When everywhere ‘Coronavirus’ outbreak is being associated only with the urban area populous, “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation” has quietly launched an ambitious initiative against it in rural & tribal areas across India. As for networking and connectivity in such areas, “Ekal” (as it is popularly known) is in very unique position with its presence in over 103,000 such remote hamlets. As the shortage of Masks and Sanitizers became apparent in early March, Ekal tailoring training Ctrs banded together and started stitching face-masks and producing hand sanitizers for Ekal Volunteers, district health authorities and law enforcement personnel. It had been producing 10,000 masks and 1,000 liters of Hand-sanitizers or disinfecting solutions per day as of March-end and supplying them ‘free-of-cost’ to their authorities. Masks and Sanitizers are also being distributed free-of-cost to the poor families. It costs Ekal Rs. 20 each to make it and to distribute it.
According to Bajrang Lal Bagra, CEO of “Ekal Abhiyan” (umbrella organization of all Ekal satellite endeavors), beginning this month – April – Ekal is launching most ambitious plan to triple its ‘tailoring’ capacity in 28 centers to produce 1 Million cotton Masksby the end of April (2020). These 2-ply masks are being made to WHO’s stringent specifications and Ekal plans to keep on producing them as long as there is need. As part of empowerment and to reduce the dependency on ‘outside food’, Ekal-Villages, have actively started harvesting ‘Poshan Vatikas’ (Nutritional sustaining food items) for the people in their own vicinity on cooperative basis. Keeping up with the governmental directive, although all Ekal field activities were suspended on March 14, according to ‘Lalan Kumar Sharma’, Central co-coordinator of “Ekal Abhiyan”, the awareness campaign against deadly Virus is in motion with full throttle speed with the blessings of the local concerned authorities. Currently, ‘Arogya Sahayikas’ (Health Assistant) and Ekal teachers are, not only, emphasizing critical need for personal hygiene and clean environment in villages, but also, keeping a written tab on cases related to fever, cough and shortness of breath. Social-distancing and repeatedly washing hands with soap is being promoted as part of daily routine. Supporting the efforts of ‘Gram-Panchayats’ (village administrative admin), identifying and quantifying urban visitors or returning villagers from such areas is being diligently carried out. Harish Karat of ‘Ekal-Global’ says, “as a reminder for the precautionary habits that one must adopt to arrest the spread of ‘Coronavirus’, the walls in lot of village-dwellings are being painted with healthcare slogans”. What is interesting is that villagers have enthusiastically endorsed this campaign as one of the safeguards in the current crisis. Ekal volunteers residing in Indian urban areas are helping older, poor people during these clampdown days are providing food or sustenance items wherever possible. For example, in ‘Guwahati’ area in two days, ‘Vanbandhu Parishad’ (an allied Ekal organization) delivered food items to 650 families. Ekal-USA providing assistance to the needy in variety of ways – such as food, mask-making, grocery-items and medical help etc. Ekal volunteers in USA are assisting food-banks, soup-kitchen and delivery of groceries to the elderly. According to Suresh Iyer, President of Ekal-USA, “In the U.S., Ekal has partnered with other non-profit organizations, including ‘Sewa International’, in providing community service at this hour of immense need. It’s times such as these we are seeing the best of humanity and I am confident that we will get through this difficult time soon and come out feeling even stronger”. Though, all the annual fund-raising concerts have been cancelled currently for foreseeable future, ‘Ekal Vidyalaya’ is appealing its loyal Donors and well-wishers who have been consistently helping it to keep supporting its multiple endeavors (projects) in rural areas, including its ambitious initiative to fight ‘Coronavirus’. Kindly Donate at https://www.ekal.org/us/donate and be an active member of defense against the virus in the current crisis. Ekal serves the humanity irrespective of caste, creed, and religion
Akshay Venkatesh, 36, a renowned Indian-Australian mathematician, is one of four winners of mathematics’ prestigious Fields medal, known as the Nobel Prize for Math. The Fields medals are awarded every four years to the most promising mathematicians under the age of 40.
Venkatesh’s journey has been full of achievements and accolades since his early childhood. He moved to Perth, Australia, with his parents when he was two. He participated in physics and math Olympiads the premier international competitions for high school students and won medals in the two subjects at ages 11 and 12, respectively.
He finished high school when he was 13 and went to the University of Western Australia, graduating with first class honours in mathematics in 1997, at the age of 16. In 2002, he earned his PhD at the age of 20. Since then, he has gone from holding a post-doctoral position at MIT to becoming a Clay Research Fellow and, now a professor at Stanford University.
Venkatesh has worked at the highest level in number theory, arithmetic geometry, topology, automorphic forms and ergodic theory. His research has been recognized with many awards, including the Ostrowski Prize, the Infosys Prize, the Salem Prize and Sastra Ramanujan Prize. He is currently teaching at Stanford University. The Indian-origin mathematician is known as someone with broad expertise who has contributed to many areas of math.
The other three winners are: Caucher Birkar, a Cambridge University professor of Iranian Kurdish origin; Germany’s Peter Scholze, who teaches at the University of Bonn and Alessio Figalli, an Italian mathematician at ETH Zurich.
The prize was inaugurated in 1932 at the request of Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields, who ran the 1924 Mathematics Congress in Toronto. Each winner receives a 15,000 Canadian-dollar cash prize.
After a rigorous process, two exceptionally gifted Indian American children and one Indo-Canadian kid were handpicked from 15,000-plus nominees across 45 countries for the 2020 Global Child Prodigy Award.
Tiara Abraham of Sacramento, Calif.; Akash Vukoti of San Angelo, Texas; and Advait Kolarkar of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, were honored alongside 97 other talented kids on Jan. 3 at a gala event in New Delhi, which was attended by several senior parliamentarians, music stalwarts and luminaries from the political and economic world.
Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi was the chief guest at the event where Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi handed out the awards to 100 child prodigies from 18 countries.
The Global Child Prodigy Awards event is a platform to celebrate a child’s talent and power in different categories such as dancing, music, arts, writing, acting, modeling, science, innovation, sports, etc.
Only three percent of the child prodigies can take their talent to the next level and become successful in their domain, so Global Child Prodigy Awards strives to recognize those talents, support them and provide them the global exposure to help them excel in their respective fields.
Soprano prodigy Tiara Abraham, 13, was honored in the ‘singing’ category. Having won numerous national and international solo singing competitions, Abraham, who was recently also honored by the Vatican, released her debut CD when she was 10. The album has nine songs in six different languages.
In April 2019, she wowed a crowd of more than 25,000 when she sang the national anthem at a San Francisco Giants game. The young singer, who has been a college student since she was seven years old, and has completed 42 college semesters in foreign languages, music and dance, had earlier told India-West that when she was six, she started to sing “simple songs” like “Happy Birthday” or the American national anthem in a vibrato style.
Spelling prodigy Akash Vukoti was felicitated for his prowess in the ‘languages’ categories. In 2016, then six, Vukoti became the youngest competitor in the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition. He competed in the 2018 and 2019 editions of the competition as well.
According to his website, he can read and write three languages – English, Hindi and Telugu. He started reading and writing at a very early age and competed in his first spelling bee when he was just 2 years old. He became a member of Mensa at three and a Davidson Young Scholar at the age of 5 years.
In 2018, the ‘spellebrity’ became the youngest celebrity competitor on “Dancing with the Stars: Junior.” Vukoti has been featured on several shows such as “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Steve Harvey Show” and “Fox and Friends.” He has also appeared in many documentaries, including “Breaking the Bee.”
In the ‘arts’ category, five-year-old artistic prodigy Kolarkar, said a press release, has left the world stunned with his art. His abstract paintings have been displayed at exhibitions in Canada, the U.S. and India. In 2018, he became the youngest artist to exhibit at the ArtExpo fair in New York.
His fascination with art, according to his website, began when he was merely three months old. “He would keenly gaze at black objects—wardrobes and curtains — an observation that soon turned into demand,” his website says. Consequently, he took a fascination to art and would spend hours with his sister as she drew on paper.
Originally from Pune, Maharashtra, he now lives in Canada with his parents, software engineer Amit Kolarkar and commercial artist Shruti Kolarkar, and his elder sister Swara. Kolarkar, who began painting when he was eight, said the awards press release, has the talent that “far surpasses the professionals in his domain.
The awardees, who will get to meet eminent leaders, will also be part of other significant international events as speakers or influencers. The “100 Global Child Prodigies Award 2020” book, featuring its awardees, will be distributed to all the “top libraries” of the world. The award is supported by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam International Foundation, and Oscar-winning music director A.R. Rahman, among others.
Most of the 1.5 million homeless schoolchildren stayed with other families or friends after losing their homes. But 7% lived in abandoned buildings or cars, the report by the National Centre for Homeless Education showed.
It is often caused by job insecurity, unaffordable housing, domestic violence and recently the opioid crisis. Living without a fixed address seriously impacts children’s education and health.
Less than a third of homeless students were able to read adequately, and scored even lower in mathematics and science, the report showed.
The research measures the number of children in schools who report being homeless at some point during an academic year as as such does not show the total population of homeless young people in the US.
Why is student homelessness increasing?
Homelessness is a growing problem in the US, usually linked to the national housing crisis.
Millions of people spend more than half their income on housing, and many report they cannot afford to buy a house.
Increasing rents and a housing shortage has forced thousands of people in California to live in caravans or inadequate housing.
A changing economy, with factories closing down or the rise of the insecure gig economy, also leaves parents unable to pay rent.
The opioid crisis, in which almost 2 million people are addicted to prescription drugs, is also causing some families to break up or children to be removed from their homes.
Nearly seven in 10 said that family rejection was a major cause of becoming homeless, and abuse at home was another major reason.
Most homelessness experts say the solution lies in providing more housing at affordable rates, as well as providing support to families who may be affected by trauma or addiction.
“This tiny piece of plastic will transform our world forever, Mr. President” The idea George Gilder proposed as he handed Ronald Reagan one of the world’s first silicon microchips was an impossible one. At the time, most people said he was crazy. Computers didn’t even exist…
But today we know that George’s prediction came true- in explosive fashion. The microchip has gone on to generate trillions in profits and power the greatest economic explosion in the history of the human race. It was even voted by CNN to be the most important invention of all time, decades after his prediction!
But for George Gilder, the rise of the computing era was only one of many accurate predictions he made over his 53 year career. To the surprise of most, George has consistently seen the future.
It’s earned him nicknames like “The Technology Prophet”, “King George” and “The Greatest Stock Picker in The World” During the 80’s, Reagan quoted George more than any other person on the planet.
During the tech boom of the 90’s, Wall Street analysts lined up to get George’s next stock pick. And during the early 2000’s, he was the first to predict companies like Youtube and Netflix would radically transform the media landscape.
You see, George’s looks at the world through a different lens than most- and his predictions are rarely wrong. His ability to see 3 steps ahead of even the biggest thinkers has cemented his status as America’s #1 futurist.
It’s also established him as the advisor Silicon Valley and Wall Street heavyweights consult when they’re facing big problems. Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, said this about George’s predictions: “I listen very closely to what George has to say”
And Ari Emmanuel, arguably the most powerful man in Hollywood, praised George’s forward-thinking by saying: “The internet, mobile and streaming revolutions happened just as George predicted. Watching George’s predictions happen, living through them… I learned that the cycle of innovation doesn’t stop after TV. Surviving the next revolution means connecting the dots early.”
But 17 years ago, after a 3-decade long run, George mysteriously decided to hang up his hat. And since then, he has remained largely out of the game.
Happily resting at his New England estate on the millions in profits he made investing ahead of his predictions over the years. Until a few weeks ago, when George started to make some noise about a new prediction. A breakthrough that challenges everything we know about technology.
It’s been slowly building for 11 years, and now George believes the revolution has reached critical mass. It’s here. According to him this is “So big it will shake our economy to the core.” So to share his prediction before it is too late, George has taken action. The goal- help Americans everywhere prepare for what’s about to come.
To spread the word, he created a special breakdown of his shocking prediction. In this groundbreaking presentation, George explains the revolution he sees coming and shows Americans exactly how they can prepare.
This information may seem shocking, confusing, or simply unbelievable. But it’s not the first time George has predicted something like this…. And anyone familiar with George’s stellar track record would tell you this- it’s worth at least seeing for yourself what he has to say.
HarperCollins Publishers India will be publishing three new books by Amitav Ghosh, winner of the prestigious Jnanpith Award and one of the most acclaimed Indian writers. The first of these, ‘Jungle-nama’, to be published in is a verse adaptation of an episode from the epic of the Sundarbans, the legend of Bon Bibi. The second book is a new collection of essays, while the third one is a work of non-fiction based on his research for the Ibis Trilogy.
Ghosh said, “They will be out in 2020, 2021 and 2022. I am immensely passionate about these books and I hope that my readers will enjoy reading them as much as I have liked working on them.”
Udayan Mitra, Publisher–Literary at HarperCollins India, who acquired the books, added, “Amitav Ghosh is a truly exceptional writer; every new book from him is a publishing event and a delight for booklovers everywhere. It is a great privilege for us at HarperCollins India to be publishing his next three books which are going to make for fascinating reading.”
Amitav Ghosh’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages and he has been honoured across the world for his work.
In 2019, Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.
The same year, the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour, was conferred on him — making him the first English-language writer to receive the award.
Varshini Prakash—the executive director of the Sunrise Movement has been featured in TIME magazine’s Newt 100 Leaders List. Jay Inslee, Inslee, a Democrat, who is the governor of Washington, wrote in TIME about this young, dynamic and bold New Green Deal Leader, who is spearheading the Sunrise Movement: “Varshini Prakash—the executive director of the Sunrise Movement, which has fiercely advocated for proposals like the Green New Deal—is one of those visionary leaders who are fighting for their futures. I believe that 2019 will be remembered as a turning point for the climate: Varshini and other young leaders have permanently fixed climate change into the nation’s conscience as a moral imperative, an issue of economic justice and a way to create millions of jobs across America. Personally, I find the leadership of Varshini and the Sunrise Movement to be some of the greatest sources for hope in our fight against the climate crisis. The young people are leading this fight, and because of them, we will all win.”
Varshini Prakash was in sixth grade when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit Chennai, the city in India where her grandmother lived. She remembers how powerless she felt, watching the footage at home in Acton, Massachusetts. Not knowing what else to do, Prakash gathered cans of food to donate to the Red Cross.
In high school, Prakash was shocked to learn about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and other environmental problems, but aside from joining the recycling club and micromanaging how her friends recycled, she didn’t have an outlet for her anger. She made a pact with herself that college would be different.
At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Prakash became involved in the school’s fossil fuel divestment campaign and spoke publicly for the first time at a rally. “I just fell in love with organizing in a way that I had never imagined,” she says.
But the more Prakash engaged with the issue of climate change, the more frustrated she grew with politicians unwilling to address it. What, she wondered, would an effective political movement demanding a response to the climate crisis look like?
In 2016, she and 11 of her peers started meeting regularly to try to answer this question. For over a year, they studied the civil rights, anti-apartheid, and other movements, creating the blueprint for what would become the Sunrise Movement—a youth-led grassroots effort intent on stopping climate change and promoting a just economic system.
Last November, the group made headlines when it staged a sit-in outside Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s office and (then representative-elect) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez showed up.
Since then, Prakash and other Sunrise activists have held high-profile sit-ins and protests across the country to build support for the Green New Deal. They also work to get candidates for office to forgo fossil fuel donations and commit to making climate change a campaign priority.
“We do the big moments—like at Pelosi’s office—that kind of shift the center of gravity,” Prakash says. “And we use that momentum to build organizing on the ground that won’t peter out.”
This article appeared in the July/August 2019 edition of Sierra Club Magazine,with the headline “Blueprint for Change.”
“Will You Play With Me?” a children’s book by Dr. Chitra Dinakar, a thought leader in the field of food allergy, depicts a series of heartwarming scenarios to model empathy and inclusivity for young children exposed to individuals with disabilities.
In this captivating children’s book, characters subtly embrace each other’s differences and reframe ways to interact meaningfully and play together. The child engaging in the kind and caring action is rewarded by appreciation and fun.
Illustrations in the book are by Akshay Dinakar, who is a product designer who graduated from Stanford University. He is an entrepreneur focused on the intersection of engineering and personal wellness.
Loving children comes naturally to this physician of Indian origin. The opportunity to help care for the health and well-being of children, was compelling and irresistible, which inspired her to take up this noble Medical profession.
On graduating as the valedictorian from high-school, she was fortunate to be selected to join one of the premier medical institutions in India, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER).
Dr. Dinakar is a Clinical Professor at Stanford University and a nationally renowned pediatrician and allergist/immunologist. She believes it is vital to nurture young children, who are naturally accepting and impressionable, to be sensitive to the challenges of disability.
According to Dr. Dinakar, “I wrote this book mainly to spread awareness and encourage empathy, and to raise money for cancer and disabilities research and cure.”
“I have been working on this book with Akshay on this book for some months now. The idea came to me when I was paralyzed from the intrathecal methotrexate toxicity, in July 2019,” says Dr. Dinakar about the origins of the book. “However, I have been mostly in the hospital or infusion centers, and it was hard to make time and energy for this. But we are very excited, Amazon has published the book online.”
Dr. Suresh Reddy, President of AAPI, who led AAPI’s Expedition to Antarctica
Several years of meticulous planning, discussions, and organization, came to fruition as 190 delegates of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) Families and Friends from across the United States and India embarked on the Ocean Atlantic Ship operated by Albatros Expeditions on November 30th, 2019 from Ushuaia, the southernmost town on Earth in Argentina on a voyage to Antarctica, the seventh Continent, known as the Last Horizon on Earth.
The voyagers were welcomed on board by AAPI’s young and dynamic President, Dr. Suresh Reddy, who has been along with Dr. Vandana Agarwal, Chair of AAPI’ Cruise to Antarctica, working very hard, coordinating the efforts with Vinod Gupta from the Travel Agency, ATG Tours, the crew and leadership of the Cruise and the AAPI leaders and members with varied interests and ages ranging from 10 to 90, who had flown in from around the world for this once in a lifetime memorable and historic voyage to the White Continent.
The Ship carrying the sailors began its journey on November 30th, 2019 from the Ushuaia Sea Port with a prayer song to Lord Ganesh, chanted by Dr. Aarti Pandya from Atlanta, GA. Later in the evening, the voyagers sat down for a sit down dinner at the elegantly laid tables at the Restaurant with delicious Indian Cuisine, prepared by Herbert Baretto, a Chef from Goa, India, specially flown in to meet the diverse needs of the Indians who are now the exclusive Voyagers on Ocean Atlantic.
