long Island, by Sant Rajinder Singh Ji , Head of Science of Spirituality (SoS)/Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission. Earlier on Wednesday, the spiritual Master inaugurated  the Science of Spirituality New Jersey Meditation Center in Perth Amboy, home to large Spanish and Hindi speaking communities. The center hosts a library, an office, rooms for children and young adults, a book store, and a large kitchen, and of course, a meditation hall.

Acknowledging the multicultural and diverse makeup of the community, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj said the path of Sant Mat brings together people of all faiths, all cultures, and all walks of life. The unifying thread among all, he said, is our humanity and our search for God. Having a center is a great blessing as it offers the opportunity to come together, sit together, share, and focus on what is truly important in life – our relationship with God.

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj’s discourse in the tristate on Sunday, May 1 was on “Meditation to Access Spiritual Realms” followed by initiation. To date, Science of Spirituality/Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission has 2059 centers in 54 countries around the world. On Monday, May 2, he gave his second address at the widely respected institution, sponsored by theUNSRC SaluS Well Being Network Club in collaboration with Science of Spirituality. Appropriate to the occasion, his topic was, “Meditation as Medication for the Soul,” based on his book by the same name. The Reverend Susana Bastarrica, president, UNSRC SaluS Well Being Network, and Mr. Vijay Nambiar, Special Advisor on Myanmar to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon introduced the spiritual Master.

The spiritual Master spoke to an attentive audience about the benefits of meditation, emphasizing that relaxation, stress relief, better concentration, and improved relationships are byproducts of meditation, not its sole purpose. The prime purpose of stilling the body and stilling the mind in meditation is to experience God within ourselves, he told the audience. For more information about the weekend program, please go to www.sos.org/event/nynj.

Gujarat Day and Maharashtra Day, which fall on May 1, were observed through colorful dances and music On the iconic Times Square May 1. On May 1, the Indian states, Maharashtra and Gujarat celebrate thier formation day. It was on this day in 1960 that two states were carved out of the Bombay Presidency: Maharashtra and Gujarat. The states were created  after a series of protests that were part of the Samyukta Maharashtra Andolan that demanded a separate state for Marathi-speaking people.

The two-hour event on the iconic Times Square was organized by Jai Bharat Dhol Tasha Pathak USA and Non-Resident Gujarati Community of USA. “Since both the Gujarat Day and Maharashtra Day fall on May one, we thought about organizing a joint celebration,” Manisha

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Day was separately celebrated at the Indian Consulate before the groups joined hands in Times Square to mark the day. Consul General Riva Ganguly Das and Deputy Consul General Manoj Kumar Mohapatra sent best wishes and support for the celebrations.

New York: Captain Amarinder Singh, former chief minister of the Indian state of Punjab and currently the state Congress chief and MP, was given a rousing reception, when he was invited to address the Punjabi diaspora on May 7th at the Long Island Hilton Hotel in Melville, NY. In addition to Captain Amarinder Singh, the event also hosted the former Maharaja of Patiala.

The leader of the Punjab state Congress Party is travelling through the US to drum up support for the Congress party, which is trying to get back to power in Punjab, where elections are due in February 2017. According to reports, the ruling Akali Dal has lost much of the support and Aam Aadmi Party is gaining ground after winning in Delhi.

Earlier, during an event in Chicago on Friday, the visiting leader said that Punjab desperately needed good governance and this was not the time for experimentation. “Just because some people are telling you that you have tried so and so, now give us a chance does not qualify and entitle them to take over the reins of an important state like Punjab at a critical juncture”, Capt Amarinder told audience in Chicago.

Announcing that it was going to be his last election in 2017, he said, however before hanging his boots, it was his dream to see the smile and shine back on the faces of all the Punjabis, who are otherwise being faced with despair and despondence due to ten year failure of the Akalis. Addressing the Punjabi diaspora and seeking their more involvement and participation in building up Punjab and bringing in change, the former Chief Minister reminded them of their roots and responsibility towards their ancestral place.

“We are glad that all of you have done so well in life and we are proud of you”, he told them, while adding, “now we hope and expect that you will definitely do your bit and help us in re-launching Punjab on the path of progress and prosperity once again”. Later replying to a question, Captain Amarinder said, 1984 was the darkest chapter in the Sikh history which nobody can afford or should forget. “I myself resigned from the parliament and the party over what happened in 1984”, he said, adding, “however Punjab needs to move forward”. He asked as why the Akalis were raking up the issue only during elections and forgetting it the moment elections were over.

Amarinder said, the problem of drugs was very complex and serious saying there were three types of drugs flowing in Punjab. He said, on type of drugs was being smuggled through Pakistan, the other type was coming from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and the third and the worst type were the synthetic drugs which were being manufactured locally with the patronage of the Akalis.

“Give me a chance and I will finish this problem, not in four weeks as I have promised, but just one week as I know who all are involved and responsible and it only needs an intent and will to finish it”, he said in response to a question amidst thumping applause.

Captain Amarinder Singh has offered to provide NRI Punjabi doctors, specially psychiatrists and therapists, infrastructure to set up de-addiction centers within the existing government hospitals in all major cities of Punjab, if Congress is voted to power in the state. Addressing a gathering of Punjabi diaspora from Central Califonia at Fresno, Capt Amarinder urged the NRI doctors to work in partnership with him for the rehabilitation of lakhs of

Meanwhile, Captain Amarinder Singh is learnt to have cancelled his scheduled seven-day trip to Canada due to the possibility of facing a case relating to torture in a court in Toronto. The decision came on Saturday after Singh had postponed his arrival in Toronto since he wanted to wait for the court to issue an order before he decided on his course of action.

The case was filed by the activist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) on behalf of a Canadian resident who was allegedly tortured during Singh’s tenure as chief minister of Punjab. An official statement released by Singh slammed SFJ’s law fare, saying it was “playing into the hands of the anti-India forces like the ISI to embarrass India and project as if rights violations was the norm of the day in the country (India) like some dictatorships in different parts of the world”. He added, “The government of India, rising above political considerations, must take up the matter with the Canadian government at the highest level.”

Pranav Patel, a stock broker of Indian descent has been charged in an alleged $131 million stock manipulation scheme after investigations by a task force set up for President Barack Obama’s war on financial crimes, federal officials announced May 4.

Pranav Patel of Tamarac, Florida, participated along with eight others in the multistate scam “through a dizzying round of unauthorized trades” to pump up the share price of a company with no business operations, Robert L. Capers, the federal prosecutor in Brooklyn said.

The 35-year-old Patel was scheduled to appear later on Wednesday in a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for legal proceedings to bring him to Brooklyn for trial. The case involved the NASDAQ-traded stocks of ForceField Energy Inc., which claimed to be a worldwide distributor of LED lighting products.

The nine from four states across the US were charged with securities fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and making a false statement to law enforcement officials.

The charges followed actions by the President’s financial fraud enforcement task force that “was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes,” Capers’ office said.

The nine, who included Naveed Khan of Staten Island, New York, “designed an elaborate but fraudulent scheme built on lies, kickbacks and manipulated trading activity to defraud the securities markets, the investing public and their clients,” Capers said. “They took a company with essentially no business operations and little revenue and deceived the market and their clients into believing it was worth hundreds of millions of dollars through a dizzying round of unauthorized trades and deceptive promotions.”

“The scheme ended up costing investors approximately $131 million in losses,” according to Diego Rodriguez, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) New York Field Office.

The prosecutor’s office alleged that a ForceField official hired Jared Mitchell, the managing partner of a financial firm, to pay kickbacks using offshore bank accounts in 2014 to Patel and four other stock brokers for buying ForceField shares in their client’s accounts to manipulate the price.

The announcement did not identify the official, but Richard St-Julien, who was ForceField’s chairman and founder, was arrested in April last year. He was charged with securities fraud conspiracy. He paid the alleged participants through a Belize-based company in a scheme to manipulate the company’s share prices.

Fayetteville, North Carolina: Dr. Sid Gautam, a professor of economics at Methodist University where he founded and led its Center for Entrepreneurship, passed away on April 28, 2016 at his home town Fayetteville, North Carolina. He had spent his life striving to meet higher expectations, both in his personal life and in his 44-year career at Methodist University where he created programs and awards recognizing local businesspeople and boosting the community’s sense of itself. Dr. Gautam was 74.

In recent years, Dr. Gautam had turned some of his considerable energies to promoting healthy living. About 2010, he began hosting free monthly programs at Kiwanis Recreation Center where people could learn and practice simple yoga moves and attend seminars on various health issues. Dubbed Happiness Yoga, the program drew its name from Dr. Gautam’s belief in the connection between happiness and health.

Dr. Gautam founded the Center for Entrepreneurship in 1973 and a few years later began holding two annual symposiums, one focused on the local and national economic outlook for the coming year and the other on the stock market. He attracted attendees by getting important bankers, business people, economists and others to give keynote speeches.

He and his advisers also recognized local business people through awards such as Entrepreneur of the Year, Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, Business Person of the Year and the Small Business Excellence Award, all of which are still being carried on today.

Dr. Gautam was quite involved in the Indian community activities as Life Member GOPIO which recognized him for his contribution to Entrepreneurship. He travelled around the world and spoke at the various GOPIO convention and forums connecting entrepreneurship and Indian cultural values.

On behalf of GOPIO, President Niraj Baxi expressed their deep sadness at the loss of a colleague in community work.  “He was a warm, friendly, always ready to help the community at all times. We will miss him very much,” Baxi wrote to Dr. Gautam’s family.

GOPIO Founder President Dr. thomas Abraham said that it was a great community loss since Dr. Gautam was a motivating speaker and was always available to speak at various GOPIO conferences. Dr. Gautam is survived by his wife of 53 years, Indira, his daughter Pragati, son-in-law Dr. Anil Sharma, and their children. The cremation was done on May 1st in Feyetteville.

Sonia Nallan, 48, an Indian American woman was fatally shot dead in the neighborhood of San Jose, CA on April 30, and the police have arrested her husband on murder charges. Her husband, James ‘Jim’ Nallan, 63, is being held without bail at Santa Clara, Calif., County Jail.

According to San Jose Police Department reports, police responded at 12:46 a.m. April 30 to a call reporting that a person had been shot. Arriving at the scene, officers found Sonia Nallan suffering from at least one gunshot wound. She was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead shortly after.

San Jose police confirmed that Jim Nallan is in custody and that there are no outstanding suspects. No motive has yet been established for the shooting. Nallan, a technical recruiter at Encore Semiconductors, is survived by two sons, Sahil, 21, who attends UC Berkeley; and Nitin, 20, who attends UC Irvine. Funeral services were held on May 6, at the Chapel of the Chimes in Hayward, Calif.

As the killers of Shani Patel is still at large, the police in Newark, New Jersey are offering a $10,000 for information leading to the capture of the murderers. Shani Patel, 21, an Indian American student majoring in economics who was in his junior year at Rutgers, was fatally shot around 10 p.m. on April 10, in his Toms River, New Jersey, apartment. His 23-year-old roommate, a Rutgers graduate, was also shot, and was transported to University Hospital where he underwent a surgery. He was previously listed in critical condition and no updates have been announced.

According to reports, a suspect, Marcus Feliz, was captured on April 13 and charged with homicide and robbery. Feliz – who is being held on $750,000 bail – has pleaded not guilty to both charges. Menawhile, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has said another suspect believed to be involved in the killing of Patel, Fraynned Ramirez, 26, of Hartford, Conn., is still at large. Ramirez has been charged with murder, felony murder and robbery, in connection with Patel’s death. Ramirez is presumed to be armed and dangerous, according to the prosecutor’s office. Neither Felix nor Ramirez are students at Rutgers, according to nj.com.

Police believe the shooting was related to drugs. A substantial amount of drugs and money were found in Patel’s apartment as police investigated the scene of the crime, and police believe the shooting occurred in the course of a robbery attempt.

A memorial page has been set up for Patel on Facebook. Friends also held a memorial service for him. “I write with the sad news that last night we lost one of our students,” Rutgers chancellor Nancy Cantor wrote in an email to students. “There is an active, ongoing investigation by the Newark Police Department of a crime that took place at a private residence located off campus.”