As the sun was still shining beyond midnight, members of the voyage were seen posing and taking pictures on board the ship with the background of the mighty ocean and the scenic mountains of Argentina at the background.
On December 1st morning, AAPI members were alerted to be mindful of the most turbulent Drake Passage, where the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean merge, through which our ship was now sailing with winds gusting through over 50 kms an hour from the south west. The rough with fast moving sea currents contributing to a turbulent weather, several voyagers took shelter in anti-nausea meds.
Throughout the day, there were special safety classes periodically, helping the voyagers on ways to navigate the zodiacs, the kayaks, the walks on the ice and snow once we reach our final destination. They were lectures on different aspects of wildlife on Antarctica, the species, especially the varieties of penguins, the mammals and the birds that inhabit the Continent. The participants were educated on the Antarctic Treaty, Climate Change and Impact, Whale Hunting, and many more relevant topics with scientific data by the Expedition Crew.
The evening was special for the voyagers as the Captain of the ship welcomed the delegates to the Ship and to the Expedition to Antarctica. He introduced his crew leaders to the loud applause from the delegates, as he toasted champagne for a safe and enjoyable journey to Antarctica.
On December 2nd morning, we woke up to milder weather and calmer ocean with the winds subsiding to about 20 kms an hour and ship sailing smoother with the temperatures below 7 degree Celsius. The crew on the ship described the sail to be the smoothest and the weather and wind conditions to be one of the calmest they have ever witnessed. However, the entire day was cloudy with the sun hiding behind the thick clouds upon the ocean.
After sailing across the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans and through the turbulent Drake Passage, and the South Ocean, finally, the day arrived for the Voyagers. The one they had been eagerly waiting for. On December 3rd, our ship, the Ocean Atlantic anchored on Danco Island, off the coast of the 7th Continent, Antarctica, officially discovered in 1820, although there is some controversy as to who sighted it first
The excitement of the voyagers had no bounds as they dressed up in their waterproof trousers, navy blue jackets, with hats and glosses and mufflers. They set out in groups marching off the Ship into the Zodiacs in tens in each Zodiac.
The wind and the ocean were calmer. The sun continued to hide behind the thick clouds. We headed off in Zodiacs to view icebergs, the glaciers, the land on a beach studded with penguins, as the Expedition Crew from the ship drove the AAPI delegates to the shore on the Danco Island, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, for the first time.
The glaciers, mighty mountains covered with pristine and shiny snow, the icebergs in multi-shapes and colors, floating on the Bay, made the Zodiac ride to the shore a memorable experience for each one.
As the voyagers walked to the shore on a narrow path on the soft snow surface, leading up to the snowcapped mountains, it was a dream come true for all. The fresh water melting from the glaciers and the ice and snow on the one side and on the other little rocks and mountains filled with snow, the Danco Island was picture perfect.
Penguins in small colonies of their own seemed unaffected by the voyagers landing onto the Penguin land. Hearing their unique and enchanting voices for the first time, as most of them sat steady, while a few walked from one end to the other, it was a scene everyone long dreamt to be part of, as it was another memorable experience in the life of everyone.
Penguin behavior is endlessly fascinating. We learnt that, in the Antarctic spring, hundreds of gentoo penguins as paraded before us, reestablishing their bonds, mating, staking their claims, and thievishly stealing stones from one another for their nests.
In the afternoon, after lunch and a lecture on the history of Antarctica, the Ocean Atlantic ship, travelling about 25 nautical miles, for the first time ever, landed on the Antarctic Continent as she reached the shores of Paradise Bay, a beautiful island, where the famous Brown Center, the Argentinian Research Station was located.
Trekking up the Hill on the snow and ice filled terrains, even as the serene and picturesque glaciers in vivid shapes and texture, it was mesmerizing and the Bay on either side, was breathtaking.
The following morning, the voyagers got onto the Zodiacs and sailed to Port Lockroy, a sheltered harbor with a secure anchorage on the Antarctic Peninsula since its discovery in 1904. The Port also is home to a Museum and a British Post Office, where the early visitors to the Continent lived and explored the wildlife of the last Horizon. The Museum has preserved the antiques used by the early voyagers, who are an important part in the history of Antarctica.
Bright sun light flashing on the Lamoy Point on our way south towards the northern peninsula of the White Continent greeted us all this morning on December 5th. The announcement over the microphone at 6.15 woke us all up, letting us know of the mild weather conditions with 7 degrees Celsius and 27 km s wind speed with bright sunny day was a welcome change from yesterday.
The wind made the waters of the Bay mildly rough as we set out from the ship. For the first time during the voyage, to the much delight of the AAPI delegates, the sun chose to come out from behind the clouds and shone brightly on the voyagers, making the snow shining and glowing with the rays of the sun filling the surface of the earth. It was delightful to see the Penguins close to the AAPI delegates, some of them walking beside them crossing their pathway.
Upon landing on the shore across from the tallest mountain on the Peninsula, Mount Frances with the height of 2,300 meters high, our zodiacs elegantly cruised through the calmer waters to the mountain range called the Princes and the Seven Dwarfs. We were fortunate to find penguins resting on ice floes, and sometimes had the opportunity to approach closely in Zodiacs for excellent photo ops.
The stunning views of the glaciers and the mountains, and the soft and shiny snow spread across the shore, led us all to the snowy hills, as we trekked to the top.
The opportunity of a lifetime for bird lovers, as we watched the blue eyed Antarctic terns, beautiful black-browed albatross, and other pelagic birds, including fulmars and petrels, nesting, resting, flying above us and trying to reach the bright blue skies. The wandering albatross, with the largest wingspan of any bird, is one of the many wildlife spectacles South Georgia affords.
We found ourselves at the top of the spectacular colony of penguins, and black-browed albatross. Brown Skuas flew over the colony while penguins, albatross, and shags took care of their eggs. We spend a good bit of time photographing the birds and generally taking in such wonderful experience and close views of the wildlife.
Colonies of penguins greeted us with their enchanting voices. We watched in awe as some of the tiny penguins walking up, from the bottom of the hill to the top, flapping their feathers occasionally.
Many of us waited patiently to have an opportunity to view the eggs upon which the Penguins were sitting to hatch their eggs. Some were lucky to photograph a few couples mating while we were trying to figure out the male from female.
Leaving the breath taking landscapes was not an easy choice as we were soon called to embark on the zodiac cruises and return to Ocean Atlantic, our ship, as she was patiently waiting to take us to the next destination of our expedition to the Last Horizon.
After a lunch Barbeque on Deck Seven of the Ship, the Ocean Atlantic took us through the beautiful Lemaire Channel on the Continent. Braving the cold and gusty winds, the voyagers got together for a group picture of the entire voyager group on Deck Eight of the ship, as they were awed by the beautiful glaciers, the mighty snow-caped mountains, and the floating ice bergs.
After journeying about five hours, we reached in the evening at the Melchiors Island, as the bright sun continued to shine upon us. During lunch and on way to the Island, the voyagers were thrilled to spot whales showing up their heads periodically.
The journey through the Bay was another memorable experience with the stunning landscape all along the route especially as the sun continued shine brightly on the snow peaked mountains turning the waters closer to the glaciers from blue to green. We had over an hour of Zodiac cruise exploring the sea life on the Antarctic’s South Ocean.
We climbed up to the top deck of the ship to have yet another amazing experience as the Ocean Atlantic Ship sailed through the Bay filled with Ice Sheet Rocks that are nearly a meter thick, slowly and steadily, slicing the Snow Ice, marching forward towards the Plenau Bay.
It was here at Plenau Bay, 39 brave AAPI members had the unique experience of taking “Polar Plunge” in the Atlantic Continent, which was 0.7 degree Celsius, while the rest of the AAPI delegates watched the brave men and women, taking a memorable dip and swim back to the ship, in the freezing cold waters of the White Continent.
We woke up this morning on Friday December 6th to a bright and sunny day, calmer ocean with 9 kms of wind speed. A picture perfect day for expedition. We went on zodiacs, cruising through the blue waters of the Half Moon Island, a cluster of snowy mountains shaped as a half moon.
Searching for wild life in the ocean with the voyagers looking out eagerly for any seals or whales did not seem to result in success as the sea animals and those on the shore seemed to hide in their resting places. Members of a Zodiac cruise reported of spotting a Leopard Seal swimming not too far from the Zodiac.
Finally, the zodiac captains took us to the shore where for the first time we landed on dark stony surface full of rocks, stones and pebbles. Our expedition crew leader reported that the shore was completely covered with ice and snow in the beginning of the season, barely a month ago.
At the backdrop of the glaciers and the imposing mighty mountains around us, we hiked up the hill intruding sometimes into the Penguin Highways, where we saw colonies of penguins resting under the bright sun. It was delightful to watch a few hopping on tiny rocks from one to another, unnerved by the visitors from the Other Continents on earth.
For the first time we were delighted to watch different kinds of Penguins, Gentoo, Adelie, Chinstraps, in the thousands sitting on a single rock glazing at the ocean waters. The photo ops for the voyagers were simply incredible. And while penguins are delightful in films and nature documentaries, watching the penguin life being lived around you is simultaneously uplifting and humbling.
We spotted a few huge Weddell and Crabeater seals, as well as Antarctic fur seals, whose populations have rebounded since the 1959 Antarctic Treaty and the 1972 Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals. They were resting on the rocks unmoved by the voyagers in several zodiacs watching them in awe. The bright sun and the gentle breeze embracing the voyagers, it was a perfect day to cruise and explore the White Continent.
In the afternoon while back on the ship, we were invited to climb up to the Decks 8 and 9 of the ship to view the entrance/passage to the famous Deception Island. And the ship sailed through this narrow path into the Island with majestic dark mountains on our right side, while on the left were the snowcapped mountains overlooking the Bay. As the gusty winds made us shiver, the voyagers standing on the top deck of the South Ocean, posed for pictures. We were lost in the stunning beauty created by the Mother Nature, for all of us to enjoy and cherish forever.
The final landing on the Last Horizon on Friday December 6th afternoon was at the Deception Island for the AAPI Voyagers. An unusually bright shining sky with gentle winds welcomed us to the shore of the black soft sand with little stones spread all along the 36 kms wide island.
The volcanic eruption here over 50 years ago, which reportedly continues to be active event today, has turned the island and the mountains into dark colored. Saw a huge seal on the shore resting with birds and few penguins of the Continent enjoying the mild weather, the voyagers trekked up the hill on the dark sand while the panoramic and breathtaking views on the snowy mountains beyond the Bay hovering over the blue waters of the Last Horizon.
On the Ship, immediately after settling down in each one’s cabin, the voyagers were invited to learn about safety on the ship and participated in a safety drill. Shelli Ogilvy, the Veteran Expedition Leader introduced the 22 Expedition Members with extensive maritime experiences from around the world, and over 60 other crew members to the voyagers.
Nine hours of Continuing Medical Educations (CMEs) were a major highlight of the Cruise to Antarctica. Led and organized by Dr. Krishan Kumar the informative and interactive sessions by experts was much appreciated by the voyagers. AAPI provided a hands on CPR Training on board to the crew of the ship, Ocean Atlantic, educating them on ways to help passengers in case of emergencies.
Each evening at cocktail hour the entire expedition community gathers in the lounge for a ritual, we call Recap. As you enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, various naturalists gave talks, showed videos, and our expedition leader would outline the following day’s schedule.
The evenings were fun filled with members spending time together with their select friends and families, singing, playing cards games, discussing politics to medicine to healthcare and sharing jokes and snippets with one another in smaller groups. The cultural events included live music sung by Dr. Radhika from Chicago, Dr. Aarti Pandya, Dr. Dharmija, and Dr. Madnani, in addition to several local talents of AAPI’s own, leading and vying to win the Anthakshri contest.
On December 7th evening, the voyagers had Black Tie Nite with many of them learning and playing Pokers until the early hours of the morning. As the ship began its return journey back to the shores, Dr. Aarti Pandya led the voyagers in a prayer song dedicated to Lord Hanuman, God of the Winds for a safe and smooth sailing.
After toasting Champagne with the Captain of the ship, the finale on December 8th was a colorful Indian Dress Segment, where the adorable AAPI women and men walked the aisle in elegantly dressed in Indian ethnic wear depicting different states of India.
Earlier, the AAPI delegates had toured the beautiful and serene National Park in Ushuaia, on the world famous Route 3 that runs from Alaska to the southern tip of the world in Argentina. At the Park, Dr. Reddy led the AAPI delegates carrying the AAPI banner, spreading the message of Obesity Awareness, which is a major objective of Dr. Reddy’s Presidency, taking the message of Obesity Awareness Around the World.
Dr. Suresh Reddy thanked Dr. Vandana Agarwal Chair of the AAPI Cruise Committee, Dr. Ravi Kolli, Secretary of AAPI, Dr. Ranga Redy and Dr. Ravi Jahagirdar, both past President of AAPI, Dr. Krishan Kumar, and several Regional Chapter Presidents for their hard work and dedication for making the Expedition memorable for all.
Memories of relaxing and rejuvenating morning walk across the island with breath taking views in abundance of Mother Nature, will last a life time for everyone who has been part of the historic expedition to the Seventh Continent. For more details on AAPI and its next voyage to Antarctica in January 2020, please visit; www.aapiusa.org
Ajay Ghosh, who was part of the AAPI Family and Friends Expedition 2019 to Antarctica
Dr. Sampat Shivangi, a physician, an influential Indian-American community leader, Chair of Mississippi State Board of Mental Health, and a veteran leader of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) has been honored as an Outstanding Alumni of Kasturba Medical College at the University of Manipal in India on Saturday, November 16th, 2019.
Considered a rare honor, Dr. Shivangi was honored by the First Lady Mrs. Vasanti Pai, the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor Dr. Subash Ballal, Pro Chancellors, the Dean and faculty in the traditional way of Karnataka. “I am fortunate that I got chance to study Medicine in this prestigious medical school several decades ago,”
Dr. Sampat Shivangi, who was recently appointed by the US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M Azar to serve on the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services National Advisory Council, said. “I have no words to express my words of appreciation and gratitude for this honor. Wish and pray my Alma mater will continue to flourish and spread the knowledge in every field.”
“I always had connectivity to my Alma Mater and kept up with my professors and the pioneers in establishing this Medical College and many other institutions. Since I had the close affinity with my Alma-mater, I took keen interest in establishing and being the president of Kasturba Medical College Alumni which is one of the largest alumni associations in US, UK and many other countries and had kept up communication with these Associations. Kasturba Medical college, I was honored as an outstanding Alumni of Kasturba Medical college, which is a great honor and that I am much grateful to the Academy.”
Dr. Shivangi praised the PAI family of MANIPAL who have transformed a small village into a metropolis attracting thousands of students from across the world. “I had the privilege to work with the Chancellor Dr. Ramdas Pai, a visionary who single handedly transformed this into mega University,” he pointed out.
“Recognizing my zeal to bring fresh ideas to give our college and university an international status, I was honored with my appointment as a member of the Board of Trustee of the Manipal Academy. It is a prestigious appointment first time ever to a past student,” Dr. Shivangi said.
In 2018, Dr. Shivangi was felicitated by the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Mrs.Vasanti Pai (wife of Chancellor Dr. Ramdas Pai). And, he was invited as a speaker at Kasturba Medical college in Mangalore at the graduation ceremony.
In the field of Medicine, Manipal University is internationally recognized as one of the premier academic institutions in Asia, and is a premier institutions close on the heels of All India institute of Medical Sciences. Kasturba Medical College is in existence for close to 65 years and expanded in to many states in India and to Malaysia and ANTIGUA.
Besides being the founding president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian origin in Mississippi, he was also the past president and chair of the India Association of Mississippi and was Advisor to US Department of Health & Human Services at NHSC Washington, DC 2005-2008 during President Bush Administration.
A close friend to the Bush family, he was instrumental in lobbying for first Diwali celebration in the White House and for President George W. Bush to make his trip to India. He had accompanied President Bill Clinton during his historic visit to India.
Dr. Shivangi has held high offices in USA including as a member of the Mississippi state Board of Health by Governor Haley Barbour, and as a Chair of the State Board of Mental Health by the Governor Phil Bryant, a strong supporter of President Trump.
A conservative life-long member of the Republican Party, Dr. Shivangi is the founding member of the Republican Indian Council and the Republican Indian National Council, which aim to work to help and assist in promoting President Elect Trump’s agenda and support his advocacy in the coming months.
Dr. Shivangi is the National President of Indian American Forum for Political Education, one of the oldest Indian American Associations. Over the past three decades, he has lobbied for several Bills in the US Congress on behalf of India through his enormous contacts with US Senators and Congressmen.
Dr. Shivangi is a champion of women’s health and mental health whose work has been recognized nationwide. Dr. Shivangi has worked enthusiastically in promoting India Civil Nuclear Treaty and recently the US India Defense Treaty that was passed in US Congress and signed by President Obama.
Dr. Sampat Shivangi, an obstetrician/gynecologist, has been elected by a US state Republican Party as a full delegate to the National Convention. He is one of the top fund-raisers in Mississippi state for the Republican Party. Besides being a politician by choice, the medical practitioner is also the first Indian to be on the American Medical Association.
Dr. Shivangi has actively involved in several philanthropic activities, serving with Blind foundation of MS, Diabetic, Cancer and Heart Associations of America. Dr. Shivangi has been carrying on several philanthropic works in India including Primary & Middle Schools, Cultural Center, IMA Centers that he opened and helped to obtain the first ever US Congressional grant to AAPI to study Diabetes Mellitus amongst Indian Americans.
Dr. Shivangi has been at the forefront of the powerful American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and has served as the Secretary and Vice President of the Association, besides representing it at the American Medical Association.
A member of the Executive Advisory Board of the Washington, DC, – based conservative think tank, International Leaders Summit, Joel Anand Samy, who co-founded the International Leaders Summit along with Srdoc, welcomed Shivangi to the group’s Board.
“Dr. Shivangi’s commitment to advancing America’s first principles, his distinguished career as a physician, and a leader at the state and national levels has made a profound difference in the lives of many,” Joel Anand Samy said. “We look forward to working with Dr. Shivangi in his new capacity as an Executive Advisory Board Member of ILS in advancing principled policies in America and strengthening the US-India ties on the healthcare, economic and security fronts.”
Dr. Shivangi, from Ridgeland, Mississippi, is one of the most plugged in and savvy Indian Americans in the South, who has cultivated strong bonds with governors, senators and members of the House and been a fixture at GOP conventions.
Dr.Sampat Shivangi was awarded a highest civilian honor, Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas Sanman award for the year 2016 in Blengaluru, by the Hon. President of India, Shri Pranab Mukhejee. He was awarded with the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in New York in 2008. He is married to Dr. Udaya S.Shivangi, MD, and his children are: Priya S.Shivangi, MS (NYU); Pooja S. Shivangi who is an Attorney at Law.
November 9, 2019 will remain as the historic day in the annals of “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation (EVF)”. On this day, in star-studded, glamour filled “Future of India” Gala in New York City, Ekal reached 100,000 school milestones within minutes of its beginning. Going into the ‘Gala’, Ekal had 99,200 schools and so the evening was full of anticipated excitement to ring the bell for magical 100,000-school landmark.
As soon as ‘Mohan Wanchoo’, took the reins of the evening as the chairperson of the gala, he took everyone by surprise with his trailblazing announcement. He pledged $1 Million over the period of 5 years patching, with immediate effect, shortfall amount for 800-schools to reach the magical figure of 100,000-schools. These additional schools will be established shortly and will benefit 25,000 children bringing annual literacy total to 2.7 Million children.
Mohan Wanchoo’s pronouncement was not only celebrated with thunderous applause and sparkling ‘fireworks’, but it also set in motion exuberant outpour of generosity, for the rest of the evening. By the end of the evening $3.1Million were raised. This was in addition to Los Angeles Gala were $2 Million were raised.
This year, NYC magnificent Gala was hosted at lavishly decorated majestic ‘Gotham Hall’ and was attended by the elite of the society and Ekal’s dedicated supporters. Although rooted in literacy, Ekal has blossomed into empowerment of rural-tribal folks across India. The evening’s keynote speaker and star-attraction was Bollywood celebrity and philanthropist ‘Vivek Oberoi’.
In addition, distinguished speakers included ‘Raju Reddy’, a successful entrepreneur whose company was acquired by Hitachi, and ‘Ragy Thomas’, leading social-media management & marketing enterprise. ‘Ranjani Saigal’, the Executive Director of Ekal, traced 32-year history of the Ekal, including its transition into a nation building movement. Vivek Oberoi completely stole the show with his pledge to put all his entrepreneur might behind rural issues and spearhead small-scale solar power solutions for energy requirements of villages. He said,” I have already received a commitment of over half a million dollars for such initiative”.
At the conclusion of his captivating speech, he applauded Ekal getting Iconic “Gandhi Peace Prize” from the government of India for its social work in rural-tribal areas with gender equality. This award, which is given to only one organization each year was recently bestowed on ‘Ekal Abhiyan’ by Hon PM Modi and President Ram Kovind. For the benefit of people assembled, the ‘Peace Prize’ itself was ushered on the stage by a select group of people and presented to the gathering by Prakash Waghmare, a member of PR national committee and Suresh Iyer, President of Ekal-USA.
There was a brief panel discussion also moderated by ‘Amrita Saigal’, a young entrepreneur to highlight various aspects of Ekal that appeal to the Donors. Ragy Thomas pledged strong support to education and pledged $100,000 to accelerate its pace. Raju Reddy, partnering with Ekal expressed desire to bring transformation to rural Telangana. ‘Sarva Mangal Family Trust’ and ‘Keshap Group’ confirmed to match technological intervention in education in ‘digital-tablets’ format. A momentous turn occurred when 13-yr ‘Riya’ donated $1000 from a fund-raiser she had at her home.
Vivek Oberoi was so touched by this that he appealed to the gathering to match her cute gesture and the gathering responded by additional $30,000. Several dignitaries were honored, including India Consul General of New York, Sandeep Chakravorty and New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Ekal also recognized several supporters for their distinctive projects. Among them were Dr Kavita Navani of ‘Sankalp’ for aiding 625 Ekal schools; Himanshu Shah of ‘Shah Capital’ for supporting ‘Gramothan Resource Ctr’; Adish & Asha Jain and Vandana & Vivek Sharma for corroborating in integral village development; Subra & Anu Dravida for promoting digital literacy through ‘Ekal-on-Wheel’ project.
‘Perfection of Man Foundation’ made significant announcement at the end of the evening to support planting of 1 Million trees in Ekal villages. Pradeep Goyal, Chairman of ‘Ekal Abhiyan Trust’ and S.K. Jindal, a Trustee had specially had flown from India to grace this occasion and to boost the morale of everyone to make gala a grand success.
No gala is complete without the musical treat and this was no exception. To preserve the upbeat nature of the Gala’s success, Bollywood singer Shibani Kashyap kept the crowd sizzling with her singing and enticed them to dance to her tunes. Unlike most of such events, the remarkable thing about this event was the participation of young professional in large number. This is an indication that Ekal’s future is on rock-solid foundation.
Prof. Kuzhikkalail M. Abraham, a pioneer in the development of rechargeable lithium and lithium ion batteries, was honored with the Academic Excellence Award at New England Choice Award gala at Westin Hotel in Waltham, MA on Nov. 15, 2019.
Berklee College of Music President Roger Brown, who has promoted Indian music and encouraged Indian musicians through scholarships, was among the other seven Indian American achievers from a variety of fields and a non-profit organization who were awarded the prestigious New England Choice Awards 2019.
About 400 entrepreneurs, corporate executives, philanthropists, educators and community leaders attended the New England Choice Awards gala. INE received over 350 nominations for these awards. A jury of 12 individuals selected the final winners. Click here to meet the 2019 judging committee.
The work Prof. Kuzhikkalail M. Abraham and his research team carried out in late 1970s and early 1980s contributed to the demonstration of one of the first practical rechargeable lithium battery and helped transform Li-ion batteries from a laboratory curiosity to a technology indispensable for everyday life today.
He is also inventor of the ultrahigh energy density non-aqueous lithium-air battery which is under development in many laboratories around the world and has been subject of thousands of journal publications and many symposia in lithium battery meetings world-wide.
“When I started my career forty three years ago, rechargeable lithium battery was a mere laboratory curiosity,” Prof. Abraham said. “Fast forward four decades, they have become household items which we cannot live without as they power all the mobile devices essential for everyday life. I have the extreme satisfaction that I have been able to contribute to the practical realization of this very important technology. I also have the satisfaction of training and educating young colleagues and students in the lithium battery field, and they are now carrying on the work and contributing to the future growth of this important technical field.”
Recalling his past, Dr. Abraham said, he grew up in a modest middle class family in a village in Kerala as the oldest of nine children. College education was not something most young people in that part of the country thought about. “Two close family members inspired me in different ways to become successful. My maternal grandfather with whom I spent a lot of my early life encouraged me to study hard and achieve the highest education I could. Another person who was very important in my early life was my uncle (father’s younger brother) who provided financial assistance for me to attend college. I am pleased that I have been largely able to live up to their expectations.”
The simple principles he uses in his everyday life, Dr. Abraham said, “Firstly, whatever work I am involved with, try to do the best job I can. Secondly, success is not measured by the number of tasks a person starts, but by the number of tasks the person completes. These principles have allowed me to sustain a relatively long work life with enjoyment and with technical and financial success.”
The important thing is to recognize the mistake and figure out what has occurred, Dr. Abraham said. “This happened to me in an experiment my colleague and I were conducting. We recognized that the unexpected results were due to an error in the experimental procedure, but characterizing what had happened led to the invention of the Lithium-air battery, the highest energy density battery presently known.”
“New England Choice Awards has become one of the important platforms to showcase the rewarding work done by Indian Americans in New England and those who contribute to enrichment of our community. It is great to see the bar get raised every year,” INE MultiMedia, a non-profit organization, that organized the event, said
Abhijit Banerjee, an innovative MIT economist, along with his wife Esther Duflo, whose antipoverty research has given new prominence to the use of field experiments in social science, have been named co-winners of the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, along with Harvard University economist Michael Kremer.
Banerjee received his undergraduate degree from the University of Calcutta, and a master’s degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. He earned his PhD in Economics from Harvard University in 1988. He spent four years on the faculty at Princeton University, and one year at Harvard, before joining the MIT faculty in 1993.
Among other honors and awards, Banerjee was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004, and was granted the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Development Cooperation in 2009.
The work of Duflo and Banerjee has emphasized the use of field experiments in research, to bring the principles of laboratory-style randomized, controlled trials to empirical economics. They have studied a wide range of topics implicated in global poverty, including health care provision, education, agriculture, and gender attitudes, while developing new antipoverty programs based on their research.
In 2003, Duflo and Banerjee (along with Sendhil Mullainathan, now of the University of Chicago) co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a global network of antipoverty researchers that conducts field experiments. J-PAL works to both discern which kinds of local interventions have the greatest impact on social problems, and to implement those programs more broadly, in cooperation with governments and NGOs. Among J-PAL’s notable interventions are deworming programs that have been adopted widely.
Duflo is the second woman and the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel in economic sciences. Duflo received her undergraduate degree from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1994, after studying both history and economics. She earned a master’s degree in economics the next year, jointly through the École Normale Supérieure and the École Polytechnique. Duflo then earned her PhD in economics from MIT in 1999. She joined the MIT faculty the same year, and has remained at MIT her entire career. She is currently the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics.
Previously, Duflo has earned a series of awards and honors, including a MacArthur Foundation fellowship (2009), the John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic Association (2010), and, also in 2009, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Development Cooperation.
Duflo and Banerjee have published dozens of research papers, together and with other co-authors. They have also co-written two books toghether, “Poor Economics” (2011) and the forthcoming “Good Economics for Hard Times” (2019).
Duflo and Banerjee are the sixth and seventh people to win the award while serving as MIT faculty members, following Paul Samuelson (1970), Franco Modigliani (1985), Robert Solow (1987), Peter Diamond (2010), and Bengt Holmstrom (2016).
Three Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) between Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and two academic institutions in India were signed as part of a seven-day, six-city trade mission led by Governor Phil Murphy to strengthen economic ties and promote business investments in New Jersey.
Two MOUs were signed with the Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University (SNDT) and one with the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN).
Rutgers and SNDT will collaborate on scientific research in agricultural, nutrition and food technology innovation and pursue the development of an AgriFood accelerator and incubator programs. The agreement with IITGN will promote student and faculty exchanges between the institutions and collaborative research projects, workshops or conferences, according to a press release.
“Rutgers understands the value of international partnerships in fostering academic and research opportunities in today’s interconnected world,” said S. David Kimball, Senior Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Rutgers University. “We look forward to these alliances with SNDT and IITGN and promoting the advancement of academic, research and educational exchanges that will open new doors for faculty and students at all three institutions.”
IITGN also signed academic exchanges with three other New Jersey universities: Rowan University, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and New Jersey City University (NJCU).
“Globalization is one of the core pillars of IIT Gandhinagar’s educational philosophy. We are excited about partnering with some of New Jersey’s leading public universities to create new opportunities for students and faculty of all our institutions for academic and research collaborations,” said IITGN Director Sudhir Jain.
Pavita Howe, director of the Office of Research and Economic Development’s TechAdvance Fund, represented Rutgers University on the economic mission trip to India as part of the New Jersey delegation that joined Governor Murphy.
“India is a major source of cutting-edge research as well as entrepreneurial creativity, and this business mission was an important first step in developing new relationships that will result in valuable research collaborations and business opportunities,” added Howe.
New Jersey has one of the fastest growing Indian population with nearly 300,000 Indians living in the state according to the Census. The delegation’s mission was to highlight the state’s innovation ecosystem with one of New Jersey’s largest trade and investment partners, cultivate international investment opportunities in the Garden State, and deepen cultural and educational ties between New Jersey and India.
The New Jersey delegation included First Lady Tammy Murphy, Choose New Jersey President and CEO Jose Lozano, New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) CEO Tim Sullivan, and other senior administration, Choose New Jersey officials and representatives from NJIT, Rowan, Princeton University, and New Jersey City University.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a leading national research university and the state of New Jersey’s preeminent, comprehensive public institution of higher education. Established in 1766, the university is the eighth oldest higher education institution in the United States. More than 70,000 students and 23,400 full- and part-time faculty and staff learn, work, and serve the public at Rutgers locations across New Jersey and around the world.
(October 8, 2019 – Dallas, TX) Texas Governor Greg Abbott appointed Dallas-based, textiles entrepreneur Arun Agarwal to the Medical Board last week. The board’s mission is to protect and enhance the public’s health, safety and welfare by establishing and maintaining standards of excellence used in regulating the practice of medicine and ensuring quality health care for the citizens of Texas through licensure, discipline and education. Agarwal is one of six Texans to receive this appointment; the others are Devinder S. Bhaita, M.D., Vanessa Hicks-Callaway, Satish Nayak, M.D., Jason Tibbels, M.D. and reappointed Robert David
Martinez, M.D. “I am honored and humbled to serve on the Texas Medical Board for the next five years,” said Agarwal. “Texans deserve the best standards in health care, and it will be our duty to regulate the practice of medicine in the state. It will be one of the highlights of my professional career.”
Arun Agarwal of Dallas is Chief Executive Officer of Nextt and has business interests in textiles, cotton trading and real estate. He is on the board of the US India Friendship Council, Big Brother Big Sisters, Texas Public Policy Foundation Education Committee, and the US Global Leadership Coalition. In addition, he volunteers with the Living Dreams Foundation. Agarwal received a Master’s in Business Administration from IMT, Ghaziabad, a Master’s in Computer Information Systems from Southern New Hampshire University and International Business from Harvard University.
Tens of thousands of Americans apply to U.S. medical schools each year. Only a fraction gain admission. The University of Arizona, for instance, posted a 1.9 percent acceptance rate in 2018. UCLA, Florida State University, and Wake Forest accepted fewer than 3 percent of applicants.
Many U.S. medical schools are proud of their microscopic admission rates. But they have negative ramifications for the nation’s healthcare system.
The United States will need up to 121,900 more physicians by 2032 to care for its aging population. U.S. medical schools aren’t producing enough graduates to meet that demand — and don’t have the capacity to expand anywhere close to that degree.
International medical schools are America’s best hope for addressing its physician workforce needs. They’re a crucial alternative for the thousands of qualified students who find themselves on the wrong end of a med school admissions decision as a result of the mismatch between qualified applicants and available seats.
Applying to med school has become a numbers game. In the 2018-2019 cycle, U.S. medical schools received over 850,000 applications from nearly 53,000 students. The average student applies to 16 schools.
Many students who would make terrific doctors fall through the cracks. In a recent interview with U.S. News and World Report, Dr. Robert Hasty, the founding dean and chief academic offer of the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, said, “We hear from high-quality applicants every day . . . and these are people with really high MCAT scores and GPAs, that this is their second year, third year or even fourth year applying to medical schools. And years ago, they would have gotten accepted the first time through, but the demand is just incredible.”
In other words, the status quo is failing thousands of qualified applicants — and the U.S. healthcare system, which needs more doctors.
U.S. medical schools don’t appear capable of growing to address this problem. Enrollment is up only 7 percent over the past five years. That kind of modest growth won’t get us anywhere close to narrowing our nation’s projected shortage of physicians.
International medical schools can address these issues, providing opportunity to talented students and supplying the physicians America needs.
Many international schools provide an education every bit as good as those offered by U.S. schools. For example, 96 percent of first-time test takers from St. George’s University in Grenada — the school I lead — passed Step 1 of the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam in 2018. That’s the same rate as graduates of U.S. medical schools.
Research confirms that international schools produce high-caliber doctors. According to one study published by the BMJ, a leading medical journal, patients treated by doctors trained overseas had lower mortality rates than those treated by U.S.-educated doctors.
Internationally trained doctors also practice where the U.S. healthcare system needs them most. In areas where per-capita income is below $15,000 annually, more than four in ten doctors received their degrees abroad.
Americans are increasingly turning to international schools. More than 60 percent of licensed medical graduates of international schools in the Caribbean are U.S. citizens. Three-quarters of the medical students at St. George’s are U.S. citizens.
The odds of gaining admission to U.S. medical schools are growing longer. But bright young Americans don’t have to give up their dreams of becoming doctors. They can turn to top-notch international medical schools. Their future patients will surely thank them.
(Dr. Richard Liebowitz is vice chancellor of St. George’s University (www.sgu.edu). He previously served as president of New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.)
The first round in the lawsuit against Harvard University’s admissions program yielded a decisive victory for the status quo on affirmative action in higher education, with a federal judge ratifying how one of the world’s most prestigious schools uses race and ethnicity to choose a class and rejecting claims of discrimination against Asian Americans.
But the plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions, which lost on all counts in the judge’s ruling this week, pledged an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. Eventually, the case could reach the Supreme Court. That would provide opponents of affirmative action another potential opening to overturn decades of precedent from the high court allowing race-conscious admissions, in a limited way, without racial quotas.
Most observers read Tuesday’s decision from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston as an endorsement of an admissions system used at many selective colleges. That system, known as “holistic review,” takes race into account as one among many factors in a prospective student’s background.
“It appears to be a slam dunk for Harvard,” Peter McDonough, vice president and general counsel for the American Council on Education, said after the ruling. “It is close to a slam dunk for colleges and universities across the country.” The council, a prominent advocate for higher education, had joined with other groups in a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Harvard model.
McDonough acknowledged that a potential Supreme Court showdown looms. “But for today the story line is the unambiguous nature of the judge’s ruling,” he said. “The judge has taken 130 pages to forcefully say ‘Harvard wins.’ ”
Critics of race-conscious admissions lamented the ruling. They accused Burroughs of shrugging off questions the suit raised about why Asian American applicants tended to receive lower ratings from Harvard admission officers for their personal qualities.
“Today marks a dark day for millions of Asian American children nationwide,” Yukong Zhao, president of the Asian American Coalition for Education, said in a statement. “Our nation has witnessed another immoral attempt by America’s ruling class to continue their institutionalized discrimination against Asian American children and treat them as second-class citizens with regard to educational opportunities.”
Another group applauded the decision as a “critical victory” for Asian American students. “While we must do more to ensure that Asian American students do not face unequal opportunities through harassment, stereotyping and language barriers,” said Aarti Kohli, executive director of Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, “the use of race-conscious admissions policies – which safeguard against discrimination – is an important step.”