Cantor went on to write, “While law enforcement is still investigating and we understand that it was not a random act that led to Shani’s death, it is a shock to lose a member of our community under any circumstances. Our deepest condolences go out to Shani’s family and to all who knew him as a student, colleague or friend.”

“It’s really sad to see that this has happened to him, very sad,” said Patel’s lawyer Billhimer in an AP report. “He was an economics major and was interested in becoming an entrepreneur. He was always talking about having his own business. He was a very smart young man. He was a nice kid.”

New York, April 28: When the whole world is moving towards pluralism, trying to embrace and appreciate the faith and culture around the world, Indian American students at an Ivy League College in the US, led by fundamentalists have protested against a White woman singing Hindu Kirtans. They assert that only those born Hindu should sing the religious hymns, according to media reports.

The performance by Carrie Grossman, who has adopted the Hindu name Dayashila, was disrupted Thursday last week by protesters claiming that by singing kirtans she as a white person was wrongly “appropriating” elements of Hinduism.

According to reports, although the protesters used radical leftist rhetoric, their agenda appears to be a form of selective opposition to conversions or religious interactions – in effect, banning those not born Hindu from singing Hindu religious hymns or participating in rituals. However, similar protests are not held by those claiming to be against “cultural-appropriation” when non-Christians sing Christian hymns or participate in Christian observances. Wearing bindi or pottu by non-Indian women have also been crticised as “cultural appropriation.”

The protesters are reported to have used radical leftist terminology like white privilege, structural change and “radical love” to oppose what they called “cultural appropriation” by a white person. “Cultural appropriation,” according to those who protest it, happens when people use or performs elements from a culture not their own.

Many in the audience confronted the protesters, who eventually left the event and staged a sit-in outside. “Several audience members turned around and asked them to be quiet,” The Brown Daily Herald reported. “In addition, some of the audience members stood up and moved to where the protesters were sitting to ask them to leave.”

In the face of protests, the Contemplative Studies Departmental Undergraduate Group, which organised the kirtan, issued an apology saying that they “humbly acknowledge that those intentions (in arranging the event) do not preclude harm and hurt that we may have inflicted,” the Herald reported.

Freedom of expression in US universities is under threat not from the government, but from students and faculty. At elite universities like Yale, students have in the past year explicitly protested freedom of expression on campuses and tried to silence professors and students not conforming to their version of liberal or radical views.

Rajan Zed, the president of US-based Universal Society of Hinduism, called the protests at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island state, “sad and inappropriate”. “Color of the person should not matter in devotional singing and anybody should be able pay respectful homage to Hindu deities through kirtan or other forms,” Zed said. “Kirtan offered means to connect to the heart, to the divinity that lies within.”

He asked Brown University president Christina H. Paxson and chancellor Thomas J. Tisch to “make sure that such unreasonable interruptions did not happen at the Hindu events on the campus in the future” and to hold a formal inquiry into the disruption. The Herald reported that Grossman, a Brown University alumna, told her audience that she discovered kirtans during a visit to India and “found (chanting) very powerful and very healing”.

Describing her mission to spread the singing of kirtans, Grossman writes on her website about her experience in the third person: “At the altar of her instrument she called out to the divine and unburdened her heart. This process was profoundly healing and, the more she did it, the more she felt drawn to share her sound with the world.” She has produced a recording, “Soma Bandhu,” that features hymns like “Om Nama Shivaya,” “Jai Ma” and “Sarve Bhavantu.”

Anchal Saraf, one of the protesters in this incident, has been quoted in the media, as a signatory to a petition demanding freedom of expression at Jawaharlal Nehru University. The duplicity of these students is shocking. While they demand freedom of expression in some cases, they protest against the same when it comes to their own.

Queens, NY: The 10th Biennial Civic Luncheon held by Queens Civic Congress (QCC) was a huge success with capacity attendance, a well-organized program with keynote speaker Preet Bharara, prominent U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, New York as well as featured speaker, Queens Borough President Melida Katz and several other notable elected officials. The event was sponsored by Queens Civic Congress Foundation and held at Antun’s in Queens Village.

Paul Kerzner, President, Queens Civic Congress Foundation, welcomed the guests, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance then a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem by Hon. Melinda Katz. QCC president Harbachan Singh welcomed members and guests, acknowledging the important role of members and officers for the successes of QCC activities focusing on improving the quality of life issues. Mr. Singh also expressed due gratitude and outlined several future plans,

Presentation of various proclamations and resolutions to the 3 honorees was done by Hon. Melinda Katz and NYS Senator Tony Avella. In his remarks, State Sen. Tony Avella congratulated QCC and the honorees, citing the advocacy of QCC on community issues Kevin Forrestal, executive vice president of QCC, made presentations on behalf of several elected officials.

In her speech, Hon. Melinda Katz thanked QCC for its issues oriented community efforts and remarked on the appeal, diversity and progress in Queens which is fast becoming the destination of visitors to New York.

Keynote speaker Preet Bharara was introduced by Vice President Ashook Ramsaran with a warm welcome of admiration and appreciation. Mr. Bharara recounted his family’s journey from India to USA and the many opportunities in the USA which contributed to his success as a notable and quite visible official in New York State and indeed the entire USA. Bharara reiterated determination and relentless pursuits of his office to enforce and encourage accountability in all sectors, and provide protection from predators and those who do not abide by the rule of law. He said that “fair and equitable treatment under the law applies to everyone regardless of position or standing and is a cornerstone of United States of America”.

QCC Civic Achievement Awards 2016 for high achievements in community service were presented to: James Gallagher, Jr. (President, Fresh Meadows Homeowners Civic Association) presented by QCC vice president Kim Ohanian; Warren Schreiber (President, Bay Terrace Community Alliance) presented by QCC vice president Tyler Cassell; Christina Wilkinson (President, Newtown Historical Society) presented by QCC treasurer James A. Trent.

Other elected officials in attendance included several NYC council members and NYS senators and assembly members. NYS Assemblyman David Weprin congratulated QCC and the honorees for outstanding community work.

QCC vice president Richard Hellenbrecht made the concluding remarks, citing several QCC initiatives and support for many important community issues. Hellenbrecht also welcome the youth group of Civic Activism Network (CAN) and thanked Elmhurst United for supporting CAN’s participation.

Music was provided by John Walters. Queens Civic Congress, Inc. and Queens Civic Congress Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation, were formed in 1997, representing more than 100 civic and other community organizations throughout the Borough of Queens in New York City, and are committed to the protection and advancement of the “Quality of Life”, to provide a forum for the civic associations and neighborhood organizations, to develop and present common policies and positions, and to furnish effective leadership and advocacy for the advancement of the welfare and interests of Queens’ neighborhoods.

Jaydeep Patel, a 26-year-old Indian American man in New Jersey has been arrested and charged with killing his 73-year-old grandmother, Ramila Patel on April 20th. As per reports, police found the 73-year-old Patel after authorities had responded to a home on 9th Street in North Bergen, N.J.

According to  Hudson County prosecutor Esther Suarez,Patel, who had been stabbed multiple times in her torso, was transported to a hospital but was pronounced dead around 8 a.m. Jaydeep Patel, Ramila Patel’s grandson, who lived together at the North Bergen home, was arrested and charged with the murder, as well as two separate weapons charges, the nj.com report said.

Neighbors of the alleged killer said he is an engineer who spoke often of how much he loved his father who passed away of a heart attack about two years ago, according to the report. “The kid, he used to come here all the time since I got Parkinson’s dystonia. He used to tell me how to eat better,” one neighbor, Hector Millet, told nj.com, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly three decades.

“He used to talk to me about his future… He was a happy-going kid. He was always happy. Never in my mind did I think that something like that was going to happen.” The overall feel of many of the neighbors, many of whom declined comment in the nj.com report, said the Patels were nice. “He loved computers. We would talk about computers. We would talk about religion,” Millet added.

Another neighbor, who chose to remain anonymous, said that Jaydeep Patel and his mother had been having verbal fights of late which led to the grandmother – Patel’s paternal grandmother – wanting them to move out. Prosecutor’s office officials declined to comment on the motive of the crime, and could not confirm when Jaydeep Patel would appear in court. The homicide is the first of the year in the New Jersey city.

Though Asian Indians are typically thought of as a “model minority”, not much is known about the school experiences of their children. Positive stereotyping of these immigrants and their children often masks educational needs and issues, creates class divides within the Indian-American community, and triggers stress for many Asian Indian students. This volume examines second generation (America-born) and 1.5 generation (foreign-born) Asian Indians as they try to balance peer culture, home life and academics. It explores how, through the acculturation process, these children either take advantage of this positive stereotype or refute their stereotyped ethnic image and move to downward mobility.

Focusing on migrant experiences of the Indian Diasporas in the United States, this volume brings attention to highly motivated Asian Indian students who are overlooked because of their cultural dispositions and outlooks on schooling, and those students who are more likely to underachieve. It highlights the assimilation of Asian Indian students in mainstream society and their understandings of Americanization, social inequality, diversity and multiculturalism.

Published by Routledge, August 2015, Hardback 258 pages. More info is available at https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138023468.

Elmont, NY: Living in a land that is far away from our “home,” in the midst of another culture, busy with the day-to-day mundane work and home tasks, the Non Resident Indian (NRI) community in this “land of opportunities” has been yearning for a place of their own: just to come together, to discuss, share their thoughts and ideas and learn from one another, to have a platform which will pass on their culture and traditions to their children and grand children, and to nourish the feeling of belonging to a group.

These longings, shared by people, who have been endowed with a clear vision and commitment to generously share their ideas, skills, resources, and time, for the larger good of the community, gave birth to The Kerala Center. After a quarter century it was founded, The Kerala Center, now, come to be known as The Indian American Civic and Cultural Center, located in Elmont, Long Island, New York has come a long way, in living out these dreams and aspirations of a community that has made the United States their adopted homeland.

Non Resident Indians from across the nation came to celebrate and honor the Center on its 26^th anniversary during a solemn celebration on Saturday, April 23^rd, 2016. Dr. C. V. Ananda Bose,  an Indian civil servant who served in the Indian Administrative Service, was the Chief Guest at the event. Padma Shri Prof. P. Somasundaran, LaVon Duddleson Krumb Professor, Columbia University, was the honored guest at the event.

Parpidam, a book by the eminent administrator, writer, orator and innovator, Dr. Ananda Bose, who had pioneered path breaking administrative innovations in rural development, affordable housing, eco-tourism development, redressal of public grievances, women’s empowerment, development of weaker sections of society and promotion of art and culture, was released during the celebrations. After retirement, Government of India asked Dr Bose to continue with this mission and currently serves as the Chairman and Nominee Director of Central Warehousing Corporation. Dr. Bose is currently on an UN assignment in New York.

Dr. Thomas Abraham, a veteran of the global Indian community who had founded several Indian organization such as the FIA-New York, NFIA and GOPIO said that in the 1970s and 1980s, he made some attempts to start an Indian community Center in the New York area. However, there was not enough support among the newly arrived community to contribute large sums of money for a broad based community center while the community was contributing generously for religious institutions such as temples, churches, mosques and gurudwaras. In 1989, the Gujarati Samaj bought a building in Queens,NY and started their Center in 1990 and they were struggling to maintain it.

“When Stephen came to me with the idea of Kerala Center, I tried to discourage him, since I felt it would be difficult to maintain it with its monthly mortgages and other expenses,” said Dr. Abraham. It turned out to be true in the later part of 1990s.However, Dr. Abraham was fully committed to it and stayed on with the Center during the difficult times. The Kerala Center managed to tide over its financial problem when former banker and philanthropist Sreedhar Menon gave a challenge at one of Kerala Center’s annual banquet to raise $50,000 and he would match the same amount. The Kerala Center fulfilled it. In the following year. Dilip Varghese gave s similar challenge to raise funds for the Center. These, along with contributions from its founder patrons brought financial stability for the Center.

The Center has now paid off the entire mortgage on the building, which has an auditorium and two classrooms, as well as several office and meeting rooms of its own. With debt burden off their minds, E M Stephen, a founding member and the Executive Director of the Center, credited several individuals who have contributed their time, energy, talents and resources to the establishment and growth of the Kerala Center. He said, “From a modest beginning 18 years ago, the Center has come a long way to play a vital role in the life of the NRI community in the United States.” Over the past two decades, it has become a focal point for Indian Americans, coordinating programs, activities, and services to the members and groups of the community in the New York region. The Center has outgrown its initial objectives for which it was founded, and has become a facility that serves the various needs of the larger Indian American community.

When asked, what led him to think of founding the Center, Stephen, 62, who had immigrated to U.S.A: in 1977, and devoted his entire life, especially since 1990, to voluntary work and the running of the Center, said, “As all of us are aware, the strength of our community living in the United States of America is highly remarkable. We have come from a poor country, which is also one of the world’s most densely populated regions. Today, our community here is well established in every field except in the mainstream political life of our adopted land. It is necessary for us to think about our future. In order to tackle the problems and needs of the community in a well-organized and planned manner, enabling us to participate in the political education of our community, we need Community Centers.

With this long out look in mind, the Indian American Kerala Cultural & Civic Center was established on April 28th 1990. It is proud to mention here that this is the first and the largest asset establishment for and by the community as a whole.”

Stephen, who has a long history of community service and voluntarism, said, “I became actively involved in Kerala Associations” He was instrumental in organizing Indian American Forum for political Education in USA of which he was the Chairman for New York State 1981 – 1985. He was the Chairman for the I ndia Day Parade for 1988 and 1989. “The underlying current in my involvement in all these community activities was basically with the motive of enlightening the community to fully participate in the mainstream American social, political and economic affairs. In 1990, I started, with the cooperation of leading Community members, a Center called Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Center,” the founder President and currently functioning as the Executive Director at the Center, said.

According to Stephen, there are about 60,000 Keralites in the New York metropolitan area. A main objective of the Center has been to address the emotional and cultural, and political education of all the community members. “This Center, the way we have planned the growth of this institution, has a vision and tremendous responsibility to take care of emotional and cultural needs of our community and meanwhile prepare them to face the responsibilities of becoming a full fledged American Citizen.” Stephen, who is fully engaged in this responsibility, said, “We are perhaps a minority group now. But I feel, as a community member, we have to feel and act as a part of the mainstream by fully participating in all the activities. That is our ultimate goal.”

Jose Chummar, former president of the Center, praised the efforts of Stephen in establishing the Center: “Stephen was instrumental to start Kerala Center and took the lead and dealt with many of the headaches of starting The Kerala Center. Dr. Thomas Abraham played a very pivotal role too in the establishment of Kerala Center.”

There were several non profit Malayalee organizations when Kerala Center was formed but none of them had its own place. “Kerala Center has been unique, because from the very beginning, we wanted to have our own building, a place of our own so that our people can come together. The old YMCA building on Long Island was bought as our central office. I took a membership for Kerala Center in 1991 and became the general secretary in 1992,” Jose recalled.

“The Kerala Center is playing a pivotal role in the daily lives of the Malayalee community in many ways. The Center is a place for everyone, from the children of our community to the senior citizens,” Jose, who has been serving as the president of Kerala Center for the past four years, said.

“We can now concentrate more on community activities and programs. We can utilize the center for the betterment of our community here, as well as in India,” Jose added. “The Center has also been providing platform for various leaders to have political awareness and campaign meetings with the Indian community. Not leaving out the important religious factor, the Center has become a forum for various religious activities and celebrations for the members of the center who represent Hindu, Muslim and different denominations of Christianity,” Jose said.

E M Stephen added, “After overcoming several initial challenges, the Kerala Center has attained a stable status and has carved out a name for itself among the NRI community in USA. There are Indian languages, Music and Dance classes for children, SAT coaching for youngsters held regularly, benefiting hundreds of children of Indian origin. Various seminars are being conducted regularly on topics ranging from politics to investments, in addition to many Civic and Cultural activities taking place on a regular basis at the Kerala Center.”Stephen went on to say, “The Center is providing information to the community about business groups in all fields. The Center is giving full support and assistance to the writers forum in the community. The benefits of such actions include mitigation of crimes, drug abuse, employment discrimination, bigotry, lack of discipline among the youth, destruction of the environment, child abuse and all other areas of social decay. With the help of State and Federal agencies, the Center will expand services to Senior Citizens of our Community. In this way, not only we are able to produce a disciplined society, but also projecting our=2 0ideals to the mainstream of this country politically culturally and economically, Thus we are being appreciated, accepted and recognized by the entire society.”

Every year, The Center honors nearly half a dozen Non Resident Keralites for their outstanding achievements and service to the society with the prestigious Kerala Center Annual Gala Award during a solemn ceremony. Dr. Thomas Abraham, an architect of the Kerala Center and currently a member, Boar d of Directors of the Kerala Center, said, “The Kerala Center annual gala awards are rated as the most prestigious award given from among the Malayalee community in North America. Recipients are chosen after a rigorous search and scrutiny. It has been our endeavor to honor the best, and those who are and can be role models to the rest of the community.”

Seminars are organized regularly on literary, social, and political them es at The Center. The seminars are not just a brain-storming and idea-sharing sessions, but, they challenge and invite participants to give back to the larger community. Dr. Abraham said, “While Kerala Center caters to the cultural needs of the Kerala community, its objective is broad to serve the civic and community interests of the larger Indian community. So we tailor many programs to involve the Indian American community.” Kerala Center was the venue to launch National Indian American Association for Senior Citizens in 1998 and South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS) in the 2000. The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) also uses Kerala Center for its committee meetings as well as organizing several public forums with the center. The Kerala Center in turns serves the whole Indian community”

Rajeshwar Prasad, who had served on the Board of Directors of the Kerala Center for nearly a decade, by virtue of the National Indo-American Association for Senior Citizens (NIAASC) being a member of the Kerala Center, said, “Though the Center’s membership, by its Constitution is limited to people from the state of Kerala, from a practical perspective, its activities cater to everyone. Many Indian community organizations of different languages and traditions utilize the Center as a focal point for their varied activities. The Center has welcomed such opportunities and in many instances, encourages them.”

Rajeshwar credits the prestige and success of the Center to the “enthusiastic and selfless contributions of its members.” He said, The Center’s collaborative efforts with a number of groups in Kerala State work for the benefit of most needy people in India. “Ongoing recognition by the Center of the social and political leadership at the Kerala State level as well as at the Federal level in USA is far more broader; it involves scores of organizations and institutions in the USA to be a part of such recognition,” he said.

The Center is exploring new ways to respond to the emerging needs of the community, Stephen said, and urged the members to contribute to, “continue with the ongoing projects of the Kerala Center; Support the Regional Cancer Research Center in Thiruvanathapuram; and change the mindset of the people back in Kerala.” Monetary support to young brides, whose families have no means to marry them off, was yet another noble project The Center runs every year, benefiting dozens of women back home in Kerala.

On the future of the Center, Thampi Thalappillil, president of the Kerala Center, said, “We have to do a lot of things for our second generation as well as for the first generation who are now getting old. We have already started some charity work aiming to help those back in India but we have plenty more to do.”

Indian-American parents of abducted children joined by other South Asians, and parents from around the country, walked down Embassy Row in Washington, stopping before the Indian Embassy among others, to make a point about bringing their kids home. The “Embassy Walk” was part of a three-day lobbying effort in Washington, D.C. to further pressure lawmakers, the Obama administration, and the Indian government to make moves favoring the American parents.

Ravi Parmar of New Jersey, whose son did not return after his former wife went for a five-week trip ostensibly to attend a wedding in India four years ago, is a case in point. He founded and leads Bring Home Our Kids, which is seeking a long-term mechanism between the U.S. and India to combat what these parents see as a growing crisis.

Along with the umbrella organization, Coalition to Stop International Parental Child Abduction, Parmar’s group came to Washington D.C. April 20-22, pressing not just the U.S. but also foreign governments, including the Government of India to get their children back.

Bindu Philips of Plainsboro, New Jersey, whose child was abducted to India, testified at the hearing along with several other parents, a number of them Indian-Americans, who have suffered a similar plight, such as Ravi Parmar, founder of Bring Our Kids Home, joined the day-long lobbying effort  in Washington, D.C. They met the State Department’s Director of the Office of Children’s Rights Issues Henry Hand as well as senior staffers of the Judiciary Committee and the Chief of Staff of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Capitol Hill to make their case. About 25 parents of abducted children representing 5 organizations also held a candlelight vigil before the White House.

“My world and that of my innocent children, was violently disrupted by my ex-husband, Sunil Jacob in December of 2008, when he orchestrated the kidnapping of the children during a vacation to India,” Philips said. “I would note that the children, my ex-husband and I are American citizens and that the children were born in America, which is the only nation they identified with as home.” Philips was accompanied by a Plainsboro law enforcement officer to the Capitol Hill hearing.

Despite the New Jersey Superior Court awarding her sole legal and residential custody of the children in December 2009, she has not been able to see or communicate with her children. “My children have lost six years of their mother’s love and care and I have lost 6 years of my children’s childhood that neither of us can ever get back. I have put everything I have into my mission to be reunited with my children.”

“We want to impress upon our Governments that parental child abduction is not a “child custody” issue, and just because a parent wrongfully removes their children from the United States, it does not make it right,” Parmar said.

Neeta Kharabanda, 58 and her husband Anil Kharabanda, 62, an Indian-American couple in Southlake, Texas, were found dead in their home April 12, in what police describe as a murder-suicide. Local news reports said that Neeta had filed divorce twice before this gruesome incident took place last week.

According to media reports, a Dec. 20, 2014 photo on the husband’s Facebook account shows a happy couple, with the words “Together Forever.” But on April 12, Anil Kharabanda, according to Southlake police, shot his wife to death in their bedroom and turned the gun upon himself, Dallasnews.com reported. While the time of death is not given, a family member discovered the bodies around 2 pm and called police.

Fissures appeared to have occurred in the relationship more than 20 years into the marriage which took place in 1980. Neeta Kharabanda submitted petitions for divorce in 2003 and again in 2011, but in both cases filed papers saying she did not want to pursue the case. Anil Kharabanda’s LinkedIn profile shows he was an “Independent Insurance Professional” in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

“Preliminary evidence indicates that the male shot the female and then himself,” a written statement from Southlake police is quoted saying in news reports. Mylife.com shows the couple lived in Saint Paul, Minnesota before moving to Southlake, Texas.

New York, NY: Glowing tributes were paid to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution on his 125th birth anniversary, during a special meeting organized by INOC, USA. Jagjit Singh of the proposed Bihar Chapter spoke eloquently of the life and contribution of Babasaheb Ambedkar who has fought for social justice and equal rights for every citizen of the country regardless of the caste, religion or regional differences.

George Abraham, the Chairman credited Ambedkar for laying a strong foundation for a democratic and secular society that stood the test of time. ‘When many other newly independent nations from colonialism failed as democratic societies, India persevered because of great men like Babasaheb Ambedkar and Nehruji built institutions that protected the freedom and liberty for all its citizens of India’ Mr. Abraham added.

The meeting also saw representative groups from Maharashtra, Bihar and Assam submitting applications to join INOC and to form the respective chapters. Harbachan Singh, the Secretary-General, called the event historic in noticing three applications being submitted on the same day with such large following. He categorized the event as”very inspiring and an encouraging development” and emphasized on the rich heritage of the party, its long history and its vigorous and pivotal role in the post-independence development of India.

Mohinder Singh Gilzian, the President called on all who were present to join the INOC and strengthen the democratic forces in India that are increasingly under assault from the intolerant groups that are gaining strength and creating divisions within the society.  He applauded the representatives from 3 states that expressed their willingness to join INOC when the ‘chips are down’ for the party and added ‘it truly showed courage and resilience on their part’.