Roger Clegg, general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, which opposes what he described as racial preferences, said the ruling was not a surprise. “I don’t think it’s going to change the trajectory of what I think everybody expects to be a case that ends up before the Supreme Court,” he said. Clegg pointed to survey data from the Pew Research Center showing most Americans don’t support the use of race in admissions.
Affirmative action is not a universal practice in admissions. Several states, including California, ban race-conscious admissions in public universities. But a substantial number of competitive private and public schools acknowledge taking race into account.
Students for Fair Admissions, which says it represents rejected Asian American applicants, filed its suit in November 2014, alleging violations of civil rights law and of Supreme Court mandates. The group claimed that Harvard intentionally discriminated against Asian Americans, that it sought to “balance” its admitted class to meet preconceived targets for racial and ethnic groups, that it leaned too heavily on race as a factor in admission deliberations, and that it failed to give adequate consideration to race-neutral alternatives.
Burroughs rejected all the claims. The judge wrote that testimony from Harvard admission officers denying discrimination was “consistent, unambiguous and convincing.” She also noted that the plaintiff chose not to put an individual face onto its case. There was no individual analogue to Bakke, Grutter, Gratz or Fisher – all surnames of plaintiffs from previous eras who became part of the Supreme Court’s record on affirmative action.
Students for Fair Admissions, Burroughs wrote, “did not present a single Asian American applicant who was overtly discriminated against or who was better qualified than an admitted white applicant when considering the full range of factors that Harvard values in its admissions process.”
The judge wrote that Harvard’s record was not perfect. In a footnote, she wrote that “some slight implicit biases among some admission officers” may have affected the personal ratings of certain applicants. “While regrettable,” she wrote, such biases “cannot be completely eliminated in a process that must rely on judgments about individuals.”
She also admonished Harvard to follow the Supreme Court’s dictate from its most recent ruling on affirmative action, in 2016: that universities must continue to use data to scrutinize the fairness of their admissions programs and “assess whether changing demographics have undermined the need for a race-conscious policy.”
But Burroughs generally accepted the premise behind Harvard’s efforts: that consideration of race was necessary for the university to maintain a diverse campus. The judge cited the experience of Ruth Simmons, former president of Brown University and current president of Prairie View A&M University, as “perhaps the most cogent and compelling testimony presented at this trial.” Born in a sharecropper’s shack in Texas, Simmons became a pioneering African American leader in higher education.
Burroughs quoted Simmons at length in the conclusion of her ruling. “It’s very hard for me to overstate my conviction about the benefits that flow to all of these areas from a diverse undergraduate student body,” Simmons testified. “I know something about the lack of diversity in one’s education. . . . My father was a janitor, my mother was a maid. They had been sharecroppers, they had few opportunities. I lived through that. I remember it. So to me, the benefits that flow to students is they get a better education, a deeper education, a truer education to deal with what they’re going to have to deal with in life.”
The judge then added: “For purposes of this case, at least for now, ensuring diversity at Harvard relies, in part, on race conscious admissions.”
Doha, Qatar – September 18, 2019 – Located in the heart of one of the most advanced media and communication schools in the world, The Media Majlis at Northwestern University in Qatar, which is dedicated to the exploration of journalism, communication, and media in the Arab region, has opened at Northwestern University’s campus in Doha.
The Media Majlis features a multi-screen façade, as well as space where exhibition content and technology converge. The technology elevates visitors’ experience by inviting them to participate in a global conversation on a continually changing media landscape.
Drawing its name from the traditional Arab majlis—or gathering place—the museum seeks to be a vital source of interpersonal communication that connects values of local culture to universal and global concerns. All exhibitions are bilingual in English and Arabic, adding to the museum’s global essence and eliminating language barriers from telling the full story.
“The Media Majlis, a decade in the making, is a space where our students and faculty, as well as the general public can engage with content that examines media influences and impact,” said Everette E. Dennis, dean and CEO at NU-Q. “The museum’s programming, which will explore everything from Arab representations in film, to censorship and identity, underscores the importance of media in society and draws on images and materials from local sources and global collections.”
A group of international media scholars and experts formed a Content Advisory Board that advised the university as it developed this unique museum where its exhibitions and programs are incorporated into the school’s curriculum and all exhibitions and programming is open to the public.
A member of the advisory board, Lisa Corrin, the director of the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University in Evanston, noted the connection between the mission of the Media Majlis and the academic program at NU-Q.
“The museum’s mission is to amplify the raison d’etre of Northwestern University – to be a portal through which young minds can learn to think critically about how the vast media landscapes shape our world and in turn how they can use these platforms to have influence in and beyond Qatar,” she said.
Exhibitions at the Media Majlis are curated so that visitors can journey through media-centric themes, exploring hundreds of images and films, as well as scores of original interviews – developed in-house – with scholars and professionals who are experts on the museum’s current exhibition topic.
The Media Majlis’s inaugural exhibition, Arab Identities, images in film, considers how over a century of film history has shaped and been shaped by notions of Arab identities. The exhibition, which features clips from more than 200 films ranging from the 1880s to the present day, is accompanied by loans posters, lobby cards and drawings from regional private collections in Kuwait and Beirut, as well as international, including a print from 1851 on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibition will be on view through December.
The Media Majlis is surrounded by academic resources and learning spaces. Located in the building that houses Northwestern’s campus in Qatar, it has access to a projection theatre for screening films, a black box for theatrical dramas, and a world-class fully-automated Newsroom, along with an auditorium that seats more than 100.
This space provides the Media Majlis with the opportunity to offer programming tied to each exhibition. Pamela Erskine-Loftus, director of the Media Majlis said, “Our exhibitions are complemented by a series of programs and publications that examine and discuss various angles to provide audiences with a 360-degree engagement experience, leaving them more empowered and knowledgeable to make their own opinion on the subject at hand.”
For the current exhibition, Arab Identities, images in film, programming includes exclusive film screenings with prominent filmmakers such as the director of the Academy Award nominated “Paradise Now,” Hany Abu-Assad; Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir; and the Syrian directors and sisters Soudade Kaadan and Amira Kaadan.
In addition to the screenings, programming also includes panel discussions on topics such as the art of critiquing film, the challenges of becoming an Arab filmmaker, and how the history of the Arab world changes alongside an ever-changing environment of film and journalism.
The Media Majlis was officially dedicated by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of the Qatar Foundation, along with Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad, vice-chairperson and CEO of the foundation; Morton Schapiro, president of Northwestern University; Jonathan Holloway, provost; and Dean Dennis.
Northwestern University in Qatar draws from its parent organization, Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois), a distinguished history, famous programs, and an exceptional faculty. Founded in partnership with the Qatar Foundation, NU-Q provides a framework through which students explore the world and, ultimately, shape its future through its distinguished programs in communication and journalism and strategic communication, and the liberal arts.
Government of India launched a scheme called “Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children” (SPDC), in the academic year 2006-2007, for the wards of Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to assist them in pursuing Under Graduate courses in Indian Universities/Institutes.
Under SPDC scheme financial assistance for specific undergraduate courses in Professional and Non-Professional courses (except Medical and related courses)is provided towards tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services. The scheme is applicable to NRIs and PIOs from 66 countries.
Under the scheme, PIO/NRI students are awarded a scholarship of up to US$4,000 per annum for payment of tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services for Undergraduate courses in Engineering, Technology, Humanities, Liberal Arts, Commerce, Management, Journalism, Hotel Management, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and other courses. The scholarship is applicable to students who have already secured admission in an Indian institution. Admission is permitted only in Central Universities, NAAC “A” Grade Institutions, National Institute of Technologies (NITs), School of Planning & Architecture (SPAs), and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) as covered under Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) scheme.
In case of any technical assistance, please contact following: SPDC Portal Support Team, EG & IT Division, MEA, 1025, A Wing, Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan, 23-D Janpath, New Delhi 110011, Email: technicalcellegit@mea.gov.in, Tel. +91 11 4901 8371
In case of any assistance/clarification regarding Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children, please contact following: Section Officer, OIA II Division, MEA, 925, Akbar Bhawan, Chankyapuri, New Delhi 110021, Email: so1oia2@mea.gov.in, Tel.: +91 11 2419 7927; Or Visit www.spdcindia.gov.in
A delegation of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) leaders, comprising of Dr. Suresh Reddy, President AAPI, Dr. Amit Chakrabarty, Vice Chair. AAPI Board of Trustees, and Dr. Himanshu Pandya, President of AAPI QLI, visited Antigua on invitation by the American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine last week with the aim to help foster long lasting symbiotic relationship and assist with the already robust educational pathway for the medical students of Indian origin at AUA.
The delegation visited the AUA campus where they were greeted by the distinguished faculty and got a demonstration of the cutting-edge and modern facilities and the amazingly realistic mannequins with medically authentic disease simulation at their skills set labs, that prepare the budding doctors for exposure to clinical rotations in the USA.
AAPI leaders described AUA as a “world leader” in medical education, having the tools, the curriculum, and the faculty to provide a world-class medical education, with its cutting-edge facilities, distinguished faculty, and excellent clinical experiences prepare graduates to practice medicine throughout the United States and Canada. The amazing high-tech simulation lab is a perfect model for medical learning.
AAPI is collaborating with AUA granting scholarships upto $25,000, to Medical Students of Indian origin or descent and are interested in attending medical school at AUA, check out the AAPI Scholarship. For more information, please visit: https://www.auamed.org/admissions/scholarships
During the visit to the island, AAPI leaders met with several prominent international cricket players, most of them from the current and past Indian Cricket Team. Among many others, they met with Sunil Gavaskar, the legend of Indian Cricket, Ravi Shastri, glorious cricketer of yesteryear and the manager of the Indian Cricket team, the charismatic Indian captain Virat Kohli and Dr Reddy presented a plaque from the AAPI congratulating him for his services to the India and contribution to Indian cricket. We formally invited each of them to be part of the Sports Medicine Summit at the AAPI Annual Convention in Chicago next year, which they agreed to, subject to their schedule.
GOPIO-CT organized a program of welcoming new Indian students at the Univ. of Connecticut, School of Business from its Stamford campus with a networking dinner on Friday, Sept. 13th at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Stamford. While it was networking event for the students and the Indian American community, it also served as an interactive session with a high-profile panel of Indian American Corporate Achievers from Facebook, Amazon and Vice Media as well as three other entrepreneurs and businessmen.
The program started with a welcome by GOPIO International Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham and greetings from Ms. Laurissa Berk, UConn’s Associate Director for Risk Management Programs at UConn School of Business. The panelists included Joseph Simon, Chief Technology Officer at Vice Media; Shailesh Naik, President of Charles Manganaro Consulting Engineers; Bhavna Juneja, Senior President of IT Services (Stamford, CT); Terrence Moduthagam, Manager Strategy Partnership at Amazon; Anand Chavan, CEO of GuardX, Inc. and Gaurav Venkateswar, Client Solutions Manager at Facebook. The panel session was moderated by Viresh Sharma, President, Laser Systems, Inc.
The students asked the panelists several questions including marketing themselves to get a job, branding, how to reach out the right person within Corporate America, trends in the job market and difficulty of getting jobs after study completion with a practical training visa.
“It was highly successful program with larger interaction by the new students with the panelists,” said Dr. Abraham. Abraham also told the students that when he came to the country in the 1970s, there was a system of a host family to the foreign students since here was not much communication for the students back home. With advent of new communication with WhatsUp and other social media, the host family concept is already gone. Abraham told the students that the community is the host family for the students. The program was concluded by GOPIO-CT Secretary Prasad Chintalapudi, Vice President of Panzer Solutions.
The largest-ever study of ancient human DNA and the first genome of an individual from the ancient Indus Valley Civilization reveal in unprecedented detail the shifting ancestry of Central and South Asian populations over time.
The research, published online Sept. 5 in a pair of papers in Scienceand Cell, also answers longstanding questions about the origins of farming and the source of Indo-European languages in South and Central Asia.
Geneticists, archaeologists and anthropologists from North America, Europe, Central Asia and South Asia analyzed the genomes of 524 never before-studied ancient individuals. The work increased the worldwide total of published ancient genomes by about 25 percent.
By comparing these genomes to one another and to previously sequenced genomes, and by putting the information into context alongside archaeological, linguistic and other records, the researchers filled in many of the key details about who lived in various parts of this region from the Mesolithic Era (about 12,000 years ago) to the Iron Age (until around 2,000 years ago) and how they relate to the people who live there today.
“With this many samples, we can detect subtle interactions between populations as well as outliers within populations, something that has only become possible in the last couple of years through technological advances,” said David Reich, co-senior author of both papers and professor of genetics in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School.
“These studies speak to two of the most profound cultural transformations in ancient Eurasia—the transition from hunting and gathering to farming and the spread of Indo-European languages, which are spoken today from the British Isles to South Asia—along with the movement of people,” said Vagheesh Narasimhan, co-first author of both papers and a postdoctoral fellow in the Reich lab. “The studies are particularly significant because Central and South Asia are such understudied parts of the world.”
“One of the most exciting aspects of this study is the way it integrates genetics with archaeology and linguistics,” said Ron Pinhasi of the University of Vienna, co-senior author of the Science paper. “The new results emerged after combining data, methods and perspectives from diverse academic disciplines, an integrative approach that provides much more information about the past than any one of these disciplines could alone.”
“In addition, the introduction of new sampling methodologies allowed us to minimize damage to skeletons while maximizing the chance of obtaining genetic data from regions where DNA preservation is often poor,” Pinhasi added.
Indo-European languages—including Hindi/Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Persian, Russian, English, Spanish, Gaelic and more than 400 others—make up the largest language family on Earth.
For decades, specialists have debated how Indo-European languages made their way to distant parts of the world. Did they spread via herders from the Eurasian Steppe? Or did they travel with farmers moving west and east from Anatolia (present-day Turkey)?
A 2015 paper by Reich and colleagues indicated that Indo-European languages arrived in Europe via the steppe. The Science study now makes a similar case for South Asia by showing that present-day South Asians have little if any ancestry from farmers with Anatolian roots.
“We can rule out a large-scale spread of farmers with Anatolian roots into South Asia, the centerpiece of the ‘Anatolian hypothesis’ that such movement brought farming and Indo-European languages into the region,” said Reich, who is also an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Broad Institute. “Since no substantial movements of people occurred, this is checkmate for the Anatolian hypothesis.”
One new line of evidence in favor of a steppe origin for Indo-European languages is the detection of genetic patterns that connect speakers of the Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic branches of Indo-European. The researchers found that present-day speakers of both branches descend from a subgroup of steppe pastoralists who moved west toward Europe almost 5,000 years ago and then spread back eastward into Central and South Asia in the following 1,500 years.
“This provides a simple explanation in terms of ancient movements of people for the otherwise puzzling shared linguistic features of these two branches of Indo-European, which today are separated by vast geographic distances,” said Reich.
A second line of evidence in favor of a steppe origin is the researchers’ discovery that of the 140 present-day South Asian populations analyzed in the study, a handful show a remarkable spike in ancestry from the steppe. All but one of these steppe-enriched populations are historically priestly groups, including Brahmins—traditional custodians of texts written in the ancient Indo-European language Sanskrit.
“The finding that Brahmins often have more steppe ancestry than other groups in South Asia, controlling for other factors, provides a fascinating new argument in favor of a steppe origin for Indo-European languages in South Asia,” said Reich.
“This study has filled in a large piece of the puzzle of the spread of Indo-European,” said co-author Nick Patterson, research fellow in genetics at HMS and a staff scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. “I believe the high-level picture is now understood.”
“This problem has been in the air for 200 years or more and it’s now rapidly being sorted out,” he added. “I’m very excited by that.”
Agriculture origins
The studies inform another longstanding debate, this one about whether the change from a hunting and gathering economy to one based on farming was driven more by movements of people, the copying of ideas or local invention.
The new study reveals a similar dynamic in Iran and Turan (southern Central Asia), where the researchers found that Anatolian-related ancestry and farming arrived around the same time.
“This confirms that the spread of agriculture entailed not only a westward route from Anatolia to Europe but also an eastward route from Anatolia into regions of Asia previously only inhabited by hunter-gatherer groups,” said Pinhasi.
Then, as farming spread northward through the mountains of Inner Asia thousands of years after taking hold in Iran and Turan, “the links between ancestry and economy get more complex,” said archaeologist Michael Frachetti of Washington University in St. Louis, co-senior author who led much of the skeletal sampling for the Science paper.
By around 5,000 years ago, the researchers found, southwestern Asian ancestry flowed north along with farming technology, while Siberian or steppe ancestry flowed south onto the Iranian plateau. The two-way pattern of movement took place along the mountains, a corridor that Frachetti previously showed was a “Bronze Age Silk Road” along which people exchanged crops and ideas between East and West.
In South Asia, however, the story appears quite different. Not only did the researchers find no trace of the Anatolian-related ancestry that is a hallmark of the spread of farming to the west, but the Iranian-related ancestry they detected in South Asians comes from a lineage that separated from ancient Iranian farmers and hunter-gatherers before those groups split from each other.
The researchers concluded that farming in South Asia was not due to the movement of people from the earlier farming cultures of the west; instead, local foragers adopted it.
“Prior to the arrival of steppe pastoralists bringing their Indo-European languages about 4,000 years ago, we find no evidence of large-scale movements of people into South Asia,” said Reich.
Map showing the reconstructed migrations and genetic contributions of people with steppe pastoralist ancestry. Image: Oliver Uberti/Science via Harvard Medical School
First glimpse of the ancestry of the Indus Valley Civilization
Running from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, the Indus River Valley was the site of one of the first civilizations of the ancient world, flourishing between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. People built towns with populations in the tens of thousands. They used standardized weights and measures and exchanged goods with places as far-flung as East Africa.
But who were they?
Before now, geneticists were unable to extract viable data from skeletons buried at Indus Valley Civilization archaeological sites because the heat and volatile climate of lowland South Asia have degraded most DNA beyond scientists’ ability to analyze it.
The Cell paper changes this.
After screening more than 60 skeletal samples from the largest known town of the Indus Valley Civilization, called Rakhigarhi, the authors found one with a hint of ancient DNA. After more than 100 sequencing attempts, they generated enough data to reach meaningful conclusions.
The ancient woman’s genome matched those of 11 other ancient people reported in the Science paper who lived in what is now Iran and Turkmenistan at sites known to have exchanged objects with the Indus Valley Civilization. All 12 had a distinctive mix of ancestry, including a lineage related to Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers and an Iranian-related lineage specific to South Asia. Because this mix was different from the majority of people living in Iran and Turkmenistan at that time, the authors propose that the 11 individuals reported in the Science paper were migrants, likely from the Indus Valley Civilization.