Sharada Jambulapati, Akash Patel, Suhas Rao, Mubeen Shakir, Vishwajith Sridharan and Durga Thakral, along with two other South Asians, Abubakar Abid, a Pakistani-American and Akbar Hossain, a Bangladeshi-American, are among those who have been honored with the prestigious Are Among 2016 Soros Fellows awards. They are among 30 annual Paul and Daisy Soros Fellows for 2016, selected from a pool of 1,443 applicants for their potential to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture, or their academic fields.

The 18th annual fellowship for New Americans, established by Paul and Daisy Soros, Hungarian immigrants and American philanthropists in 1997 with a charitable trust of $50 million, was announced in New York on April 12th.

In addition to receiving up to $90,000 in funding for the graduate program of their choice, each new fellow, who are 30 or younger, joins the prestigious community of recipients from past years. “The Fellows are from all different countries and socio-economic and religious backgrounds, and they have come to the United States in a myriad of ways —but they all bring excellence to the table,” said Craig Harwood, who directs the fellowship program. “They demonstrate that immigrants, regardless of their background, continue to be a critical part of our nation.”

Sharada, who is pursuing a JD at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, is the daughter of Indian immigrants who came to the U.S. in search of educational opportunities for their children. Her family struggled to adapt to the Deep South as her father worked as the only immigrant farmer in the region and her mother shuffled between jobs as a factory seamstress, janitor, and nanny.

Born in London, Akash Patel’s family moved from India to England and then to the U.S. in the early 1990s for better opportunities. Akash was not afforded citizenship until the age of 23 and he and his family lived as undocumented immigrants for 16 years until they could adjust their status. As a result, Akash founded Aspiring Americans in Oklahoma City as part of his honors research project at OU to assist other undocumented students in Oklahoma.

Suhas Rao is the son of Indian immigrants who came to the U.S. in the 1980s, and grew up immersed in science and developed a love for the pursuit of knowledge and discovery. His desire to be at the forefront of biomedical research but also work to effectively translate this research into clinical practice led him towards a career as a physician-scientist.

Mubeen Shakir is the youngest son of Indian Muslim immigrants, who came to the U.S. in the 1970s. Mubeen graduated from the University of Oklahoma in three years and received a Rhodes Scholarship. Mubeen went on to earn master’s degrees in medical anthropology and public policy at the University of Oxford. Now a first year medical student, Mubeen hopes to improve health systems at the city, state, and national level, helping to build a more equitable health system and just society.

Vishwajith Sridharan was born and raised in southern India, came to the U.S. to join his father who was working in New Jersey, and to begin his third grade and worked hard to catch up with his classmates. By the age of 15, Vish was working at Children’s Hospital in D.C., where he spent multiple years developing novel HIV vaccine models, one of which was patented. Vish has been keen to work with vulnerable populations across the globe. He has traveled to Uganda and helped set up healthcare infrastructure in rural villages. Vish has also held an internship with the United Nations in Switzerland.

Durga Thakral attended a local public high school where her admiration for the scientific mysteries of the universe was encouraged by many dedicated teachers and mentors.
With support from the Arnold & Mabel Beckman Foundation and the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, Durga earned a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale. Durga’s work with communities with minimal healthcare resources has shown her the dire need for better access to medical care and affordable biomedical devices.

Akbar Hossain, who is currently pursuing a JD at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, hopes to combine his legal, nonprofit, and personal experiences into a role as an effective advocate for low-income communities and perhaps one day serve in local elected office. Abubakar Abid, a PhD student at Stanford, wants to work on building medical devices that can stay in the human body for extended periods of time to provide unique, patient-specific biomedical information that can help diagnose diseases and provide real-time feedback to patients.

Rajat Patra, an Indian American student who came from Bangalore to join prestigious Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh’s prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, was found dead in his off-campus apartment March 30. He was the second student enrolled in the university to have died within days of each other. The cause of death has not yet been released, but the university said the two deaths were not related and that there was no threat to the university community.

Rajat Patra, a student in the Heinz College Master of Information Systems Management program, joined Carnegie Mellon last August. “He was a passionate student who had earned a prestigious internship for the summer and was planning to create his own IT consultancy after graduation,” Subra Suresh, president of the university said in a statement. Patra was also an avid guitar player, and his Facebook shows him in white face, wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt.

“We have no reason to believe that these deaths are connected, and want to reassure you that there is no threat to other members of our community,” Suresh wrote. “As we share in your sorrow, we want to acknowledge how deeply upsetting these losses are to those who knew Elliott and Rajat, and to the entire Carnegie Mellon community. The team of housefellows, college liaisons, advisors, and others are always available for student support. We would urge any member of our community to engage our Counseling and Psychological Services, either for yourself or as a point of referral for a friend. You may reach a counselor at any time, day or night, at 412-268-2922. Finally, members of the Carnegie Mellon community have a history of looking out for one another. Let us all commit to being especially vigilant and caring for one another at this difficult time.On April 1, the university held a memorial to remember the two students.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — More than half of adults believe children today are more stressed, experience less quality family time and have worse mental and emotional health than children in past generations, according to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.

“We have seen major advances in medicine and public health over the last century that have greatly reduced children’s illness and death. On the other hand, conditions like childhood obesity, asthma and behavior problems have become more common,” said Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the poll and professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

“We wanted to know how the public perceives these trends, so we conducted this latest national poll to gain insights into adults’ perceptions of children’s health today. We found that adults in the U.S. broadly agree: children’s health today seems worse than for children over the past several decades.”

Among the key results, 55 percent of adults polled believe kids’ mental and emotional health is worse today than when they were children. Coping and personal friendships for children were also widely viewed as worse than for children in the past.

“The dominant view from this poll is that children’s health is worse today than it was for generations past, and we need to more urgently address these challenges,” said Mark Wietecha, CEO and president of Children’s Hospital Association, which collaborated on the poll.

In addition to the perception of diminished emotional and mental health, the poll found adults perceive children as having worse physical health as well. Forty-two percent of adults say kids today are in worse physical health compared to their own childhoods.

The poll also found generational differences in adults’ perceptions of children’s health: Pre-baby boomers ages 70 and older were most likely to perceive that children’s physical health today is better than when they were growing up. Baby boomers (ages 51-69), generation Xers (ages 35-50) and millennials in the 18-34 age group were less likely to perceive that children’s physical health is better now.

The poll of nearly 2,700 adults in a nationally representative sample asked respondents to assess key variables for children growing up today, compared to those in prior decades. The findings linked to behavioral health are consistent with previous Mott polls that cited bullying, stress, suicide, and depression as leading child health concerns identified by adults across the U.S.

Jay Gajjar, one of the first members of the Gujarati community to receive Canada’s highest honor, the Order of Canada, passed away on march 31^st, 2016. Gajjar was well-known for his community service and involvement in various organizations like Friends of India Association, Hospital Foundation and the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce to name a few.

Gajjar, a prolific writer of more than four hundred short stories, was published in several well known dailies and magazines in India such as Kumar, Aarasi, Shrirang and Gruhshobha while some of his work was also broadcast on

CBC Television in Canada. His novel “Paththar Thar Thar Dhruje” was published in a Sunday supplement of “Gujarat Samachar”. Several of his novels have been serialized are in Toronto’s weekly newspapers like ‘Gujarat Express’, ‘Gujarat Abroad’ and in ‘Gujarat Darpan’ a monthly out of New Jersey, USA.

He was also invited to read a chapter from his new novel ‘Kachi Matinu Ghar’ in 2004 and ‘Timirna Tej’ in 2005 by the ‘Word on the Street Festival’ in Toronto, Canada.

A professor and successful businessman, Gajjar is survived by his wife, Kavita and his son, Neil Gajjar’s family. An afternoon of bhajans and devotional songs to honour his memory will be held at the Mississauga Hindu Heritage Mandir, 6300 Mississauga Rd, Mississauga ON L5N 1A7, on Sunday, April 10, 2016 from 2pm-4pm.​ For more details, please contact: Dr. Neil J. Gajjar, DDS at 905.564.2021 or Prakash Moody at: 4prakash@gmail.com

Rajat Patra, an Indian American student who came from Bangalore to join prestigious Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh’s prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, was found dead in his off-campus apartment March 30. He was the second student enrolled in the university to have died within days of each other. The cause of death has not yet been released, but the university said the two deaths were not related and that there was no threat to the university community.

Rajat Patra, a student in the Heinz College Master of Information Systems Management program, joined Carnegie Mellon last August. “He was a passionate student who had earned a prestigious internship for the summer and was planning to create his own IT consultancy after graduation,” Subra Suresh, president of the university said in a statement. Patra was also an avid guitar player, and his Facebook shows him in white face, wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt.

“We have no reason to believe that these deaths are connected, and want to reassure you that there is no threat to other members of our community,” Suresh wrote. “As we share in your sorrow, we want to acknowledge how deeply upsetting these losses are to those who knew Elliott and Rajat, and to the entire Carnegie Mellon community. The team of housefellows, college liaisons, advisors, and others are always available for student support. We would urge any member of our community to engage our Counseling and Psychological Services, either for yourself or as a point of referral for a friend. You may reach a counselor at any time, day or night, at 412-268-2922. Finally, members of the Carnegie Mellon community have a history of looking out for one another. Let us all commit to being especially vigilant and caring for one another at this difficult time.On April 1, the university held a memorial to remember the two students.:

Yugeshwar Rajkumar, a music business booking agent, has been sentenced to 3¼ -to-6½ years in state prison last week after his guilty plea in March in New York State Supreme Court to grand larceny in the second and third degrees as well as scheme to defraud in the first degree.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced on April 4^th that Rajkumar, who also went by the names “Mateo Rajkumar” and “Matthew Rajkumar,” as well as several entities that he owned and operated in Manhattan, including American Talent Agency, Inc. and Kayvana Entertainment LLC., has been arrested and prosecuted for stealing more than $2 million from clients and promoters by falsely promising to book famous recording artists, including, Akon, Chris Brown, T-Pain, and MC Hammer, for events. In addition to prison terms, he was ordered to pay $1,744,900 in restitution.

Yugeshwar Rajkumar, 45, according to prosecutors, took payments of between $45,000 and $300,000 from clients for the supposed concert bookings for acts including Akon and MC Hammer. He actually just kept the money for himself. The New Jersey-born Rajkumar falsely promised his clients that he would book popular recording artists for overseas concerts, and in exchange for the supposed booking, he charged his clients between $45,000 and $300,000, and directed them to wire payments to bank accounts held by entities based in New York and controlled by Rajkumar.

However, instead of using the money to book the promised artists, the defendant made cash withdrawals and spent the money on rent, car payments, legal fees, and personal debts. In many cases, victims were forced to pay additional fees to secure performances by desired artists who were never booked by Rajkumar.

“The defendant took advantage of his reputation in the music industry to convince his victims to pay him tens of thousands of dollars to secure supposed performances by world-famous recording artists,” said Vance said. “In reality, the defendant never booked the promised artists, resulting in losses to the tune of more than $ 2 million.” Rajkumar pleaded guilty to grand larceny and scheming to defraud in Manhattan Supreme Court on March 4th.

Archna Becker, owner and founder of Bhojanic, an Atlanta, Georgia-based eatery, was recently given the National Restaurant Association award. Becker, who was one of the eight winners honored nationwide, arrived in the U.S. from India at the age of 11.

She began her career three years later in the restaurant industry as a drive-thru worker at a quick service restaurant. She continued to work various industry jobs for another decade before pursuing a career as a business executive.

Becker soon realized her passion was in cooking, opening a catering business in the early 90s and a full-service restaurant a few years later. Today, Becker continues to give back to her community, by serving on the Georgia Restaurant Association Board.

She has employed more than two dozen Bhutanese refugees and has an intense training program to help them learn English and facilitate their transition to the U.S. Becker received the PepsiCo Foodservice’s Faces of Diversity Award, which honors diverse members of the industry who have achieved success in the face of adversity, and who embody the American Dream.

According to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Becker opened her second Bhojanic location in the Shops Around Lenox a little more than a month ago. The first thing that distinguished Bhojanic when it opened some eight years ago, with a selection of small plate “Indian tapas” designed for sampling and sharing.

“The main thing I hated was that you had to buy a lot of large portions,” Becker was quoted as saying of more typical Indian restaurants of the time. “You either ate at a nasty buffet or you ended up buying $200 worth of food and eating it all week.”

Bhojanic’s mostly Northern Indian, Punjabi-style cuisine comes from Becker’s homeland and is cooked homestyle, without butter or cream. The kitchen sources local and seasonal ingredients, and freshly roasted spices are ground daily.

The gruesome murder of law school student Mark Waugh by his best friend Rahul Gupta, an aspiring Indian American biomedical engineer, who was sentenced to life in March 2015, was the subject of the CBS show, “48 Hours,” which was aired on April 2. In the episode, “What Happened in Apt. 1601?,” Richard Schlesinger and “48 Hours” investigate Waugh’s death and the police search for the truth.

Montgomery County, Maryland Circuit Court Judge Richard Jordan gave the maximum sentence to Gupta, then 25, noting that the killer showed no remorse for stabbing and slashing Waugh, 23, on Oct. 13, 2013 in Gupta’s apartment in Silver Springs, Maryland.

On the night of Oct. 13, 2013 – Gupta’s birthday – the two friends along with Gupta’s girlfriend Taylor Gould went out for an evening on the town, heavily drinking at various venues before returning to the apartment where Gupta and Gould lived together. The trio continued drinking there.

At 3:30 a.m., police were summoned to the apartment and found Waugh lying on a bed, covered with blood from multiple stab wounds. Gupta was near him, also covered with blood. The graduate student, who was raised in Virginia, told police he had killed Waugh because he believed his best friend and girlfriend were having an affair.

But in court, Gupta recanted his statement to police, saying he wanted to defend his girlfriend. “I remember thinking how the f*** did this happen. I couldn’t figure it out,” he said. Gupta told jurors that it was Gould who killed Waugh, and said he saw the two walking in from the kitchen with Waugh covered in blood.

“It’s like a horror movie,” said Montgomery County police officer Dean Skiba, according to a press release by CBS, describing the bloody scene in Apt. 1601. “You could see it was up all over the wall, all over the ground.”

CBS described the show this way: Waugh, 23, was stabbed to death in the apartment where his friends, Rahul Gupta, a graduate student, and Gupta’s girlfriend, Taylor Gould, a biomedical engineer, lived. Gupta and Gould, bloody and drunk, according to police, were interrogated immediately afterward. Police thought they would quickly solve the case, especially after Gupta seemingly confessed. “I caught my buddy and my girl cheating,” Gupta told police. “I killed my buddy.”

But then, as the alcohol wore off, everything changed. Gupta insisted he had no idea what transpired. Taylor had a similar story. “I don’t remember what happened,” she told police. “I told you everything I did remember.”

Police struggled to believe Gupta and Taylor completely forgot the events leading up to their friend ending up dead. “They could both remember up until a certain point, but the crucial 45 minutes nobody seems to remember anything,” Detective Paula Hamill says.

Investigators then tried something highly unusual in interrogations that may have changed the face of the case. They put Gupta and Taylor together alone, and monitored their conversations. This conversation ultimately would decide who went home, and who would be charged with murder.

So how does Waugh’s life end? And could anyone figure out who killed him? Schlesinger and “48 Hours” search for answers through interviews with police, investigators, friends and attorneys involved in the case.

After many years of bringing hundreds of lawbreakers to justice, it appears to be the turn of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara now to face the court. A lawsuit filed by an ex-hedge fund founder who claimed his constitutional rights were violated during a sweeping 2010 insider-trading raid can proceed. A  federal court judge in New York has allowed a case against Preet Bharara to go to the discovery stage and denied the “Sheriff “of Wall Street’s motion to dismiss the civil rights claims of a former hedge fund manager targeted but never charged. The plaintiff in the case called the judge’s ruling a “first step’ in holding the government accountable for “troubling conduct.”

Legal experts say this is a rare and unusual case that may require the high profile, nationally recognized U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, some of his assistant attorneys, and the FBI, to submit hundreds of documents to do with the discovery process, in a case that may end up in a jury trial. “The Ganek case presents a relatively rare instance of a plaintiff’s claims prevailing over the defense of qualified immunity,” jdsupra.com, a legal news website, maintained.

On this March 10, federal Judge William H. Pauley permitted the civil rights case against Bharara et al to go forward. “The unusual decision on Thursday means the government must provide evidence about its work to Ganek and perhaps defend itself before a jury,” Bloomberg news reported. “Discovery is now appropriate to ascertain whether this case is about a simple misunderstanding or whether something more troubling was afoot,” Pauley wrote in the 35-page ruling.

David Ganek, a former hedge-fund manager at Level Global Investors LLC, a now defunct company, alleged his civil rights were violated in the course of an investigation; that in effect, as a law-enforcement officer, Bharara did not protect him from the violation; and despite knowing about it, did not clear up a misrepresentation about him, causing his company to fail.

Credited with securing more than 80 convictions after his pledge to crackdown on insider trading when he came into office in August 2009, Bharara, who supervises an office of more than 220 assistant U.S. attorneys, handling cases of domestic and international terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking, white collar crime, public corruption, gang violence, organized crime, and civil rights violations, is being sued for violating the civil rights of a citizen, an irony not lost on critics of what they see as Bharara’s high-handed prosecutorial tactics.

According to media reports, including jdsupra.com, a November 2010 FBI raid of Ganek’s offices involved search of personal files and mobile phones, in the presence of journalists, causing investors anxiety, despite no resulting charges against Ganek.

The lawyer for Ganek informed Bharara the firm may have to close unless the U.S. Attorney publicly clarified that Ganek was not the target of investigation. Bharara did not make any clarification, the news report says, and the firm closed in February 2011.

Some of the 100 or so white collar cases brought by Bharara have been dismissed. Two years ago, a related case, U.S. v. Newman, was vacated by the Second Circuit on grounds that prosecutors were unable to prove that the two accused hedge fund managers knew that the corporate insider who gave them the information did it for “personal benefit.” Several other convictions were also reversed after this.

Ganek’s case which he filed in February 2015, rested on the affidavit used to get the search warrant for the FBI raid of Level Global offices. The affidavit Ganek claims, was partly fabricated as it related to him; that the research analyst who provided the affidavit, actually told the FBI that he never informed Ganek about the sources of the “inside information,” and that this was known from his testimony at the Newman trial. Which means, according to Ganek, that some parts of affidavit for the search warrant, were manufactured in a bid to get the warrant. This, he says, violated his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

Judge Pauley ruled that Ganek had “adequately pled” that the affidavit in question “contained materially false statements and omissions” and therefore met the probable cause requirement regarding violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.

On his Fifth Amendment rights claim of “not to be deprived of liberty as a result of the fabrication of evidence by a government officer” Judge Pauley also ruled that Ganek had pled sufficiently. Furthermore, the judge also upheld Ganek’s “failure to intervene” claim that Bharara and others did not carry out their duty “to protect the constitutional rights of citizens from infringement by other law enforcement officers.” Bharara, the judge said, failed to clarify that Ganek was not the target of the investigation despite learning that the research analyst’s affidavit was incorrect.

Chicago IL: Dvara Magazine, committed to promoting Indian-fusion, celebrated its first anniversary on March 13th, 2016 at Sunda Restaurant in Downtown Chicago. In order to make the celebrations more meaningful and socially-relevant, management of the Dvara Magazine hosted a grand fundraiser aimed at strengthening “Save the Girl Child Program” launched by the Dignity of the Girl Child Organization in Jaipur, India in order to achieve its cherished goals. The event was attended by hundreds of eminent people from different walks of life.

Dr. Meeta Singh, Director of Dignity of the Girl Child Organization, the keynote speaker at the event, said that educational empowerment of a girl brings in its wake a number of beneficial outcomes for her family as well as for the society at large. “A computer-literate girl, for example, can predict weather, advise farmers on the right price for their produce in the market, and thereby emerge as a leader at the grassroots level”, she opined and added that contributing to this process of bringing about a positive and healthy societal change would be the greatest achievement of her life.

Sujata, President and CEO of Chicago Foundation for Women, another key note speaker at the event, said that becoming rich and famous should not be the only goal of one’s life. “While a multitude of people believe in living a king-size life, which involves, among other things, buying a villa in an island, going for a fleet of the most fanciest sports cars, having billions of dollars in secret bank accounts in Switzerland, etc, I deliberately opted for working for a not-for-profit organization calledApna Ghar that is committed to improving the quality of life of immigrant battered women”, she added.

Karthika Gupta and Jayashree Rao, the Chicago-based co-founders of Dvara Magazine and members of its core editorial team, outlined the details of their visit to Khandar, a village near Ranthambore National Park in Jaipur in 2015 to document a story on “Women Empowerment in Rajasthan” for upcoming issue of the Magazine. They said that during the course of their visit, they met with several poor girls and women and were honored to be a part of their daily life.

“Being one among the loving and innocent girls and women gave me an opportunity not only to understand their lives, dreams, and aspirations but also to witness the struggle for their social, educational, and economic empowerment”, said Karthika.

Dvara Magazine, which had a fundraising goal of $2200, successfully raised almost double the amount through the fundraiser. Those who are interested in having more information about Dvara Magazine may visit its website: www.dvaramagazine.com.  They may visit www.dvaramagazine.com/fundraiser for relevant information about the fundraiser, the sponsors of this event, and donations.

M.R. Rangswami, founder of Indiaspora, has been honored in Washington, D.C., with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the U.S. China Education Trust, at its inaugural event on March 17th. “The best years are still ahead of me,” said the Indian American venture capitalist, who founded Indiaspora in 2012.

“This is a lifetime achievement award. But I feel like I’m just getting started,” Rangaswami told the media shortly after the event, which was held at the Mayflower Hotel in the nation’s capital.

“I wish I had started the ‘giving back’ part of my journey earlier than I did. It is the most gratifying phase of life,” he said, adding: “Indian Americans need to get more engaged in their communities and politics. We need to also be role models and give more than our fair share to help others who are not as fortunate.”

Indian American philanthropist and entrepreneur Frank Islam introduced Rangaswami at the dinner, noting that he had founded the Sand Hill Group in the San Francisco Bay Area’s Silicon Valley. Founded in 1997, Sand Hill is one of the first software “angel investing” firms.

Islam also noted that Rangaswami in 2007 founded the Corporate Eco-Forum, a by-invitation-only membership organization for Global 500 companies that demonstrate a serious commitment to the environment as a business strategy. Today, the Forum has 70 members. He remarked on Rangaswami’s humble career beginnings at a manufacturing company in the U.S. “That job was not at the top of the totem pole – in fact, it was near the bottom,” said Islam.“For a first meeting, it was very productive,” he said.

James Chao, founder of Foremost Maritime Corporation, was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. His daughter, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, accepted the award on her father’s behalf.

USCET was founded by former U.S. Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch in 1998 to promote U.S.-China Relations. This was the first year the organization gave out lifetime achievement awards.

Rangaswami was reported to have told the media that the event was designed to begin a U.S./China/India dialogue, which cohesively examines the relationship between the three countries, “going beyond borders and shipping lanes,” he explained.

“We have so many shared values,” said Rangaswami, who founded Indiaspora with the aim of catalyzing the Indian American community to make an impact both in the U.S. and India. He noted that both countries are looking to get more of its citizens into the middle class. “It opened a new window for Indiaspora to look externally for other diaspora organizations to partner with,” he said. “This is the first time there has been a discussion like this.”

Prior to the awards ceremony, USCET brought together former Ambassador Nicholas Platt – who has served in Pakistan, the Philippines and Zambia – and former Indian Ambassador Thomas Pickering – who has also served in Russia, Israel, El Salvador and Nigeria – for a panel discussion on the development of India and China as global economic powerhouses. International security expert Ashley Tellis – who formerly served as a special advisor to the U.S. ambassador to India – joined the discussion, along with Wu Xi, the deputy chief of mission from China to the U.S.