None of the 12 had evidence of ancestry from steppe pastoralists, consistent with the model that that group hadn’t arrived yet in South Asia.
The Science paper further showed that after the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization between 4,000 and 3,500 years ago, a portion of the group to which these 12 individuals belonged mixed with people coming from the north who had steppe pastoralist ancestry, forming the Ancestral North Indians, one of the two primary ancestral populations of present-day people in India. A portion of the original group also mixed with people from peninsular India to form the other primary source population, the Ancestral South Indians.
“Mixtures of the Ancestral North Indians and Ancestral South Indians—both of whom owe their primary ancestry to people like that of the Indus Valley Civilization individual we sequenced—form the primary ancestry of South Asians today,” said Patterson.
“The study directly ties present-day South Asians to the ancient peoples of South Asia’s first civilization,” added Narasimhan.
The authors caution that analyzing the genome of only one individual limits the conclusions that can be drawn about the entire population of the Indus Valley Civilization.“My best guess is that the Indus Valley Civilization itself was genetically extremely diverse,” said Patterson. “Additional genomes will surely enrich the picture.”
Early access experiment
The team released most of its data for the Science study in early 2018 on the preprint server bioRxiv. The material has already been used in multiple published papers by other teams as well as a book. Researchers also spotted previously unnoticed patterns in the data.
“We wanted to see what would happen if we allowed other researchers to question our conclusions and come to new insights,” said Narasimhan. “These findings from the community substantially improved the final version of the manuscript.”
“We feel that this experiment in open-notebook and crowd-sourced science was an unmitigated success,” said Reich. “We are eager to find other ways to make data available early so we can leverage the broad interest in this work to make the science even better and to ensure that the conclusions we draw are as robust and nuanced as possible.”
Funding and authorship
“The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia,” Science, 5 September 2019
Narasimhan and Patterson are co-first authors. Patterson conducted the research while a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Frachetti, Pinhasi and Reich are co-senior authors.
This study was supported by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (CASI award), National Institutes of Health (GM100233, GM007753), Russian Science Foundation (project 14-50-00036), Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 18-09-00779), European Research Council (ERC-2011-AdG 295733 grant), Ministry of Education and Sciences of the Russian Federation (No. 33.1907 2017/P4, 33.5494, 2017/BP), National Science Foundation (BCS-1460369, BCS-1725067, BCS-1032255), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of the Government of India (NCP fund MLP0117), Max Planck Society, Allen Discovery Center and John Templeton Foundation (grant 61220).
“An Ancient Harappan Genome Lacks Ancestry from Steppe Pastoralists or Iranian Farmers,” Cell, 6 September 2019
Co-first authors are Vasant Shinde of Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute in Pune, India, and Narasimhan.
Co-senior authors are Niraj Rai of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in Lucknow, India, and Reich.
This study was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of the Government of India, National Science Foundation (HOMINID grant BCS-1032255), National Institutes of Health (grant GM100233), Allen Discovery Center and John Templeton Foundation (grant 61220).
Considering Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation’s (‘EVF’ or ‘Ekal’) profound impact and rapid growth at the grass-root level, Honorable Indian PM Narendra Modi in 2017 gave ‘Ekal’ a unique goal of establishing 100,000 schools by Yr. 2022. In India’s history, Yr.2022 has a very distinctive significance. It happens to be the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence. On this front, the most exciting new development is that EVF is undoubtedly going to ring the ‘target-bell’ by early 2020 itself. As of this moment, Ekal already has 93,000 schools in the same number of villages that are grooming 2.55 million children & youths each year for life’s major challenges.
The most remarkable thing about these staggering numbers is, more than half of them are girls. Moreover, quite a few of its alumni have gone on to become high-caliber teachers, District Officers, company administrators and technocrats in their adult life. Although rooted in Education, Ekal has blossomed into healthcare, integrated village development and economic empowerment. Recently, ‘United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) confirmed that, defying global trend, India is likely to meet 100% child enrolment and school completion target set by them, in 2030. This heartening affirmation is nothing but a consequential endorsement of EVF’s educational mission in rural and tribal areas of India. This year, “Ekal Abhiyan Trust’ (an umbrella Orgz for various off-shoots of Ekal) was bestowed with Iconic National Honor – “Gandhi Peace Prize” – by the Govt of India, for its contribution to Education in remote areas, with gender and social equality. ‘EVF’ is the largest literacy movement undertaken by the Indians and NRIs in dozen countries.
In last one year alone, Ekal has successfully added 20,000 schools. This meteoric rise has been partly due to high-end “Future of India” GALAs that Ekal has started hosting in various metropolitan areas since 2017. Last year, between October 6 -13, it hosted three Galas – Houston, Washington & New York – and raised over $5 Million. This was in addition to $6 Million it had already raised through its annual fund-raising concerts across USA in 55 cities.
This year, two Galas have been planned – one in Los Angeles (LA) area and another in New York City (NYC). LA-Gala is being hosted on Saturday, September 14 at ‘Hyatt Regency’ (200 South Pine Ave, Long Beach, CA), and NYC-Gala is taking place on Saturday, November 9 at the majestic ‘Gotham Hall’ (1356 Broadway, NYC, NY 10018). For details of ticket purchase, sponsorship or special-project enquiry, please check www.lagala.ekal.org OR www.nycgala.ekal.org for respective Galas. At LA-Gala, the keynote speaker is going to be ‘Emily Church’, Exec Dir of ‘XPrize Foundation’ with Bollywood heart-throb ‘Vivek Oberoi’ as the special guest. The entertainment at LA will be provided by Bollywood Comedian ‘Omi Vaidya’ which will be capped by a fusion-music Concert by ‘Nauzad’. ‘EVF’ is a duly registered non-profit Charitable Organization 501(C) in USA and dispenses all its assistance in rural areas irrespective of recipient’s religion, creed, caste and region. Its overhead is hardly around 10%.
Suresh Iyer, President of ‘Ekal-USA’, has confirmed that, so far this year, Ekal has raised almost $5.5 Million. Attributing this stunning achievement to thousands of its devout Donors and dedicated volunteers, Suresh is confident that, with two Galas, Ekal, will once again cut through $10 Million mark by the year’s end. In 2017, Bajrang Bagra, CEO of ‘Ekal Abhiyan Trust’ initiated a special literacy project for ‘troubled spots’ in border region. He recently confirmed that as of now almost 6,000 Ekal schools are in operation in Jammu-Kashmir and that has resulted in establishing peace, tranquility, and life-normalcy in people’s lives there. The schools there are run by the locals under Ekal’s guidance
Navneeth Murali, 13 of Edison, New Jersey correctly spelled the word “flipe” meaning, to strip off by or as if by peeling,” during the 2019 South Asian Spelling Bee finals to clinch the title of national champion and took home a cash prize of $3,000. Hephzibah Sujoe, 13 of Fort Worth Texas along with Pranav Nandakumar, 13 of Austin Texas, and Vayun Krishna, 12 of Sunnyvale, California tied for National Runner-Up position.
The initiative was organized by leading multicultural advertising firm, Touchdown Media Inc. Sony Entertainment Television Asia will broadcast the initiative across the globe in over 120 countries, Kawan Foods returned as the powered by sponsor for the initiative which is now in its 12th year.
“It fills my heart to see such talented young spellers from across the country who make us proud as a community. The initiative is unique in its reach and engagement and with the help of the SAS-Bee program, we were able to give even more spellers the opportunity to win it all and raise the bar even higher. My heartiest congratulations to the winner,” said Rahul Walia, Founder.
The initiative was open to children up to 14 years of age and was held in 5 regional centers across the United States. These areas included, New Jersey, DC Metro area, Dallas, Bay Area, and Charlotte.
Over 600 spellers from these centers participated from which 15 finalists took the stage at the Finals. “We are extremely happy with Naveneeth’s win at the Bee as it goes to show that todays South Asian kids are all well-rounded and highly dedicated to their craft. We produced a special section called “Meet the Spellers where the viewers will have an opportunity to get to know some of the spellers better,” said Tim Tan, Managing Director, Kawan Food, makers of the world’s most popular Roti Paratha Brand in the world – Kawan Paratha.
“It’s amazing to see the pool of talent from our community and am happy for Navneeth Murali’s win and excited to get to know him and some of the other spellers better in the “Meet the Speller” series airing shortly on Sony,” said Jaideep Janakiram, Head of North America, Sony Entertainment Television-Asia.
Touchdown Media Inc. is a specialized South Asian advertising and promotions firm based in New Jersey. Now in its 16th successful year, Touchdown has helped clients, both mainstream and otherwise, reach out to the lucrative South Asian market. Touchdown Media represents more than 35 years of collective experience in this niche market. As a full-service ad firm, Touchdown has helped many clients achieve their media and marketing goals within the South Asian diaspora in the United States.
Registration for 2020 will open in October this year and for more information and to register your child, please visit www.SouthAsianSpellingBee.com. Find us on Facebook & Instagram at South Asian Spelling Bee.
Americans owed about $1.5 trillion in student loans at the end of March 2019, more than two times what they owed a decade earlier. The increase has come as historically high shares of young adults in the United States go to college and the cost of higher education increases.
Here are five facts about student loans in America, based on a Pew Research Center analysis of recently released data from the Federal Reserve Board’s 2018 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking:
About one-third of adults under age 30 have student loan debt. Among adults ages 18 to 29, 34% say they have outstanding student loans for their own education. (This includes those with loans currently in deferment or forbearance, but excludes credit card debt and home and other loans taken out for education.) Looking only at young adults with a bachelor’s degree or more education, the share with outstanding student debt rises to 49%.
Student debt is less common among older age groups. Roughly one-in-five adults ages 30 to 44 (22%) have student loan debt, as do 4% of those 45 and older.
While age differences may partly reflect the fact that older adults have had more time to repay their loans, other research has found that young adults are also more likely now than in the past to take out loans to pay for their education. About six-in-ten college seniors ages 18 to 24 took out loans for their education in the 2015-2016 school year, up from about half in the 1999-2000 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
In 2016, the amount students owed varied widely, especially by degree attained. The median borrower with outstanding student loan debt for their own education owed $17,000 in 2016. The amount owed varied considerably, however. A quarter of borrowers with outstanding debt reported owing $7,000 or less, while another quarter owed $43,000 or more. (Because of changes to the survey questions, it is not possible to determine the amount owed in 2018.)
Educational attainment helps explain this variation. Among borrowers of all ages with outstanding student loan debt, the median self-reported amount owed among those with less than a bachelor’s degree was $10,000 in 2016. Bachelor’s degree holders owed a median of $25,000, while those with a postgraduate degree owed a median of $45,000.
Relatively few with student loan debt had six-figure balances in 2016. Only 7% of current borrowers had at least $100,000 in outstanding debt, which corresponds to 1% of the adult population. Balances of $100,000 or more were most common among postgraduate degree holders. Of those with a postgraduate degree and outstanding debt, 23% reported owing $100,000 or more.
Young college graduates with student loans are more likely than those without loans to report struggling financially. Student loan holders give a more downbeat assessment of their personal financial situation compared with their peers who don’t have outstanding student debt. College graduates ages 25 to 39 with loans are more likely than graduates without loans to say they are either finding it difficult to get by financially or are just getting by (22% vs. 11%). About three-in-ten young college graduates with student loans (32%) say they are living comfortably, compared with 51% of college graduates of a similar age without outstanding loans.
Young college graduates with student loans are more likely to live in a higher-income family than those without a bachelor’s degree. For many young adults, student loans are a way to make an otherwise unattainable education a reality. Although these students have to borrow money to attend, the investment might make sense if it leads to higher earningslater in life.
On average, those ages 25 to 39 with at least a bachelor’s degree and outstanding student debt have higher family incomes – the individual’s income plus that of their spouse or partner – than those in this age range lacking a bachelor’s degree (regardless of loan status). About half of young college graduates with student loans (52%) live in families earning at least $75,000, compared with 18% of those without a bachelor’s degree. However, they are still less likely to earn this level of family income than young college graduates without outstanding student loans (64%). (Family income reflects more than just an individual’s personal returns from higher education, including the fact that college graduates are more likely to marry.)
About half of young adults without a bachelor’s degree (53%) live in families earning less than $40,000, compared with 21% of young college graduates with student loans.
Compared with young adults who don’t have student debt, student loan holders are less upbeat about the value of their degree. About a third (36%) of those ages 25 to 39 with at least a bachelor’s degree and outstanding student loan debt say that the lifetime financial costs of their degree outweigh the benefits. By comparison, 15% of young college graduates without outstanding student loans say the lifetime costs outweigh the benefits.
A new high school in Tampa, Florida, built by and named after a highly successful Indian-American cardiologist, businessman and philanthropist, Dr. Kiran C. Patel, opens its doors this week to some 300 students with a mission to prepare youth for 21st Century knowledge and skills acquired through project-based pedagogy.
The Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School scheduled to open Aug. 12, has an inaugural class of 300 students in the 9th Grade. It has a capacity of just 600 students in total in grades 9 through 12, a press release on its website says.
The tuition-free school will offer an advanced curriculum and focus on the school’s mission statement, which emphasizes up-to-date knowledge and skills, personalized and innovative instruction, partnerships between the school and the community, social responsibility and leadership, the website says.
The school is open to anyone who is close enough to commute, including residents of Pasco County, a news report on neighborhoodnewsonline.net said. “Simply because you belong to a certain neighborhood should not force you to stay in that neighborhood (for school),” Patel is quoted telling Neighborhood newsonine. The report also said Dr. Patel had committed $20 million to launch the school.
“Inquiry and problem-based approaches to instruction will immerse Patel High School students in real-world problems and solutions, cultivating a profound understanding of their civic and leadership responsibilities, both locally and globally,” the school says.
The school’s first head is Principal Marlee Strawn, who has 10 years of experience in the Hillsborough School District. She has in the past taught Advanced Placement World History and European History at Tampa Bay Technical High School, and has received several honors for her service.
The architecture of the school itself is considered a learning tool presenting learning opportunities over the entire campus, including school grounds and landscaping, the website says.
Patel has given to numerous projects and causes in India and the United States. Born in Zambia in 1950, and educated in India and the U.S., Patel completed his specialization in cardiology in Gujarat. His businesses include healthcare, health insurance, and real estate development. Another institution named after him is the Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. He is married to Dr. Pallavi Patel. The Kiran C. and Pallavi Patel Family Foundation engages in projects across the globe, particularly in Florida, Africa and India, according to their bio available on nova.edu.
Dr. Kiran Patel received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award from the Indian government this year in recognition of his philanthropic work and achievements.
The husband-wife team of Sanjib Biswas and Anuradha Mazumdar last month opened C0deEX, an Acton, MA-based school to teach coding to kids of age group 6-14; and almost a month-and-a-half later the C0deEX Panther team won the first prize in a major robotics competition.
“On August 9th, 2019 middle school students from the Acton C0deEx Panther robotics team watched their computer program control a satellite on the International Space Station (ISS) during the finals of the Zero Robotics competition,” C0deEX said in a statement. “C0deEx Panther, after winning the State Championship competing against fifteen other teams from around the state on July-27th, 2019 was representing Massachusetts at the ISS (International Space Station) final.”
For the ISS finals, teams from all over the northeast gathered at MIT Stata Center to join a video conference with other teams from around the world. NASA astronauts Andrew (Drew) R. Morgan, Christina Koch and Aleksandar (Sasha) Aleksandrovich Skvortsov Jr. facilitated the competition and provided live commentary which was telecasted live to MIT Stata Center and 16 others physical locations across USA, Russia and Puerte Rico.
Three hundred teams and more than 2,000 students across USA, Russia and PuertoRico participated in this competition. The ground teams watched the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) on the ISS competition.
C0deEx Panther’s code went head on with code written by 16 finalist teams. After being the winner in the Team A bracket, C0deEx Panther also beat the Teams from Team B securing the first position in 2019 International Zero Robotics Competition. The C0deEx Panther team consists of 5 students from Acton/Boxborough and Westford.
Zero Robotics is a summer STEM program for middle school students that “seek to inspire our next generation of great minds by allowing them unprecedented access to space at the middle school level.” The students spend five weeks learning about programming, engineering, and space exploration, while developing code to control satellites known as SPHERES. During this five-week program, the students rely on a simulation environment from MIT to develop their code. After the state finals, the international finalists’ code is tested on physical SPHERES at MIT before being uploaded to the ISS.
The program culminates in a tournament where winning teams’ SPHERES compete aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Middle school participants will get to see the SPHERES operate in space via a live feed from the ISS while NASA astronauts provide real-time commentary. Each year’s game is motivated by a problem of interest to NASA and MIT.
The 13th edition of the annual Global Healthcare Summit (GHS) 2019, organized by the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) at the Taj Krishna, from July 21st to 23rd, 2019 offered a unique forum for the Physicians of Indian Origin to come together, sharing their knowledge and expertise in their respective medical fields with their fellow physicians from around the world, and to learn from one another.
Through a series of world class Continuing Medical Education (CME) and non-CME seminars by experts in their fields, AAPI provided comprehensive and current reviews and guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases and to reduce morbidity and mortality and achieve cost effective quality care outcomes. At the end of the activity, attendees were able to gain an understanding of the causation, diagnosis and the best clinical practices for the management of the diverse group of diseases discussed during this program.
Dr. Suresh Reddy, president of AAPI, says, “AAPI has been engaged in harnessing the power of Indian Diaspora to bring the most innovative, efficient, cost effective healthcare solutions to India. This conference has been successful in bringing the highest caliber of internationally acclaimed faculty and developed a very robust agenda in collaboration with leading experts from India with enhanced focus on conducting skills enhancement workshops, hands on experience with advanced techniques. It was encouraging to note that overcoming/ignoring minor glitches with audio visual system, the audience were enthusiastic, and were up until 11 pm with no sign of tiredness.”
Dr. Reddy thanked the organizers and the lead clinicians at the CMEs. The scientific program and workshops of GHS was developed by leading experts with contributions by the Scientific Advisory Board and the International Scientific Committee.
The days were filled with back to back CMEs on cutting edge technologies, modern trends in diagnosing treating patients. This CME program has been jointly sponsored by the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and has been designed to meet the educational needs of Primary Care physicians – Internists, Family Practitioners, Pediatricians, and Specialists – Cardiology, Oncology, Endocrinology, Surgery and other specialties involved in the care of patients with Atrial Fibrillation, HIV disease, Diabetes, Dyslipidemia, Depression, Prostate and Hematologic malignancies and Back pain.