Indicted Indian American restaurateur Harendra Singh is no longer able to pay his business attorney, according to a court filing reported by Newsday, a popular daily from Long Island, NY. Singh has been in jail since December 2015 after he violated his bond conditions by fraudulently submitting a loan application, pending trial.

Smithtown lawyer Howard Greenberg, who has represented Singh for years on many of his business dealings, withdrew as counsel last month on a lawsuit against two of Singhs’ companies by a valet company.

“The defendants are unable to meet present financial obligations to our office for the continuing litigation in this matter and such obligations have been outstanding,” Greenberg said in a court filing asking State Supreme Court Judge Randy Sue Marber in Mineola permission to withdraw. Greenberg also wrote that Singh’s incarceration since Dec. 16 has “made communication and defense of the case a near impossibility.” Marber granted the request on Feb. 24.

Woodbury-based All Metro Valet Parking, Inc. sued two of Singh’s companies — SRB Catering Corp. and SRB Woodlands, Inc. — in 2014 for $26,378 plus interest on what it claimed were unpaid bills from the fall of 2013 and spring of 2014.

In September, Singh was indicted on 13 federal charges including bribing an Oyster Bay official to obtain $20 million loan guarantees on loans that were supposed to be for capital improvements at the town golf course and Tobay Beach.

Many of Singh’s companies face lawsuits from creditors. The largest pending lawsuit comes from the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which last year sued Singh’s companies in federal court for more than $3.1 million in pension liabilities owed by the company that operated the Water’s Edge in New York City.

Harendra Singh plea deal has made no progress – A federal prosecutor had said in February 2016 that the government and the defense are having discussions aimed at a plea deal that would resolve the bribery case of Long Island restaurateur Harendra Singh.

Appearing before U.S. District Court Judge Sandra Feuerstein, the prosecutor on the case, Catherine Mirabile, had said both sides were “working toward a possible resolution” of the case however no progress has been reported on any kind of deal.

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the decision by Bernards Township in New Jersey authorities for denying application by the community to build a mosque in the township, according to a report by NJ.com

The March 16 report said quoted a spokesman for the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark that the civil rights investigation by the Department of Justice will look into whether the township violated the rights of members of the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge over its prolonged, and ultimately failed, application to build a mosque on Church Street.

The report about the investigation came after the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, led by the former mayor, Mohammad Ali Chaudry, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Newark earlier in March, accusing the town’s planning board of breaking a law unanimously passed by Congress in 2000 protecting houses of worship from being unduly burdened by land use regulations.

The New York Times had earlier reported that the story involving the proposal to build the Mosque began in November 2011 when Chaudry, a retired AT&T executive who has also served as the township’s mayor decided with some friends to open a mosque in the township where he has lived for some 40 years and has been on its board of education and has led a task force to create the town’s community center.

But the society could not have its mosque proposal sanctioned by the board as the latter rejected it year after year under one ground or the other. The NYT report said what followed after the initial proposal were 39 public hearings, and nearly four years of demands by town officials and planning board members for one change after another. “Each solution proposed or agreed to by the Islamic Society led to objections on other grounds. Often, members of the public raised issues — some saying that a bucolic area was not the right setting for a mosque, or that it might interfere with a volunteer fire department station across the road,’ the report said.

A leading opponent of the mosque project said that Islamic Shariah law is “one of the greatest threats to American values and liberties,” and led a relentless campaign of challenges to virtually every aspect of the project.

The suit was filed about three months after township planners unanimously rejected the proposal to build the mosque. Among other things, the lawsuit filed the society has called for appointment of a monitor to oversee compliance with all federal laws in all committee and planning board decisions for five years.

New York, NY: Niraj Baxi of Silicon Valley (USA) has been elected as the President of Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) last week. According to a press release, the new international executive council conducted elections electronically for the first time, where 208 of the 223 international delegates from 21 countries cast votes, electing a new team to lead the global organization in the coming years. Other elected officers are: Noel Lal (Sydney, Australia) as Executive Vice President, Mr. Ram Gadhavi (New Jersey, USA) Vice President, Dr. Rajeev Mehta (USA), Dr. Pradip Sewoke (France), Mrs. Suman Kapoor (New Zealand), and Mr. Rajidre Tiwari (The Netherland) as International Coordinators. The election process was supervised by GOPIO Chairman Inder Singh who will continue in that position.

Formed in 1989 at the First Global Convention of People of Indian Origin, GOPIO has now reached most countries with a sizable Indian Diaspora population. Past GOPIO elections were generally held at its biennial conventions wherein only a fraction of the international delegates could participate. However, with new technologies being available, the present election was held electronically with a record participation by 93% of the international delegates.

With India at the threshold of accepting new technologies and business investment, the new team has come up with a motto, “GOPIO Means Business” so as to attract Indian Diaspora entrepreneurs and businessmen to take more interest in investing in India in all spheres, in business, philanthropy, education healthcare and social causes. With an investment and business friendly government in India, we see a lot opportunity for the Indian Diaspora to invest and actively participate in India’s development,” said President Niraj Baxi.

GOPIO Executive Vice President Noel Lal said that GOPIO would reach out all countries where we have the Diaspora presence. Vice President Ram Gadhavi who has brought Gujarati Diaspora writers on a common platform in the US, plans to extend it to all Indian writers on a global GOPIO forum.

GOPIO Founder President Dr. Thomas Abraham, who also serves as the Executive Trustee of GOPIO Foundation said that GOPIO will increase its social and philanthropic activities in India as well as in countries with a large Indian Diaspora population. Baxi further said that he would work towards making GOPIO the voice of any and all NRIs and PIOs and would take initiatives in growing GOPIO all countries and regions of the world.

“In all our internal and external activities, we want to bring about fairness, transparency and accountability; there are many challenges that lie ahead of us and we need good wishes and continued hard work from everyone,” Baxi continued.

In 1984, Niraj visited various countries, becoming the first emissary of the National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA), which sponsored the First Global Convention of People of Indian Origin in 1989. He coordinated NFIA and GOPIO organized the 90th Anniversary of Gadar in San Francisco. Niraj has served as Regional Vice President of GOPIO. Niraj has served in several positions at NFIA and became its President in 2003. He is also active in many civic, political and community service Associations. Professionally, Niraj is a third generation insurance and financial services professional.

Originally from Fiji, Noel came into GOPIO at the 2000 GOPIO Convention in Zurich, Switzerland. Executive Vice President – Noel Lal (Sydney, Australia) served as the Regional VP and International Coordinator for the Oceania region. Noel is also a current Trustee of the Foundation for Educating Needy Children in Fiji. A Justice of Peace in Australia, Noel is an engineer by profession is currently the Managing Director of South Pacific Engineering Pty Ltd.

For four decades, Vice President, Ram Gadhavi (Wayne, New Jersey, USA) has been involved in various community activities, starting with the India Cultural Society of NJ where he served as its Chairman, helped build the Gandhi Mandir, was Secretary/President of the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA of CT, NJ & NY) where he organized the 1st India Day Parade, President of Gujarati Literary Academy of NA, Secretary of Bharatiya Vidyà Bhavan (USA), and as founding Co-Convener of the first GOPIO Convention in 1989. A chemical engineering project manager of Lummus Co., Ram, after retirement, started a home building and re-modelling company.

International Coordinator for North America – Dr. Rajeev Mehta (Piscataway, New Jersey, USA) is the Founder President of GOPIO-Central Jersey (and served in this capacity 2008 to 2012). He also served as Co-chair of the GOPIO Health Council (2010-2014), Co-Convener of the 2011 GOPIO International Biennial Convention held in New Jersey, and Chair of GOPIO Health Council 2014 onward. He has organized several health camps on behalf of GOPIO Central Jersey. He is a researcher, clinician and professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. For more information, contact GOPIO President Niraj Baxi at email president@gopio.net or 408-307-9845 or visit www.gopio.net

The City of New York has announced that based on an analysis of seasonally adjusted job numbers for February 2016 provided by the New York State Department of Labor, New York City added 4,500 jobs in February, reaching a record total of just below 4.3 million jobs across all five boroughs.  Since Mayor de Blasio took office in January of 2014, New York City has added 256,700 private sector jobs, an increase of 7.4 percent.

Since Mayor de Blasio took office, the strongest employment gains are in Health Care & Social Assistance, with growth of nearly 48,000 jobs, and Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services, with growth of over 38,000 jobs.

“We continue to see an impressive jobs return on smart investments we’re making in the city’s fastest growing sectors that will provide New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs with jobs for decades to come,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen.

“The numbers don’t lie: over last two years, we’ve seen the largest number of jobs in the history of our City,” said NYCEDC President Maria Torres-Springer. “It’s five-borough employment growth that tells us we’re on the right track toward a productive, innovative, and equitable City. But we’re not stopping here. We’re looking forward to getting more New Yorkers access to good-paying, career-building jobs in the years ahead.”

Under the de Blasio administration, New York City has also seen a dramatic increase in the growth of jobs in neighborhoods outside of Manhattan. According to the most recent available data, the number of private sector jobs in boroughs outside of Manhattan increased by 6.4 percent since Mayor de Blasio took office, more than double the rate of the 2.9 percent increase in Manhattan, and significantly higher than the 4.7 percent increase in a comparable timeframe from 2011 to 2013 in the outer boroughs, demonstrating increased economic opportunity for many New Yorkers in neighborhoods that had been previously left behind.

Mayor de Blasio has been particularly focused on creating good middle class jobs that are accessible to New Yorkers from all backgrounds. The Mayor recently announced a suite of initiatives that will grow the city’s industrial and manufacturing economy, including the $150 million NYC Industrial Developer Fund, launched earlier this month, which will help create new space for the next generation of industrial jobs. Last week, Mayor de Blasio announced the 2017 launch of Citywide Ferry Service, which will connect New Yorkers in neighborhoods from Soundview to the Rockaways with good job opportunities in all five boroughs.  Earlier today, the de Blasio administration announced a major expansion of initiatives to support minority and women-owned developers and contractors, including a $10 million loan fund that will allow for real estate development and job creation.

New York City Economic Development Corporation is the City’s primary vehicle for promoting economic growth in each of the five boroughs. NYCEDC’s mission is to stimulate growth through expansion and redevelopment programs that encourage investment, generate prosperity and strengthen the City’s competitive position. NYCEDC serves as an advocate to the business community by building relationships with companies that allow them to take advantage of New York City’s many opportunities.

Seattle, WA: A masked man burst into a 7-Eleven near Seattle early Sunday morning, swinging a hatchet and slicing the store clerk. Before the masked man could seriously hurt anyone, though, a customer who was drinking his morning coffee pulled out a concealed weapon and fatally shot the attacker. Authorities did not name the attacker or the customer, but they did hail the concealed weapon owner as a hero.

“This could have been disastrous,” King County Sheriff Sgt. Cindi West told KIRO7. “Had this guy not shot, who knows what would have happened? We might have a dead clerk right now, and instead we have a dead bad guy.”

The clerk, Kuldeep Singh, suffered minor cuts to his stomach. He, too, thanked the customer for saving his life. “He [was] killing me,” Singh, 58, said of the hatchet-wielding attacker. Singh added that the customer was a “nice guy.”

West said that the incident will be investigated fully but that the 60-year-old customer was currently being considered a Good Samaritan. The “customer, the shooter, is shaken up but from everything that we see right now from the scene – there’s no wrongdoing on his part,” she told King 5. “In fact, he probably saved a life in this case.”

The incident near Burien, Wash., about eight miles south of downtown Seattle, probably will add to the ongoing debate about concealed weapons and their effect on crime.
Concealed-weapon ownership has skyrocketed in recent years as more states have moved to allow it. The percentage of Americans who believe owning a gun will protect them and others also has risen steadily.

There is little consensus on the efficacy of concealed weapons in reducing crime, however. Although supporters of concealed-weapon ownership argue that it discourages crime, some studies have shown it has no effect. Other studies have found it actually increases crime.