Dr. Krishan Kumar, who was the Chair of the CME Committee, said, AAPI organized CMEs during the Pre-Tour to Israel and Jordan, and during the Post Tour and at the GHS in India from July 13 to 24, 2019. The cutting edge 15 hours of CMEs attracted more than 150 AAPI delegates from the US. The topics broadly covered the recent advances in Medicine. The participants were enthusiastic in learning the common topics like management of anaphylaxis, head injuries, stroke, sleep apnea, infections and facial attractiveness etc.
Dr. Suresh Reddy, President of AAPI, educated the participants on the management of stroke and minimally invasive spinal surgery. Dr. Krishan Kumar, Chair of CME Committee, spoke on the management of Anaphylaxis, Snake Bites, Scorpion Bites, and Head Injuries.
Dr. Vani Vijayakumar and Dr. Sreenivasan Vijaykumar, Dr, Saraswathi Muppana, Dr. Raj Bhayani, Dr. Sarvam Terakonda, Dr. Nikhil Bhayani, and, Dr. Srinagesh Paluvoi were the other speakers at the CMEs. Dr. Sarvam Terakonda educated the speakers on Perception of Beauty and Facial Attractiveness.
Dr. Krishan Kumar, and Dr. Udaya Shivangi, the Co-Chair of the CME Organizing Committee and thanked AAPI, especially Dr. Suresh Reddy, Dr. Seema Arora, Dr. Dwarakanath Reddy, and Dr. Sreeni Ganagsani, for giving the opportunity to lead and organize the CME sessions for the entire year.
India has crowned its latest billionaire, a 37-year-old former teacher from a small village in Kerala. Byju Raveendran received the coveted title this month after his seven-year-old education app Byju’s raked in $150 million in its latest funding round.
The deal gives Raveendran’s eponymous business a valuation of $5.7 billion, sending his own personal wealth over the billion-dollar threshold. Raveendran holds a 21% stake in the education technology company, which is backed by investors including the Qatar Investment Authority, Tencent and Mark Zuckerberg.
The entrepreneur’s feat sees him become one of India’s youngest billionaires, joining the country’s recent wave of newly-minted millennial unicorn founders such as Flipkart’s Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal.
It’s some achievement, especially given Raveendran’s humble beginnings.
The son of math and physics teachers, Raveendran grew up in the village of Azhikode in South India before going on to university. But, once working as an engineer, he discovered his own knack for teaching and helping friends with their entrance exams to engineering and management schools in his spare time.
So, in 2011, alongside fellow twenty-something co-founder Divya Gokulnath, he founded Byju’s — The Learning App, an online education platform for children aged five to 16. Built around interactive videos, games and quizzes, the platform helps students with everyday classes as well as exam preparation.
In the seven years since, Raveendran’s young start-up — which has 35 million users in India, 2.5 million of whom pay an annual fee of $145 to $290 — has become the world’s most valuable ed-tech company, according to the company’s website. The Bengaluru-based company became profitable in March.
The new billionaire now has his sights set on global expansion, targeting the U.S. and the U.K. following a recent partnership with Walt Disney Co.
Raveendran, who has said he wants to do for education what Disney did for entertainment, said the collaboration will help children learn with the help of their favorite characters by featuring them in their interactive content.
“Kids everywhere relate to Disney’s Simba or Moana, who grip kids’ attention before we take them through the loop of learning,” CEO Raveendran told Bloomberg recently.
“We are customizing Disney Byju’s to the American and British school curriculum,” Raveendran said. “The characters have universal appeal.”
India receives $64.37 billion foreign investment in FY19, $286 billion in 5 years
Riding the foreign direct investment policy liberalisation and reforms in the last financial year, the country received $64.37 billion FDI in 2018-19.
According to a report by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), it was up from $60.97 billion received in FY18.
“The country registered the highest FDI inflow of $64.37 billion during 2018-19. FDI worth $286 billion has been received in last five years,” DPIIT said in its annual report 2018-19.
“FDI brings in resources, the latest technology and best practices to push economic growth on to a higher trajectory,” it said. The central government has been carrying out FDI “liberalisation and simplification”.
The DPIIT, set up in 1995, was reconstituted in 2000 with the merger of the Department of Industrial Development. Earlier, DPIIT was earlier called Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and was renamed DPIIT in January 2019. (IANS)
Government of India launched a scheme called “Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children” (SPDC), in the academic year 2006-2007, for the wards of Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to assist them in pursuing Under Graduate courses in Indian Universities/Institutes.
Under SPDC scheme financial assistance for specific undergraduate courses in Professional and Non-Professional courses (except Medical and related courses)is provided towards tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services. The scheme is applicable to NRIs and PIOs from 66 countries.
Under the scheme, PIO/NRI students are awarded a scholarship of up to US$4,000 per annum for payment of tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services for Undergraduate courses in Engineering, Technology, Humanities, Liberal Arts, Commerce, Management, Journalism, Hotel Management, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and other courses. The scholarship is applicable to students who have already secured admission in an Indian institution. Admission is permitted only in Central Universities, NAAC “A” Grade Institutions, National Institute of Technologies (NITs), School of Planning & Architecture (SPAs), and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) as covered under Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) scheme.
In case of any technical assistance, please contact following: SPDC Portal Support Team, EG & IT Division, MEA, 1025, A Wing, Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan 23-D Janpath, New Delhi 110011, Email: technicalcellegit@mea.gov.in, Tel. +91 11 4901 8371
In case of any assistance/clarification regarding Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children, please contact following: Section Officer, OIA II Division, MEA, 925, Akbar Bhawan, Chankyapuri, New Delhi 110021, Email: so1oia2@mea.gov.in, Tel.: +91 11 2419 7927; Or Visitwww.spdcindia.gov.in
Chicago IL: About one hundred members from G Pulla Reddy Engineering College (www.gprec.ac.in) alumni and friends from all cities of the United States, travelled to Chicago on weekend of July 7, 2019 to join the GPREC Alumni Association North America conference held at Fairfield Marriott, 700 National Pkwy, Schaumburg, IL.
This growing community of engineers and professionals from North America region, enjoyed two such events in the past including the first grand inauguration of GPREC Alumni North America Chapter in 2014 at Silicon Valley, CA & Washington DC followed by one in Dallas in 2017. Apart from this special event the Alumni events were previously held in NATA convention as well.
Local Chicago chapter members Mr. Naveen Aduma and Mr. Achyut Kodali welcomed the guests and Mr. Siva Shankar Reddy form Washington DC metro area, conducted the all-day program. The program started with a speech by Mr. KV Reddy, President of the Association explaining the vision, mission of the Association and the distinguished members of the first batch from the institution Mrs. Surekha Nadella, Mr. Srinivas Chada, Mr. Venkatarami Reddy Yerrabolu(2nd batch) & 3rd batch Mr. Raju Datla, Mr. Nagendra Singamsetty, Mr. Veer Karri, Mr. Venu Pajjuri, lighted the lamp and remembered the GPREC founder Late Sri G Pulla Reddy, his vison to provide affordable and quality professional education to all.
The association recognized several successful professionals and business leaders of the community, including Mr. Raju Datla & Mr. Veer Karri of Vistex, Mr. Venkat Pasula of R3 Technology, Mrs. Malathi Karri from the State of Wisconsin, Mr. Kiran Vankamamidi of Driscoll.
The afternoon program was packed with fun and professional activities like speed connect, Technlogy and Leadership Panel Discussion, and recognition of Women in Engineering. The festive all-day program was concluded by Mr. Guru Charan Chitna with recognition and acknowledgements to GPREC Chicago team members Mr. Ajit Gurajala, Mr. Rajeev Gunukula, Mr. Anil Chitreddy, Sreedhar Babu. The Schamburg/WoodField event center was filled with GPREC College atmosphere for the weekend and concluded with a Tech Toast celebration honoring the members worked in the formation of GPREC Alumni North America Chapter.
The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO)-Connecticut Chapter will honor outstanding achievers of the Indian American community in Connecticut and those provide service to the community or the society at large at its Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, July 27th at the Stamford Marriott Hotel, Stamford, CT starting at 6 p.m. Six Indian Americans are honored for their achievements in profession and service to the nation.
Chief Guest at the banquet is Indian Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty. Other honored guests include US Senator Richard Blumenthal, Norwalk Mayor Harry Rillings; New Canaan First Selectman Kevin Moynihan; CT State Senators Carlo Leone and Tony Hwang and CT State Representatives Dr. Prasad Srinivasan and Raghib Allie-Brennan.
The 2019 awardees are: Connecticut State Representative Raghib Allie-Brennan for achievement in Political involvement; Dr. Ravi Dhar is George Rogers Clark Professor of Management and Marketing, Yale School of Management and Professor of Psychology at Yale University for Business Management; Dr. Sathya Motupally, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Doosan Fuel Cell America for Engineering; Dr. D.R. Nagaraj, Principal Research Fellow at Cytec Solvay for Applied Sciences and Dinyar Wadia, Principal of Wadia Associates for Architecture. In addition, GOPIO-CT President’s Award for a young professional will be presented to Dr. Asha Kapoor Shah, Associate Hospital Epidemiologist and Associate Director of Infectious Diseases at Stamford Hospital.
Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan – Achievement in Political Involvement
Community advocate and former Congressional advisor Raghib Allie-Brennan is the State Representative of Connecticut’s 2nd Assembly District which includes the towns of Bethel, Danbury, Redding, and Newtown. His father immigrated to Queens, NY from Guyana and Raghib was raised in Bethel. As a former Congressional adviser in the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Allie-Brennan developed policy knowledge on energy and environmental issues, emergency response, foreign policy and civil rights. He had drafted environmental protection legislation that received bipartisan support, served as a lead staffer in efforts to secure Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding, and has testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding environmental justice issue. Raghib graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a Bachelor’s in International Studies.
Dr. Ravi Dhar – Achievement in Business Management
Dr. Dhar is George Rogers Clark Professor of Management and Marketing, Yale School of Management; Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology, Yale University; Director, Center for Customer Insights. Professor Dhar has been involved in pioneering work in understanding the different factors that influence how consumers think and decide. Ravi has published more than 70 articles and serves on the editorial boards of several of the leading marketing journals. A consultant to dozens of Fortune 100 companies, the American Marketing Association has ranked Professor Dhar as the second most productive scholar publishing in premier journals from 2009 to 2016. His research and teaching has been honored with various awards including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the Society for Consumer Psychology, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Management, and the Yale School of Management Alumni Association Teaching Award.
Dr. Sathya Motupally – Achievement in Engineering
Dr. Motupally is Chief Operating Officer (COO), Doosan Fuel Cell America reporting to the Chief Executive Officer and handles Research and Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, Service and Installation, striving for seamless integration across the organization to deliver world-class clean energy solutions to customers. Dr. Motupally has over 17 years of experience in multiple Fortune 50 companies. Prior to Doosan, Dr. Motupally was Head of R&D at UTC Power, a division of United Technologies Corporation and at the Gillette Company. Dr. Motupally has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of South Carolina and DuPont Central R&D and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Motupally has authored over 50 papers and patents in the areas of materials, electrochemical engineering and mathematical modeling. He and his team have won numerous international awards for their ground-breaking work in commercializing fuel cells and has been recognized with many awards.
Dr. D.R. Nagaraj – Achievement in Applied Sciences
Dr. Nagaraj is Principal Research Fellow at Cytec Solvay. He started his career at American Cyanamid in 1979 after his doctorate from Columbia University, and held various positions in Cyanamid/Cytec over the years, but never far from science, research, and education which are his passions. Nag has degrees in both chemistry and metallurgy. He has over 100 journal publications and over 30 patents. Nag has been a part-time educator throughout his career. He is an Adjunct professor at Columbia University, and was a visiting professor for 5 years at JKMRC of University of Queensland, Brisbane. Nag was elected into the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and inducted into the International Mining Technology Hall of Fame in 2016. Nag is a Distinguished Member of SME.
Dr. Asha Kapoor Shah – President’s Award for Young Professional for Achievement in Medicine
Dr. Shah is a Board Certified Infectious Diseases specialist and has been with Stamford Hospital and the Medical Group for 7 years. She did her Internal Medicine training at the University of Pennsylvania followed by an Infectious Diseases fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center. She received her Masters of Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Health. She is currently the Associate Hospital Epidemiologist and Associate Director of Infectious Diseases at Stamford Hospital. She has been a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society since 2007 and received the Rookie of the Year Award from the Stamford Hospital Department of Internal Medicine during her first year as an attending. She has been a co-author for a few invited poster presentations at national medical conferences on topics ranging from HIV prevention, C. dificile reduction, and Aspergillosis. She is an active member on numerous committees in the hospital and is also involved in teaching the medical house staff.
Dinyar Wadia – Achievement in Architecture
Dinyar is Principal of Wadia Associates, an architectural firm in New Canaan, CT. Dinyar developed his love of architecture and unerring eye for distinction as a child growing up in Bombay (Mumbai) with the infrastructure of magnificent public buildings erected by the British during their colonization of India. After a bachelor’s degree at the MS University of Baroda, Dinyar and his wife Gool came to the US in 1968 and Dinyar enrolled for a graduate degree at the School of Architecture, Columbia University. After graduating as a William Kinney Fellow, he then went to work for one of his professors, Victor Christ-Janer, at his architectural firm in New Canaan, CT, beginning his career in the modern vernacular. However, Dinyar found himself drawn to the beauty and charm of the traditional buildings in New Canaan and the surrounding towns of Fairfield County. Determined to heed his passion, he decided to strike out on his own in 1975 to design traditionally inspired homes. Over the past 30 years, he has demonstrated a remarkable versatility and adaptability that has solidified his position as the areas’ leading classical architect. With holistic approach to design. Dinyar has been recognized with numerous architectural and landscape.
Commenting on the award selection, GOPIO-CT President Anita Bhat said, “We select the awardees, who have made an impact in our society and/or those who provide outstanding service.” GOPIO International Founder President Dr. Thomas Abraham and Chairman of GOPIO-CT Awards Committee said, “These awardees are role models for our new generations and GOPIO-CT has a done great job in building up a good image of India and Indian Americans in Connecticut.”
Over the last 13 years, GOPIO-CT, a chapter of GOPIO International has become an active and dynamic organization hosting interactive sessions with policy makers and academicians, community events, youth mentoring and networking workshops, and working with other area organizations to help create a better future. GOPIO-CT serves as a non-partisan, secular, civic and community service organization – promoting awareness of Indian culture, customs and contributions of PIOs through community programs, forums, events and youth activities. It seeks to strengthen partnerships and create an ongoing dialogue with local communities.
The awardees will be honored at GOPIO-CT’s 13th Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, July 27th at the Stamford Marriott Hotel in Stamford. CT. The program includes dignitaries, entertainment and Bollywood DJ. For reservation or to buy tickets, call Anita Bhat 203-524-2935 or send an e-mail to abnewyork71@gmail.com.
Continuing its quest for the best speller in the community, the 2019 South Asian Spelling Bee (www.SouthAsianSpellingBee.com) traveled to California, Maryland, North Carolina, Washington DC and New Jersey these past two weekends.
With a huge turnout this year, the Bee attracted some top talent as well as young and new spellers that competed for the coveted prizes and titles. In Bay Area, Nidhi Vadlamudi of Santa Clara was the regional champ and Vayun Krishna of Sunnyvale, California was the first runner up.
In DC, Aryan Nindra of Leesburg Virginia along with Nilla Rajan of Chillicothe, Ohio were named co-champions.
In Charlotte, Maya Jadhav from Fitchburg, Wisconsin was the regional champ and Ekansh Rastogi of Heathrow, Florida was the first runner up.
In Dallas Pranav Nandakumar of Austin, Texas was the regional champ and Hepzibah Sujoe of Fort Worth, Texas was the first runner up.
In New Jersey, Navneeth Murali from Edison, New Jersey was the regional champ and Advitiya Jadhav of Princeton Junction, New Jersey was the first runner up.
The event is open to children of South Asian descendants up to 14 years of age. It will give South Asian children a chance to test their spelling skills in their core peer group. Interested spellers need their parent or guardian to register them online at: www.southasianspellingbee.com
Organized by Touchdown Media Inc., the South Asian Spelling Bee is celebrating its 12thanniversary this year.
“For the past twelve years, the Bee has consistently provided a firm platform for the community to come together and hone their craft. It’s become a family activity that contributes towards the overall development of the child. We are proud to have concluded our twelfth consecutive year with wonderful spellers,” said Rahul Walia, founder of the South Asian Spelling Bee and CEO of Touchdown Media Inc.
Within the past year the South Asian Spelling Bee has been exhaustively featured in the documentary, “Breaking the Bee”, an exclusive story on VICE News that followed the journey of South Asian Spelling Bee spellers and the importance of the South Asian Spelling Bee platform being a vital step in their spelling journey and various mainstream media platforms across the country.
The top two spellers of each regional competition advance to the finals to be held in New Jersey on August 8th and the championship prize is $3,000.
This year, the Bee is proudly powered by Kawan- the world’s most popular Roti paratha brand and as always, Sony Entertainment Television ASIA, is the exclusive broadcast partner for the South Asian Spelling Bee and will be airing the series across 120 countries.
“Kawan is proud to return as a sponsor and we have tremendous faith in contributing towards crucial family time for the community. We look forward to getting to know the spellers and their families through this wonderful journey,” said Tim Tan, Managing Director Kawan Food.
“Year over year, the South Asian Spelling Bee has made for great programming that gels with our ethos of compete family entertainment. We are all about family values and encourage platforms such as these that highlight the talent of our community,” said Jaideep Janakiram, Head of Americas, Sony Pictures Networks.
Yogesh (Yogi) Surendranath, an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Paul M. Cook Career Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been nominated for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by the Department of Defense for the year 2019.
President Trump announced the recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) earlier this month. Indian-Americans dominated the list from all across the country.
The Surendranath Lab is focused on addressing global challenges in the areas of chemical catalysis, energy storage and utilization, and environmental stewardship.
PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.
Established in 1996, the PECASE acknowledges the contributions scientists and engineers have made to the advancement of science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) education and to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, and community outreach. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy coordinates the PECASE with participating departments and agencies.
Yogesh (Yogi) Surendranath holds dual bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and physics from the University of Virginia and a PhD in inorganic chemistry from MIT.His research group aims to use renewable electricity to rearrange chemical bonds by controlling interfacial reactivity at the molecular level. Professor Surendranath has authored over 50 publications and is the recipient of young investigator awards from the NSF, DOE, Air Force, and Toyota. He is also a Sloan Foundation Fellow and Cottrell Scholar.
One in nine people on the planet lack access to safe drinking water and three in nine lack access to adequate sanitation leading to more than 3.5 million deaths each year. Water quality and sanitation can be significantly improved in resource-constrained locations such as rural India by developing distributed technologies for generating hydrogen peroxide, a potent clean oxidant that is ideal for water purification, waste water treatment, and broad-spectrum sanitation. The Surendranath Group is developing a new portable technology that uses solar or wind electricity to generating hydrogen peroxide from water and air. The Group is actively collaborating with Prof. Alan Hatton (MIT Chemical Engineering) to advance the technology to the prototype stage on an aggressive timeline.
India, like many countries around the globe, is facing a crisis in the field of medicine. According to reports, the country is facing a shortfall of approximately 600,000 physicians. That’s a ratio of one government doctor for every 10,189 people—a far cry from the World Health Organization’s recommended ratio of 1:1,000.
The need for qualified physicians may never have been greater, and American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine—the only international medical school granted “preferred” status by the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI)—is proud to play a part in helping solve this shortage, both in India and abroad. Approximately 42 percent of AUA’s students are Indian-Americans or of Indian descent, according to institutional records.
“Out of the international medical schools I have reviewed, AUA’s program is undoubtedly the finest,” said past AAPI President Dr. Narendra R. Kumar. “I am proud to bestow our highest honour upon this institution.” This prestigious designation was granted after an intensive review of the university’s facilities, curriculum, faculty, and graduate outcomes.
AUA was founded in 2004 to address the coming physician shortage and to help under-represented minorities obtain a medical education and become licenced physicians. In partnership with the AAPI, AUA has established the Scholarship for Students of Indian Descent—a financial award granted to students of Indian descent to help offset the costs of a high-quality medical education.
“AAPI has united Indian-American physicians with a common goal – to foster a better healthcare system around the world,” said AUA President Neal Simon. “We are honored to have this coveted distinction associated with our university.”
In addition, AUA has a unique relationship with Manipal University. High school graduates can begin their medical education at Manipal via a premedical program, followed by two years of Basic Sciences at AUA and two years of clinical rotations, in the U.S., India, and Canada.
This year, AUA alumni attained residencies in specialties such as neurology, pathology, and anesthesiology, in addition to primary care disciplines like internal medicine, paediatrics, and family medicine. In 2018, 91 percent of first-time eligible graduates secured a residency position—one of the strongest residency attainment rates in AUA’s history. The Class of 2019 joins a growing alumni network of 2,600+ graduates worldwide.
About American University of Antigua College of Medicine
American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine is a fully accredited international medical school dedicated to providing an academic experience of the highest quality. Via a holistic admissions approach, AUA selects students with the potential for medical school success and provides them with the resources they need to earn highly competitive residencies and move on to successful careers in medicine.
AUA awards the Doctor of Medicine degree after students complete a two-year Basic Science curriculum on the island of Antigua in the Caribbean, followed by clinical rotations in the United States, Canada, India, or the United Kingdom at affiliated teaching hospitals.
Harvard Business School (HBS) and Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) announced a new joint master’s degree program that aims to prepare future leaders at the interface of life sciences and business.
The two-year, full-time program begins in August 2020 and will confer both a Master of Business Administration from HBS and a Master of Science from GSAS, through Harvard’s Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB).
The new MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences Program equips students with approaches to the science and medical aspects of entrepreneurial activities and will empower them to build organizations with the potential to transform human health. The curriculum emphasizes an understanding of effective, sustainable structures for discovery and development, the ethical implications of new therapeutics, and equitable access to the fruits of therapeutic discovery.
“The world needs more leaders able to bridge science and business,” said HBS Dean Nitin Nohria. “We aim to provide graduates of this new program with tools to understand the most modern biomedical science issues, as well as knowledge of scientific methodologies and timeframes, so they can be effective leaders in this domain.”
Students in the program will receive life-science training in HSCRB, a joint department between Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Medical School.
“This is a collaborative effort from several schools across Harvard to fill a unique need we see in the industry,” said Emma Dench, dean of GSAS. “Currently there is no systematic educational approach to train leaders in this field but students yearn for an opportunity to become conversant in biomedical science and business together. Nearly half of HSCRB graduates are now entering careers in biotech/pharma, biomedical consulting, and finance. We want to prepare them to be leaders in these fields, while helping others that may gravitate towards leadership roles in government and non-profits involved in the life sciences.”
The Master of Science degree component is led by world-renowned Harvard scientists and clinicians who have extensive biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience. They will give students distilled, focused exposure to a wide range of modern science and show them potential ways to deploy their learnings strategically for the discovery of novel therapeutics.
The MBA component is directed by business school faculty members who are experts in biotechnology leadership, financing, and social ramifications. The seamless integration of all these elements will prepare students for leadership in the biotechnology-related arena in a manner that is not currently available through traditional programs.
MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences students will complete their degree requirements over two years, augmented by coursework during August at the beginning of the program and during both January terms. Students will have the summer available between Year 1 and Year 2 to pursue an internship in the life sciences or biotech space.
The program aims to attract a diverse group of outstanding students who have an undergraduate degree in life sciences or medicine or significant workplace experience in biotechnology or life sciences. Admissions officers will consider students applying with non-STEM undergraduate degrees provided they have substantial background preparation in the life sciences. This may include advanced coursework in the biological sciences or independent laboratory experience. These admission requirements will be in addition to those of the HBS MBA Program.
“Strong candidates will combine a passion for life science and a determination to build sustainable business models around the science,” said Chad Losee, Managing Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid at HBS. “They seek to drive impact at the interface of biological science and society to effect the greatest health outcomes.”
This is the second joint MS/MBA degree program Harvard has offered, following the inaugural MS/MBA launched in 2017 from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), GSAS, and HBS, which confers both a Master of Science in Engineering Sciences and a Master of Business Administration.
Key facts about the program:
In its first year, the program will be highly selective, with a cohort of 7-10 students.
The first MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences cohort will matriculate in August 2020.
Applicants must meet HBS MBA Program admission requirements.
Applicants with non-STEM undergraduate degrees must have substantial background preparation in the life sciences (i.e. advanced coursework or independent laboratory experience).
Candidates can apply in either Round 1 (September 4, 2019) or Round 2 (January 6, 2020).
HBS and GSAS will release admissions decisions in mid-December (Round 1) and March (Round 2).
Interested students can receive updates on the program by indicating their interest through the HBS admissions website.
“Teach kids coding and logic and problem-solving in a fun environment”
Naperville IL: You already know that your kids understand computers better than you, but did you know they can write computer code too?
Say the words “video game” and kids are bound to stop and listen. At Code Ninjas, they are coding and building their own games.
Code Ninjas in Naperville celebrated its Grand Opening at 1305 S Naper Blvd. in Naperville, IL. on Saturday, June 1, 2019. It was packed with kids from ages 7 to 14. New faces and current enrolled families joined to celebrate this location’s official opening. It is one of over 300 locations across the country.
The mission of Code Ninjas is to teach kids coding and logic and problem-solving in a fun environment. Kids who sign up for membership are ninjas. The coaches are sensei’s. And the classroom is their dojo.
As ninjas progress, they earn belts, just like they do in martial arts. The program is fun and motivating for kids with little wins along the way. When they advance to the next belt there is a “Belt-Up” celebration! By the time kids are a black belt (the last belt), perhaps four years down the road, they have all the knowledge needed to publish their own app.
Two sisters I met that are enrolled were excited to share that by the end of the first day in the dojo they were able to complete a multitude of games.
“Honestly, I wish I had this,” says a parent. “It’s intimidating looking at all the lines of code.”
Code Ninjas has other fun and engaging methods to teach kids about all different kinds of coding. The day I was there, a sensei was demonstrating how some coding was used to fly a drone around the room, to the delight of kids. Code Ninjas offers camps during school breaks where kids engage in topics different from curriculum.
The Naperville location is owned and operated by Kalyan Anandula and Preethi Kundoor. With a background in technology and application development, they were looking for STEM related activities for their own children and found that Code Ninjas offered the perfect environment for learning in a fun environment with other students who have the same interest.
“I always felt that if I had a better understanding of coding or STEM, it would have helped me in my corporate career, even as a business professional,” Kalyan says.
Code Ninjas is essentially an after-school STEM program. Ninjas can drop in from 4 to 7:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10:00 to 2:00 p.m. on weekends. They also can join summer camps.
“We don’t want kids to come here feeling like this is a class,” Kalyan says. “They’re here to build video games and have fun. We disguise the curriculum.” Code Ninjas accomplishes this with a consistent game-based curriculum developed within nine belts. Membership includes a portal for parents where you can see what games your child is building and track their progress — or you can play the game they built yourselves.
A future career in coding could happen for any child who walks through the doors of a Code Ninjas location. Code Ninjas, though, is not just for kids who want to pursue STEM careers, Preethi emphasizes.
“Our mission is to expose kids to STEM and coding, so those two words aren’t intimidating anymore,” she says. “We hope that kids can make informed decisions when they choose their majors in college. The logic and problem-solving skills gained from our curriculum are helpful for various career paths.”
I spoke with the Center Director and local educator Lori Gehrke. She is excited to see so many children come into the center who are interested in gaining exposure to coding at such as young age. “We are providing children with skills that will help them gain access to jobs that currently do not exist, but with a foundation in coding and the critical thinking skills, they will be prepared for anything that comes their way in the future.”
Coding is important to help kids learn the critical skills that they need for their success. Code Ninjas Naperville provides the atmosphere of fun and learning with parents seeing results. For more information about the Code Ninjas Naperville location, please visit codeninjas.com/locations/il-naperville or call 630-300-3636 to schedule a center tour
Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Virtusa Corporation organized the grand finale of the Second Edition of Carbon Zero Challenge, an All-India innovation and entrepreneurship contest, on campus today (7th June 2019). Its objective is to identify and curate practical innovative and indigenous solutions with a sound business case at scale to solve energy and environmental problems in India.
The challenge aims to create a global impact by combining three powerful factors of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Energy and Environment and Youth to protect future generations. The winners were announced on June 07, 2019 during the Grand Finale.
Circular Economy Domain: A self-sustained integrated closed cycle coconut shell activated carbon production process by Pristine Energia, a student team from IIT Madras (Members: Muthu Kumar K, Syed Mughees Ali, Mentors: Prof. Varunkumar S, Thileepan Panchatsaram, Dr. Shantha K Shankar)
Electric Vehicle Domain: Electric powertrain solutions for E-commerce logistics by Clean Electric, a startup from IIT-BHU Varanasi (Team Members: Akash Gupta, Praveen Kumar Yadav, Mentor: Laltu Chandra, SK Sharma, KS Ramanujan)
Clean Energy Domain: A tubular PEM Fuel Cell that is open-cathode and air-breathing, developed by Elicius Energy, an IIT Madras-incubated startup (Team Members: Sam Pearn-Rowe, Suseendiran Ravichandran, Amit Bhosale, Rishaban Radhakrishnan, Niyas Attashery; Mentor: Prof. Raghunathan Rengaswamy)
Two projects received a special mention from the Jury
1. Agriculature Domain: An agricultural dehydrator to increase the shelf life of fruits, vegetables and spices by Carpro Technologies, a startup from Coimbatore (Member: Uthayakumar. K., Surendran. PB, Mentor: Sriram Sankaran)
2. Electric Vehicle Domain: an Electric Kick Scooter by IngoElectric, a startup from Bengaluru (Team members: Nikhil Gonsalves, Manjunath Panthangi, Anirudh SC, Kartik KV and Mentor Philip Mathias)
Sending a message for this occasion, Shambhu Kallolikar IAS, Principal Secretary to TN Government, Environment and Forests Department, said, “Innovations can bring about a paradigm shift in tackling energy and environmental challenges by providing affordable, low-carbon, scalable and industry-acceptable solutions. I believe Carbon Zero Challenge contest is a significant step in the right direction in encouraging home-grown technology to solve the nation’s problems.”
Further, Shambhu Kallolikar added, “The Government of Tamil Nadu is keen to encourage startups and innovation in the state and committed to support sustainable solutions. The state will also welcome green entrepreneurs and provide the necessary support for a startup in this sector to grow in Tamil Nadu, creating both solutions to problems and jobs.”
CZeroC19 started with 996 applications from 25 states across India. After a rigorous process of shortlisting by business experts and technical experts, 24 teams were selected. These shortlisted teams received training and mentoring in addition to the financial support of up to Rs.5 lakhs over a period of 6 months to build their prototypes and evolve their business models.
Checking the progress
The progress of the teams were closely monitored throughout the contest with staged fund release, monthly progress reports, and a one-on-one mid-term review by a panel of judges. The contest culminated in a three-day exhibition launched on World environment day, June 5, 2019 during which 21 experts headed by a three member jury panel from industry and academia evaluated the teams
Why is it important?
The challenge is a one-of-its-kind contest and a pioneering initiative by IIT Madras and fully supported by Virtusa Corporation. The program’s uniqueness lies in the fact that it is one-of-its-kind initiative in its category that focuses on the energy and environment technological innovations at a national level and supports the eco-entrepreneurs in the 5 thematic areas.
The larger goal is to foster a sustainable ecosystem wherein clean technology ideas can emerge and develop into long-term solutions.
Speaking on the occasion as Guest of Honor, Sundararajan Narayanan, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, Virtusa Corporation said, “For the second year in a row, we are proud to collaborate with IIT Madras in the Carbon Zero Challenge 2019. Our goal is to promote sustainable opportunities and inspire young entrepreneurs to drive sustainable development. Given this rapid pace of change, Virtusa is aptly positioned in the market to leverage our digital engineering heritage to innovate and help reduce environmental footprint, demonstrate ethical maturity and encourage a cohesive and mutually respectable corporate culture for its workforce.”
Selection process
An expert panel of Screening Committee from the thematic areas and clean technology fields evaluated the initial set of 996 applications and the top 84 teams from all over India were shortlisted for Interviews. The shortlisted 84 teams pitched their project ideas to a Panel of Expert Jury on October 26 and 27, 2018. From this, a total of 24 teams tackling agriculture, environment, energy, water and societal problems were selected to go to the next phase of CZeroC.
Apart from funding support of the order of Rs. 5 lakh per team provided to build prototypes, the shortlisted teams received continued training and mentorship from experts from both India and abroad.
Purpose at large
Launched on June 5, 2018, this 2nd edition of the Cleantech Innovation Contest attracted teams comprising students/early entrepreneurs and/or startups from across 25 states. The name ‘Carbon Zero’ signifies the collective humanitarian goal of minimizing greenhouse gas emissions, providing clean air and water and sustainability. Seeking out innovative solutions to address these is a small step towards achieving this objective.
Take a note!
Prof. Indumathi Nambi, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, and Coordinator Carbon Zero Challenge, said, “A recent report indicates India is the third most polluted country in the world and 600 million people face extreme water crisis. Innovations & entrepreneurship in cleantech domains; water, waste, energy is the need of the hour. Motivating young minds to ideate, innovate, incubate should be the top priority of every academic institute. This is the motto for Carbon Zero Challenge”
The Bee kicked off Tuesday, May 28th with its biggest field ever, and the co-champions bested 557 other contestants ranging in age from 7 to 14 in Thursday night’s prime-time finals. The result was the first time more than two co-champions were named, with winners from five different states.
Seven Indian-origin kids, along with an American, were declared co-champions of the US National Spelling Bee after the tie among the eight couldn’t be broken even after 20 rounds of the finals.
The unprecedented decision to declare eight co-champions was taken Thursday night after the organisers ran out of their selection of difficult words to challenge them further.
The 10-year monopoly of Indian-origin children was finally broken with a non-Indian girl from Alabama, Erin Howard, becoming a co-champion.
They are: Rishik Gandhasri, 13, of California; Erin Howard, 14, of Alabama; Saketh Sundar, 13, of Maryland; Shruthika Padhy, 13, of New Jersey; Sohum Sukhatankar, 13, of Texas; Abhijay Kodali, 12, of Texas; Christopher Serrao, 13, of New Jersey and Rohan Raja, 13, of Texas.
The eight champions were more than great spellers – they were the best. Each will receive the $50,000 prize that is usually reserved for just one champion. After the Bee, the winners said they were pulling for each other in the final round, spelling each word silently from their seats at the side of the stage.
“It feels amazing that I’m here with all these amazing spellers,” Abhijay said after the Bee. ” I’m speechless.”
With each correct response in the 20th and final round, a roar went up from the audience. When the last of the eight surviving finalists, Rohan Raja, spelled his word correctly to assure that all eight were winners, the ballroom shook and confetti rained down on the stage.
“We will soon run out of words that will possibly challenge you,” Jacques Bailly, the Bee’s longtime official pronouncer, said at the end of the 17th round, calling the eight winners “the most phenomenal assemblage of spellers in the history of this storied competition.”
The 94-year-old competition has become increasingly competitive, with contestants training with coaches and some parents paying to bypass the traditional path to qualify for the annual contest, which takes place at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Maryland.
In the past only two co-winners were declared – most recently Indians in 2014, 2015 and 2016 – making the eight this year a record. The national level contest held in a Washington suburb is broadcast nationally on the sports channel ESPN, giving it the aura of a major sports event and a big audience. The contest is sponsored by the media company, EW Scripps.
The groundbreaking finals capped a day of intense competition that began at 10 a.m. with the field of 50 spellers meant to be narrowed to about a dozen finalists by 2 p.m. In a sign of what was to come, the contestants proved more resilient than ever before.
By 3 p.m., the Bee’s organizers resorted to what Shalini Shankar, a professor at Northwestern University, called a “lawn mower” round of extremely hard words intended to winnow the remaining field. It worked, with spellers knocked out by head-spinning words such as Wundtian, coelogyne and yertchuk. Yet other spellers vanquished the likes of huiscoyol, bremsstrahlung and ferraiolone to advance to the finals.
The day’s high drama mirrored the most nerve-racking moments in sports, a point underscored by a video on ESPN’s big screen that juxtaposed Colette Giezentanner successfully inching her way through the word “choledoch” with Kawhi Leonard’s four-bounce game-winner against the Sixers in the NBA playoffs. When the judge uttered “correct,” the audience erupted in cheers.