Staten Island, NY: Nausheen Rahman, a 28-year-old Indian American woman in New York is being held without bail on a murder charge after police say she gave birth to a girl and threw the newborn away in a garbage can at her home. Rahman was arraigned March 14 on Staten Island.

Nausheen Rahman allegedly told investigators she gave birth to the baby on Friday. She then cut the umbilical chord, and put the baby girl into a plastic bag and into a trash can, according to the criminal complaint. She was then arrested on Saturday at about 11:30 a.m. inside her home on Richmond Hill Road near New Springville. Rahman was charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse. An attorney for her declined to comment.

A source told the New York Daily News that oxygen was found in the baby’s lungs. Investigators believe that finding may mean the baby was alive when Rahman allegedly dumped it, according to an msn.com report.

The infant’s body was discovered unconscious and unresponsive at the New Springville neighborhood home by officers March 12 after responding to a 911 call around 11:30 a.m. Emergency crews pronounced the baby dead at the scene. Police were called to Rahman’s address after she showed up at Staten Island University Hospital March 11, complaining of pain, police sources told the Daily News.

Rahman told authorities that she had given birth but said the baby had died, sources said. Rahman allegedly admitted to throwing the child in the trash before going to the hospital, the Daily News reported.

The New York Police Department said officers responded to a 911 call at the home on Richmond Hill Road in the New Springville neighborhood. The condominium is just a few blocks from the Staten Island Mall. Police found the newborn baby unconscious and unresponsive. Emergency crews pronounced the child dead at the scene

It’s not clear where Rahman gave birth. The medical examiner’s office says the cause of death was pending further study, according to an Associated Press report. Rahman was also charged with unlawful concealment of a corpse. Police continue to investigate.

She was not aware that the sex of the baby was a girl because she threw the baby in a trash bag so quickly that she didn’t take the time to look at the child and assumed it was a boy, according to the district attorney. Rahman allegedly lied to her parents and family about being pregnant and they said they were unaware.

According to a New York Times report, when Rahman appeared in court on Staten Island, her parents sat near the back of the courtroom with their heads in their hands. “The actions of this defendant are so horrendous and so reprehensible that it shocks one’s conscience,” Jane Grinberg, an assistant district attorney, said, according to the Times report. Grinberg said that Rahman had seen a doctor about her pregnancy, but that she kept it a secret from her parents. Her lawyer, Michael Robert Rosas, said he doubted the prosecution’s version of events.

“We’re going to conduct our own investigation and see where it leads,” he said, the Times reported. Neighbors around the Honey Bee Condominiums on Staten Island, where Rahman lived with her parents and two younger brothers, said they had no idea she was pregnant. She often wore traditional clothes from India, they said, and the fabrics hung loose around her frame, reported the Times, adding that Judge Raja Rajeswari ordered her to held without bail.

NEWARK, NJ:  Brunton Bissesar Singh, 55, was fatally shot while walking to work in the Newark early on Sunday., March 13^th.  He was walking to work on the 400 block of Roseville Avenue shortly before 6 am when the fatal shots rang out, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said in a joint statement.

Brunton Bissesar Singh, of Newark, supported his son and wife in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago, according to Roberto Mendez Spaccavento. No arrests have been made. An investigation is ongoing, and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office did not release any details Monday. An investigation by the prosecutor’s office’s Major Crimes and Homicide Task Force remains active.

Singh had been a member of Spaccavento’s nutrition club, Health-Figure & Wellness on Roseville Avenue, for several years and had become a close friend. Lacking relatives in the United States, Singh bonded with the club members. “He has absolutely nobody,” Spaccavento said. “We were his family.”

Singh frequented the nutrition club every day to get a protein shake or a cup of tea and relax in front of the television, Spaccavento said. He said Singh was a popular member of the community. “Everybody in the neighborhood loved him,” Spaccavento said.

Their friendship extended beyond the nutrition club, with Singh helping Spaccavento’s family for two months after Spaccavento had surgery.  “He would come early, he would help my wife clean up the place, help her close the gates and everything,” Spaccavento said. “He was really nice.”

Singh was walking to his job at Pit Stop gas station on Park Avenue and 16th Avenue early Sunday when shots were fired, according to Spaccavento. He said Singh was an hour late to work that day because he had forgotten to change his clocks for Daylight Saving Time.

About 50 of Singh’s friends gathered in front of the nutrition center Sunday evening to remember him. “I put some candles, his picture and flowers,” Spaccavento said. “We all gathered together, and we prayed.”

The homicide is the first in Newark since February 21 when a 32-year-old Irvington man was shot and killed in the West Ward. The city’s total for the year stands at 18, according to an NJ Advance Media count.

New York, NY: The Consulate General of India. organized an evening of Art Exhibition by Mr. Nayan Mitra followed by speech on “Meditations and Arts” by Ms. Nilima Madan on Friday, March 11, 2016 in the Consulate’s ballroom. The program was attended by a large number of Indian community membershe program started with singing of Guru Mantra followed by Durga Stuti, an Orrisi dance. Consul General Ambassador (Mrs) Riva Ganguly Das welcomed the attendees. Mr. Nayam Mitra spoke about his Art work, the inspiration and what it means to him, followed by a speech on Meditation and Arts by Ms. Nilima Madan.

“Think in Hindi before you prepare your document in Hindi”, India’s newly appointed Consul General Ambassador Riva Ganguly Das would like her staff to think in Hindi in order to present better documents in the official language of India. The Consul General was speaking on the occasion of kick-off of the Third International Hindi Conference 2016 at an event held at the Consulate Ball Room on March 14.

“We are doing a lot of work in Hindi. If we think in Hindi we can produce more accurate documentation”, she explained pointing out her support to the cause of Hindi. Emphasizing the commitment of Government of India for promoting Hindi, the consul general said that more opportunities for Hindi learning should be created. She elaborated upon a diverse Hindi program conducted by Indian Council for Cultural Relations, a Ministry of External Affairs initiative that supports Hindi scholars in various countries around the world. The conference is scheduled to be held from April 29 to May 1 at the Consulate Ball Room.

Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, Government of India,sent a message for the success of the conference. Ashok Ojha, coordinator of the conference, explainedthat the theme of the conference was, “Hindi Language: A Democratic Voice of Complex Issues in Education, Literature, Arts and Media”. According to Ojha Sweden based Hindi scholarHeinz Werner Wesslerhas agreed to deliver his key-note address at the inaugural event on April 29.

Ojha requested conference participants to register online through the link: http://www.hindiconferenceamericas.com/re gister/ He said that a Kavi Sammelan is scheduled onApril 30, the second day of the conference. A Humorous Hindi Play, ‘UdanKhatola’, and a story session, ‘Kahani Manch’, will also be held during the conference.

A number of speakers including Dr. Susham Bedi of Columbia and CUNY, Dr. Seema Khurana of Yale, and Dr. Rakesh Ranjan of Columbia, spoke at the kick off event. According to Khurana she will prevail upon Yale to host the conference in 2018. Others who spoke in favor of Hindi included Prof. Indrajit Saluja, Mrs. Purnmia Desai, head of Shikshayatan cultural organization, Col Veerendra Tavathia and media professional Sunil Hali. A cultural presentation by danseuse Rimli Roy and a poem recitation was performed at the function

New York, NY: Raina Massey of Elmont, New York, was arrested recently for allegedly orchestrating a multi-pronged H-1B visa fraud scheme through her shell Newark-based company, Care Worldwide (CWW). Information was made available to media through a press release by the office of US U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of State of New Jersey.

Raina Massey, 51, is charged by complaint with two counts of wire fraud, one count of visa fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.  She is scheduled to appear this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Dickson in Newark federal court.

Non-United States citizens must have some kind of authorization to work legally in this country.  H-1B visas are non-immigrant visas designed to allow U.S.-based employers to recruit and employ non-U.S. citizen professionals.  H-1B visas are employer, not employee, driven, and are only issued for a specified, limited duration for “specialty occupations.”

Foreign workers admitted under the H-1B program are known as “beneficiaries” of the visas. To obtain an H-1B visa, an employer has to apply on behalf of the beneficiary and complete various forms required for the visa to be approved. One of those forms is U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Form I-797C, which is used to memorialize, among other things, that an application for an H-1B visa has been successfully filed on behalf of an H-1B beneficiary and that the application has been vetted by the U.S. government. Beneficiaries do not have to pay any fees in connection with the visa application and are not responsible for finding their own employment.

From February 2012 through March 2015, Massey and others are reported to have executed the fraud scheme through her company, CWW, which purported to be a clinical research company, but was actually a shell company that did little to no legitimate work of any kind. Massey and others sought out and advertised for qualified foreign professionals, purportedly to work for CWW in clinical research positions as beneficiaries of H-1B visas. These beneficiaries became victims of the scheme because the advertised positions did not actually exist.

Massey and others are reported to have demanded and took illegal payments from victims in exchange for purportedly filing H-1B visa applications on behalf of the victims.

Each wire fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; the visa fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and the aggravated identity theft count carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, to run consecutive to any sentence imposed on any other count. Each count carries a potential fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the U.S. Department of State, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge David Schnorbus of the New York Field Office, and investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, under the direction of Supervisory Criminal Investigator Thomas Mahoney, for the investigation leading to today’s arrest.

New York, NY: Friends and colleagues of journalist Arthur J. Pais, who died in January this year in New Jersey at the age of 66, fondly remembered the legendary Indian-American scribe during a memorial service at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Arthur, an Editor at Rediff.com and India Abroad — the Indian-American newsweekly owned by Rediff.com — was 66. After a distinguished career in Indian journalism, Arthur and his wife Betty moved to the United States in the early 1980s.

He was a prolific writer and no subject — films, literature, social trends, news — escaped his attention. His insatiable curiosity and diligence enlivened every feature he wrote and his loss is an irreplaceable loss to all of us at Rediff.com

Tributes to Arthur from colleagues and friends in the US and India were posted on Facebook. When informed about Arthur’s passing, Salman Rushdie replied: ‘This is sad news indeed. My condolences to his family and to all of you, his colleagues. Thanks for letting me know.’ Actress and cook book writer Madhur Jaffrey wrote: ‘Very sad to hear the news.’

“Today we have gathered here to celebrate the life of Arthur,” Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the co-founder of South Asian Journalists Association said at the outset of the memorial service. Many of Arthur’s former colleagues from India Abroad weekly where he worked as an editor till his death packed the auditorium, sharing their memories of Arthur described by journalist Lavina Melwani, as “our community’s story-teller.” Sreenivasan described the event as a “lovely, joyous celebration of a man who made us all smile.”

Besides his friends and admirers, Arthur’s wife Betty Pais and some of her relatives, were present as well. Some shared anecdotes about Arthur who was a writer, a foodie, a movie aficionado and mentor for some, and above all a friend of almost everybody who came to know him. Some described Arthur as a man who lived for the story.

Among those who paid tributes to Arthur included Aseem Chhabra, Rediff.com columnist and contributor, Suleman Din, Managing Editor, Sourcemedia Investment Advisory Group, P Rajendran, Deputy Managing Editor, India Abroad, and Arun Venugopal of WNYC. The memorial which was webcast live were watched by an estimated 30,000 people.

New York, NY: Indian American former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta has been released after completing his two-year prison term, weeks after a U.S. court agreed to rehear his appeal to throw out his 2012 insider-trading conviction. Gupta, 67, was “released” on March 11, according to his record at the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

While Gupta’s prison term was to end on March 13, since the date fell on a Sunday, he was released on Mar. 11, four years after he lost his insider trading trial and suffered multiple legal setbacks to overturn his conviction. The Harvard-educated executive was convicted in his 2012 trial of passing confidential boardroom information to his one-time friend and business associate Raj Rajaratnam.

Apart from the two-year prison term, he was fined $5 million, and the Securities and Exchange Commission also slapped a $13.9 million penalty against him. Gupta started out his prison term in 2014 at FMC DEVENS, an administrative security federal medical center with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in Ayer, Mass.

Ever since his conviction in June 2012, Gupta filed several appeals, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, to overturn his conviction and prison term, but the courts rejected his arguments and affirmed his sentence.

However, it was only early last month, just weeks before his prison term was to end, that he had some legal respite when the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to rehear an appeal to throw out his insider-trading conviction.

The minimum-security prison camp where Gupta did his time is about 40 miles (60 kilometers) west of Boston and formerly the site of a military base. Rajaratnam, who is serving 11 years for trading on inside tips, is at an adjacent medical center because he has diabetes and kidney disease. Gupta completed the last two months of his prison term at his home in Manhattan, after being released on Jan. 5 from the Devens correctional facility.

Even though he was not in the prison center, he remained a federal inmate until his release on March 11. He was confined to his Westport, Conn., home and was required to wear an ankle bracelet that monitored his movements.

According to AP, Gupta’s lawyers said in their latest appeal that his 2012 conviction on conspiracy and securities fraud charges should be tossed because he was innocent and the jury was improperly instructed.nHis attorney Gary Naftalis says he is pleased with the court’s ruling and believes there are meritorious issues to present on appeal.

A former McKinsey & Co. managing partner, Gupta is the highest-profile executive convicted in a U.S. crackdown on insider trading at hedge funds. Gupta was found guilty in 2012 of passing illegal tips to Rajaratnam, a co-founder of the Galleon Group LLC hedge fund. He told Rajaratnam about Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs and the bank’s financial results for two quarters in 2008. Since August 2009, federal prosecutors in New York won 80 convictions.

New York, NY: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. announced “Zeal for Unity,” a peace initiative to bridge the gap between India and Pakistan through cultural experiences Mar. 15. The initiative took off at the Wagah Border with six Indian and six Pakistani filmmakers coming together and showing their support in a token gesture. We use the word “token,” because they have already supported the initiative and the 12 films are ready.

The channel feels that this is a momentous step toward changing the way people across India and Pakistan see, feel and think about each other. Though the Border Security Force is said to have denied the media permission to be there at the Wagah Border at the last moment (this had been announced in the itinerary and was the unique selling point of this trip for the media contingent), the photographers were taken for a photo-op showing the filmmakers meeting and greeting each other — on the Indian side but not AT the border. Like a photographer told this reporter, “Good you guys did not come! It was a complete anti-climax!”

At the main press conference held at the Sarhad Restaurant a kilometer away from Wagah, the filmmakers mentioned how the concept, along with the freedom to choose what films they would like to make, fired their enthusiasm, and they agreed instantly to ZEEL’s proposal that came via phone calls from Shailaja Kejriwal, chief creative of special projects, ZEEL. Punit Goenka, managing director of ZEEL, and Sunil Buch, chief business officer of ZEEL, were also present.

Sharing his thoughts about the initiative, Goenka said, “The Zeal for Unity initiative is in line with our corporate brand philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – The World is My Family.’ The objective of this initiative is to bring together creative minds, filmmakers, cultural exponents and thought leaders from both India and Pakistan to facilitate an apolitical exchange environment of peace and harmony.”

Kejriwal, while thanking her bosses as well as her team, added, “The 12 films, especially created to celebrate this historic initiative, will be simultaneously showcased in both the countries. As we progress, we aim to continue this cultural dialogue between people from both sides of the border through varied forms of art.”

Buch, explaining the logo that was unveiled with the tag-line ‘It Takes Two,’ said, “To do anything constructive in life, it takes more than a single individual or a solo effort. It takes two to move ahead, always. And that is the value proposition that we have chosen. A simple yet powerful thought that it takes two to bring change, and sustained change can only be brought about through concentrated efforts of people from both countries. ‘Take Two’ also fits in intrinsically with all art media, especially films, where it is multiple takes that bring to life the creative imagination and aspiration of storytelling that indelibly changes the hearts and minds of people. Also, the symbol as it is designed also indicates the ‘V’ or Victory sign.”

(Dallas, Texas – March 17, 2016) Five Dallas-based women have joined forces to create an organization aimed at empowering and mobilizing less fortunate women entrepreneurs on the international level. Called “Mahila,” which is a Hindi word that means “woman,” the group consists of powerful female community leaders: attorney Bina Palnitkar Patel, architect Purva Jain, media and lifestyle guru Priya Bhola Rathod, cultural advocate Preeta Monga and social entrepreneur Ami Doshi.

“Mahila, at its core, is an organization formed by women for women,” said Bhola Rathod. “Our goal is to best share our strength with underprivileged women to bring about meaningful, lasting change. Empowering ONE woman means impacting her family, her society and, ultimately, her world.”

The organization is hosting its inaugural event on April 7th to raise funds for struggling, low-income women living and working in India by supporting Milaap USA’s microloan program. Milaap USA’s mission is to promote financial inclusion for individuals and families through access to low cost funds in the following sectors: enterprise development, clean energy, water and sanitation, education and vocational training and healthcare. One hundred percent of the proceeds raised from this event will go directly towards Milaap’s work in India, and every year Mahila will choose a different women’s organization to support through fundraising.

“We believe philanthropy is providing a ‘hand-up versus a hand-out,’” said Doshi, Founder of Milaap USA. “By empowering hundreds of thousands of India’s working poor to gain financial stability for themselves, we are able to tackle one of India’s most challenging causes of poverty – financial exclusion.”

WHO: Mahila, “Open Doors,” inaugural fundraising event for Milaap USA is scheduled for Thursday, April 7 at DEC on Dragon, 1414 Dragon Street, Dallas, TX 75207. Tickets to the event can be purchased at: http://www.mahiladallas.org/tickets

Chicago IL: On Monday, March 7^th, 2016, devotees celebrated the festival of Maha Shivaratri, in the Hari Om Mandir, with great joy and enthusiasm. Monday, is the day of Lord Shiva, and every week, several devotees visit the temple to offer Water and Milk to the Shiva Lingam. However, this Monday, the auspicious 7th of March was SPECIAL!!! This was the Day of Lord Shiva’s wedding with Maa Gauri (Parvati), popularly called the Maha Shivaratri, when people observe fast and perform special Poojas.

As per the Hindu tradition, devotees bathe the Shiva Lingam with Holy Water, Milk, Honey and offer Chandan, Bel Patra amidst chanting of prayers, mantras and the resonating sound of Om Nama Shivaya….called the “Rudra Abhishek”. Living up to the tradition, thousands of devotees came to the Hari Om Mandir to perform the rituals and sing the glory of Lord Shiva.

For the convenience of the people, the Temple authorities had made special arrangements to perform these Poojas at two stations. The Mandir Priest, Pandit Dinesh Kumar recited the holy Mantras and helped devotees to perform the special “Rudrsabhishek Pooja” at the regular Shiv Darbar, which is also open every Monday. Another station was set up with a huge Brass Statue of Lord Shiva, the Shivling & Nandi raised on a tall pedestal, shining bright amidst lights, exhibiting HIS Glory, Charm and Might. The whole ambience of this set up reminded people of the Heavenly Abode of Shiva on the Kailash Parbat!!! The Snakes, the Rudraksh mala, the half Chandrama, the Ganga on Shiva’s forehead, the Trishul, the Damrus…all enhanced the Divine environment of the Mandir.

This year, was a record breaking attendance at the HOM on this occasion….almost 3000 people came to the temple to do the Pooja. People started coming in as early as 7.30am, and by the evening, long unending lines were seen at both the stations. Devotees waited patiently in que for their turn to do the Rudra Abhishek and seek blessings from their Lord Shiva. A special Bhajan Sandhya was organized in the evening, where two well-known singers of the Midwest region: Padmini and Uma Nath mesmerized the audiences with their soulful Bhajans. As the melodious “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” echoed in the hall, the entire congregation seemed to have transformed into a Trance! People were overwhelmed with joy and started dancing. Others who joined the musical group included Sukaran Atwal, Vijay Ghai, Subhash Sharma, Madhu Salwan, Sonia and Chawla on the drum/Dholak from the DJ Group Dhamaka.

The President of the Temple EB, Mr. Vipan Wadhera took a moment to thank ALL his team members and the Volunteers who had worked hard to make appropriate arrangements for this day. Jeetu Patel (Incharge Special Events) along with his team Garima, Jayanthi and Anita Rawal decorated the Mandir for the festival. Mr. Anil Saxena, Ramesh Bhardwaj and their team helped to manage the traffic and parking on this busy evening. Thanks to all: Manager Hardev & Pushpa Raj, Gopal & Sadhna Tiwari, Amar & Usha Singla, Shubh Sharma, Sham Taxali, Ram Verma, Ravi Kalia, Brij Sharma, Satpal Salwan & Ayodhia Salwan, who helped in managing the heavy inflow of devotees and provided their services in different areas. Last but not the least, a big thank you to the Priest, Pandit Dinesh Kumar, who recited the Shiv Mantras nonstop, all day, did Poojas and helped the Bhakt Jan who came to the temple, to seek solace and peace in the lap of their Lord Shiva on this pious day of Maha Shivaratri.

The Sikh Coalition was honored at the New York University Islamic Center’s 3rd Annual Benefit Gala on February 21, 2016. The Sikh Coalition received the Community Choice Award for its commitment to advocacy for all people, including the Muslim American community. Executive Director Sapreet Kaur and Board Member Manmeet Kaur accepted the award on behalf of the Sikh Coalition during the event. The Sikh Coalition was honored alongside leaders in the Muslim American community.

The Sikh Coalition is a community-based organization that works towards the realization of civil and human rights for all people. The Coalition serves as a resource on Sikhs and Sikh concerns for governments, organizations and individuals.

Jayendra Baldevbhai, an Indian-American store manager from Flushing, New York, says he is proud of suing the New York City Police Department for wrongful arrest and that it is not about the money. Jayendra Baldevbhai, was arrested May 20 last year for allegedly selling name-brand Burberry umbrellas. The charges were dropped after 3 hearings, but the store manager felt wronged and got an attorney, Samuel Cohen, a civil rights lawyer, to take up his case, which was filed March 7 in the Southern District Court in New York.

When he was arrested that day before his surprised customers, and taken to the Fifth Precinct, he was fearful, The Daily News reported. He was charged with third-degree trademark counterfeiting, and though the charges were dropped, Baldevbhai was evidently deeply affected by what he saw as an injustice. “That’s why I am suing the NYPD. I am feeling really proud of myself for it,” he said. “It’s not about the money. It’s the wrongful arrest – innocent people being arrested for nothing.”

Baldevbhai told the media that he could not reveal the amount of money he was demanding as compensation on the advice of his attorney. According to the lawsuit, NYPD plainclothes officers walked into his store and spent half an hour examining the goods, specially the umbrellas being sold at his store, the New York Daily News reported. Even though the umbrellas were clearly marked with another name Baldevbhai was handcuffed and taken away on grounds he was selling fake Burberry umbrellas.

Pictures of the umbrella show it is a combination of blue, white, and red plaid, very different from the classic Burberry colors that are dark brown, light brown combination of Tartan plaid. The blue and white umbrellas were clearly marked ‘Conch Umbrellas America Corp’ the lawsuit claims. Despite that, an officer asked Baldevbhai to quote a price on it and arrested him when he replied.

“I said ‘$7.99,’” Baldevbhai told New York Daily News, “He said, ‘You’re under arrest.’” Despite repeatedly telling the cops that these were Conch umbrellas with a prominent label declaring that, the officers “just basically ignored all my answers,” Baldevbhai is quoted saying.

The lawsuit also alleges that the NYPD officers had no warrant but did have an affidavit from a Burberry representative stating that the company held a trademark for a particular Tartan plaid, but did not specially identify the umbrellas at Spring Mart, the news report said.

Born and brought up in Gujarat, Baldevbhai is married with three children ages 13, 12, and 10, he said. He came to the U.S. 20 years ago. His lawyer, Samuel Cohen told New York Daily News the lawsuit was meant to prevent similar incidents in the future. Cohen is a civil rights attorney and works on cases involving excessive force and false arrest litigations, also representing and counseling individuals and small businesses in various matters. He could not be reached by press time. The New York City Law Department told the New York Daily News no comments were available until Baldevbhai’s allegations were reviewed.