Much has changed since Bailly himself won the Bee in 1980. The winning words from that bygone era – croissant in 1970, incisor in 1975, luge in 1984 – would make today’s finalists laugh.
Ansun Sujoe, a 2014 co-champion whose sister Hephzibah reached this year’s finals, said that just five years later, he barely recognizes the event. “What I went through at this phase was two rounds and it lasted less than two hours,” he said. “This lasted five hours. It tells you how much smarter these kids are. My sister knew way more words than I do, and I was like, ‘Wow, good job!’”
Experts say many of the contestants who made it to the final 50 have personal coaches and spent practically every waking hour studying in preparation for this moment. The result is an unprecedented field of master spellers.
Another game-changing development is the new invitational program known as “RSVBee,” now in its second year. In the past, spellers reached the national event only by winning a regional bee and securing a sponsor, often a newspaper, to cover expenses. But with the advent of RSVBee, which supplied 292 of this year’s 565 contestants, families who can afford a $1,500 entry fee – plus six nights at the $300-a-night Gaylord and other expenses – can bypass the traditional path to the Bee.
“It’s made the field balloon in an unprecedented way,” said Shankar, who is also the author of “Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal About Generation Z’s New Path to Success,” adding that the pay-to-play model may “change the character of the Bee and who gets here.” But she noted that even the kids who compete under the aegis of a sponsor typically have the help of a paid coach, “so it’s rare that you see someone of really humble means making it here anymore.”
Scott Remer, a New York-based tutor and author of a spelling bee textbook, coaches three of the 16 finalists. He said winning the Bee takes more than rote memorization. His students study word roots and how to spell sounds in Latin, Greek, German, Japanese and several other languages.
“A good speller knows a lot of words,” Remer said. “A great speller is able to spell pretty much any word that you throw at them because they’re able to use this process to break the word down and come up with a very well-educated guess.”
The Spelling Bee opens in school and the winners go on to contests at the next levels and those champions go to the national competition, along with some who meet other criterion for selection. The Spelling Bee is open to students in eighth grade and below.
In addition to children from all the 50 US states, students also participate from the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.
Indian Ambassador to the United States Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that there are more than half a million Indian students studying abroad, with USA as the most favored destination.
He said more than two hundred thousand Indian students are currently pursuing their higher studies in the Unites States. UK, Australia, Canada are other choice destinations for Indian students.
Speaking at the Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI), a not for profit organization from India, Mr. Shringla said the Indian education system is vast in size, as well as its academic offerings.
“However, it is important to note that for half a million students studying aboard, there are more than 30 million students pursuing higher education in India. The Indian Education system is the world’s third largest Higher Education System with 907 universities, 43,000 colleges and a capacity of enrolling more than a whopping 30 million students,” Mr. Shringla said his speech. “Higher Education Institutions in India offer courses/degrees that are competitive in the world market in terms of quality but are delivered at one-fourth the cost.”
He said a vibrant and diverse education system means a wide variety of courses are available: from the modern and cutting edge to the traditional.
“Indian education ranges from exposure to the latest advancements of science and technology like Virtual and Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing to Yoga, Ayurveda, Sanskrit, languages, and classical music and dances,” said Mr. Shringla. “This vastness of the Indian education system directly translates to enhanced opportunities for its students and global learning for an all-round academic and personal development.”
He said a burgeoning IT and Services sector has led to a robust placement oriented education as about 200 of the Fortune 500 companies hire regularly from Indian campuses. India has been and continues to be home to innovation, creativity and leadership.
“The strength of India’s education system may be gauged from the fact that the world’s leading companies are being led by students of Indian education system,” said Mr. Shringla, giving examples that Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft is an alumni of Manipal Academy of Higher Education; Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google Inc studied at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; Ajaypal Singh Banga, President and the CEO, MasterCard, is graduate from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University; Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia has studied in Manipal Academy of Higher Education; and Indira Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi Co is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
“Some of the leading world leaders and diplomats have graduated from Indian colleges and universities. Aung San Suu Kyi, incumbent state counsellor of Myanmar, Hamid Karzai former President of Afghanistan, William Kwasi Akuffo former Head of the State of Ghana, Olusegun Obasanjo former President of Nigeria, John Samuel Malecela former PM of Tanzania are few examples,” Mr. Shringla said.
Shringla also said that India witnessed its best phase of macro-economic stability in the past five years. “From being the 11th largest economy in the world in 2013-14, we are heading to become fifth largest economy in the world by end of this year. In Purchasing Power Parity terms, today, India is the third largest economy in the World, after China and USA,” Mr. Shringla said. “India is poised to become a Five Trillion Dollar Economy in the next five years and aspires to become a Ten Trillion Dollar Economy in the next 8 years thereafter.
Due to a stable and predictable regulatory regime, growing economy and strong fundamentals, India could attract massive amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the last 5 years – as much as $239 billion. This period also witnessed a rapid liberalisation of the FDI policy, allowing most FDI to come through the automatic route. The last five years also witnessed a wave of next generation structural reforms, which have set the stage for decades of high growth.”
He said India also enjoys a distinct demographic advantage.India’s demographic cycle is about 10-30 years behind that of the other countries, indicating that the next few decades present an opportunity for India to catch up to their per capita income levels.
“India will be the world’s youngest country by 2025 with 985 million people in the workforce. (That is, people in the age group of 15-64 years),” Mr. Shringla said.
Hundreds of thousands of students around the world walked out of their schools and colleges Friday in the latest in a series of strikes urging action to address the climate crisis. According to event organizers Fridays for Future, over 1664 cities across 125 countries registered strike actions, with more expected to report turnouts in the coming days.
The “School Strike for Climate” movement was first started by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who began her strike outside the country’s parliament in Stockholm in August 2018 and has said that she will continue to strike until Sweden is aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Since then, her singular action has spread into an international climate movement, organized by young people around the world. This strike followed the last co-ordinated event on March 15, which saw over 1.6 million people across 133 countries turn out at demonstrations according to organizers.
Thunberg was recently profiled on TIME’s global cover as a Next Generation Leader, along with nine other people shaping the world’s future. “This is not about truancy or civil disobedience, this is about the climate and the ecological crisis, and people need to understand that,” Thunberg told TIME in Stockholm, a couple of weeks ahead of the global strike.
“May 24 is the last chance to affect the E.U. elections. Politicians are talking about the climate and environmental issues more now, but they need more pressure,” she said. Voting across the European Union takes place May 23-26, where the 751 representatives of the European Parliament will be elected by citizens across the continent. Recent polling suggests environmental issues and policies tackling climate change are high on the agenda for voters considering who to elect. The school strike movement has emerged in tandem with other environmental movements worldwide. The British-based direct action group Extinction Rebellion occupied major locations in London for ten days in late April, and their first demand, for the British government to declare a state of “climate emergency,” received approval from parliament on May 1. And in the U.S., the young activists of Sunrise Movement have pushed to transform climate action into a political reality by calling for a Green New Deal, attracting the support of several legislators and 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
While Thunberg is well-known worldwide, she says it is the strike organizers in each country that she looks up to. “Young people who are in developing countries are sacrificing their education in order to protest against the destruction of their future and world,” she told TIME. “They are the real heroes.” Photos and videos from strikers in the eastern hemisphere started flooding social media in the morning, ranging from Seoul, South Korea to Auckland, New Zealand, and later in the day images of crowds surfaced in European cities such as Berlin and Paris, where organizers say an estimated 23,000 turned out to demonstrate.
Here is a look at some of the places around the world where young people are taking action on May 24.
Thousands of students and young people took part in Friday’s strike marching through the streets of Stockholm. When TIME travelled with Thunberg from London to her hometown in April, she and other young organizers from the Fridays for Future movement were planning and preparing the actions for May 24.
“I’m just going to continue school striking every Friday until Sweden is aligned with the Paris Agreement,” Thunberg told TIME. “It will not take weeks, it will not take months: It will take years, most likely and unfortunately.”
While there’s an acknowledgement that the strikes have placed the climate crisis back on the agenda in Sweden, for Thunberg it is not enough — her focus is on the global carbon emissions, which continue to rise. However, in the nine months since she first started her strike, her cause has galvanized support from a wide cross section of Swedish society, with grandparents and scientists turning out to support the strike on May 24.
India
In Delhi, schoolchildren marched carrying a banner referring to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading international body for the assessment of climate change. In October 2018, the IPCC stated that the impact of a 1.5C increase in global temperatures over pre-industrial levels would “disproportionately affect disadvantaged and vulnerable populations through food insecurity, higher food prices, income losses, lost livelihood opportunities, adverse health impacts, and population displacements”.
For India, which is projected to be the world’s most populous country by 2024, growing inequality and extreme weather events such as heatwaves, floods and cyclones put its people particularly at risk
Asian Americans are the fastest-growing major racial or ethnic group in the United States. More than 20 million Asians live in the U.S., and almost all trace their roots to 19 origin groups from East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
Significant differences exist by income, education and other characteristics among the nation’s largest 19 Asian origin groups. These differences have been central to debates about how much data governments, colleges and other groups should collect about Asian origin groups, and whether it should be used to shape policies.
Here are some key differences between Asian origin groups in the U.S. and how they compare with Asian Americans overall.
1Six origin groups – Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese – accounted for 85% of all Asian Americans as of 2015. These groups together largely shape the overall demographic characteristics of Asian Americans. The remaining 13 origin groups each made up 2% or less of the nation’s Asian population. These groups have a variety of characteristics that can differ greatly from the largest groups.
2About half of Asians in the U.S. ages 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or more in 2015, a higher share than other races and ethnicities, but this share varies greatly by origin group. Those of Indian, Malaysian or Mongolian origin, for example, were more likely than other Asian origin groups to have at least a bachelor’s degree. By comparison, fewer than 20% of Cambodians, Hmong, Laotians and Bhutanese had a bachelor’s degree or more. Roughly a third of all Americans ages 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or more.
The differences in educational attainment among origin groups in part reflect the levels of education immigrants bring to the U.S. For example, 72% of U.S. Indians had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2015. Many of them already had a bachelor’s degree when they arrived in the U.S. with a visa for high-skilled workers, such as an H-1B visa. Half of H-1B visas, which require a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, have gone to Indians since 2001.
3Seven-in-ten U.S. Asians ages 5 and older speak English proficiently. Large majorities of Japanese (84%), Filipinos (82%) and Indians (80%) spoke English proficiently in 2015. By contrast, Bhutanese (27%) and Burmese (28%) had some of the lowest rates of English proficiency.
4Income inequality is rising more rapidly among Asian Americans than other racial or ethnic groups, reflecting wide disparities in income among Asian origin groups. Asian households in the U.S. had a median annual income of $73,060 in 2015, higher than the $53,600 among all U.S. households. Only four Asian origin groups had household incomes that exceeded the national median for Asian Americans overall: Indians ($100,000), Filipinos ($80,000) and Sri Lankans and Japanese (both $74,000). By contrast, most of the other 15 origin groups were well below the national median for Asian Americans, including the two with the lowest median household incomes – Nepalese ($43,500) and Burmese ($36,000).
5As with education and income, poverty rates vary widely among Asians in the U.S. Asians overall had a poverty rate of 12.1% in 2015, 3 percentage points lower than the U.S. poverty rate (15.1%). Bhutanese (33.3%) and Burmese (35.0%) had the highest poverty rates among all Asian origin groups – more than twice the national average and more than four times the poverty rates among Filipinos and Indians (both 7.5%).
6Immigrants make up a higher share of some Asian origin groups than others. Among all Asians in the U.S., nearly six-in-ten were foreign born in 2015, significantly larger than the immigrant share among Americans overall (13%) and other racial and ethnic groups that same year.
Some Asian groups arrived as immigrants more recently than others. For instance, 85% of Burmese in the U.S. are foreign born, and many of them arrived as refugees starting in 2007. Eight-in-ten Burmese immigrants (81%) have been in the country for 10 years or less.
But not all U.S. Asian groups have high foreign-born shares. For instance, the first Japanese immigrants came to the U.S. in the 19th century as plantation workers in what is now the state of Hawaii. More recently, fewer Japanese immigrants have arrived to the U.S. compared with other Asian origin groups. This history is reflected in the low share of Japanese Americans who are immigrants (27%). Additionally, among Japanese immigrants, two-thirds (64%) have been in the country for more than 10 years.
7Among Asian immigrants, 58% have become U.S. citizens, though naturalization rates vary widely. Nearly eight-in-ten Hmong and Vietnamese immigrants are U.S. citizens (77% and 75%), the highest shares among U.S. Asian groups. Differences in naturalization rates reflect how long immigrants have lived in the U.S. Large numbers of Vietnamese and Hmong arrived in the U.S. as refugees starting in the 1970s and have had more time to naturalize. By contrast, many Bhutanese have arrived in the U.S. as refugees starting in 2008 (98% of Bhutanese immigrants have been in the U.S. for 10 years or less) and only 6% have naturalized, the lowest share of any group.
For more information on Asians in the U.S., see Pew Research Center’s detailed fact sheets for each national origin group and the methodology for the analysis.
Indian Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty and Deputy Consul General Shatrugna Sinha were hosted by the Connecticut chapter of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO-CT) on May 3rd in Stamford and Norwalk, Connecticut. Arriving at 2.30 p.m.. Consul General Chakravorty called on to Stamford Mayor David Martin at the Govt. Center in Stamford, along with GOPIO-CT President Anita Bhat, Past Presidents Shailesh Naik and Shelly Nichani and Treasurer Biru Sharma. Later in the afternoon, both called on to Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling along with GOPIO-CT officials and Norwalk’s Indian community leaders including Raj Misra and Anna Duleep as well as representatives of Norwalk’s Sikh Gurudwara.
The discussions were very cordial with both mayors and there were agreements on many new initiatives. Consul General Chakravorty very graciously offered to send various artists and performers from India visiting the USA to come and do shows in both the cities Stamford and Norwalk. Both the Mayors offered full help and cooperation to facilitate such performances. Both mayors and the Consul General are interested in student exchange programs and the Consul General will further work in the same.
Most importantly the Consul General made an offer to the Norwalk Mayor Rilling and the Sikh community to hold a grand 550th Anniversary of Guru Nanakjis birth anniversary. He will contact some eminent academician to come and give a talk on the life of the Guru. This was a major accomplishment and a tribute to our Sikh community. Mayor Rilling offered his full support. GOPIO-CT also proposed an India section at the Norwalk public Library which Mayor Rilling agreed and the Consul General has offered to provide books.
On the economic front, both mayors would like to invite Indian companies to consider Stamford and Norwalk to open their US destination. In this regard, Stamford Mayor Martin will take assistance from the Indian Consulate to invite Indian companies to business expo and investment seminars in Stamford. GOPIO-CT will facilitate such efforts.
Consul General Chakravorty also had a very good discussion with Congressman Jim Himes who is a leading member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Congressman Himes is very supportive of India’s interests and values. CG Chakravorty also had a very informative discussion with Connecticut State Senator Bob Duff, the Majority Leader in Conn. Senate.
In the evening a reception was held at Hampton Inn for the many leaders of Indian diaspora in Connecticut to meet and greet Consul General Chakravorty and Deputy Consul General Sinha. GOPIO-CT President Anita Bhat welcomed the guests. GOPIO-CT Treasurer Biru Sharma moderated the session. Connecticut House Representative Matt Blumenthal, who represents Stamford, also joined the dinner meeting. Rep. Blumenthal was very appreciative of the contribution by the Indian American community in Connecticut.
Consul General Chakravorty gave a very descriptive talk on the election in India and how the country is a well-established democracy. A Q&A session followed where the participants asked questions and expressed their concerns. A donation of $2000 was made to Future 5, an organization in Stamford that takes underprivileged students from local high schools and tutor them in the hours after school.
Indian American Rep. Ami Bera (D.-Calif.) has called to institutionalize the U.S.-India strategic partnership across various sectors, vowing to bring in legislation to bring the tow nations closer than ever before. Bera, 53, predicted that this legislation, once enacted, would make India as much an ally of the U.S. as are its NATO partners and other close allies such as Japan and South Korea.
Speaking at the Capitol Hill 2019 Spring Conference of the U.S.-India Friendship Council last month, he said the legislation would “codify the importance of the U.S.-India partnership,” and while acknowledging that some of the aspects of the pending legislation “exists in other places, we’d like to incorporate language about the U.S.-India Enhanced Cooperation Act, which already exists, but put it into a comprehensive bill that will put India on a par with other major allies.”
Bera pointed out that necessarily anchoring this comprehensive legislation would be the growing U.S.-India defense and military partnership, which has grown to be the crown jewels of the strategic partnership between the two countries, which has led to “us increasingly recognizing India as a strategic partner.”
He said in the legislation, “We would look at how we can work with India to develop technologies like artificial intelligence, etc., so that you can get Indian companies and U.S. companies working together in a strategic fashion.
“We’d like to authorize the DOD (Department of Defense) to assist India reducing purchases from countries we may mutually view as adversaries and certainly those we view as adversaries,” Bera said, and added, “and we’d also like to assist India to increase its own capacity in self-defense.”
He also said that “we’d require the Department of Defense to conduct regular military engagements and dialogues with India, particularly in the western Indian Ocean region, where we already recognize India as having a vital role in protecting the Indian Ocean and keeping those lanes of commerce open.
“We see that partnership as critical and we already conduct major naval and defense exercises,” with India, he said.
Bera said that this comprehensive legislation would also push for the State Department to “advance India’s membership into APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum because we believe this is an important vehicle by which India can continue to seek its free and open trade across Asia.
“We also think it’s important to authorize and work with India in partnership to help advance and promote aid in third nations, and the countries in Africa is an example,” he said.
Bera pointed out that “India has much deeper and older relationships with Africa, and our understanding is that we can work together with USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) and other partners with India and go into those third developing countries — that could be a critical partnership for both countries.”
He also said another vital sector that he would like to see institutionalized would be in the education sector because already, each year, we know that hundreds of thousand of Indian students come to the U.S. to study.”
Bera said by the same token, “It will be in our interest to foster this partnership — where more American students go and study in India. “And, again, these planks would continue to move the U.S.-India partnership forward together,” and help institutionalize it, he added.
Bera said that “as we introduce this legislation, we would be looking to the U.S.-India Friendship Council and other organizations to help work with us as we move this legislation forward. “We still believe that the U.S.-India relationship can be that defining relationship in the 21st century and certainly a strategic relationship,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), in this remarks, lauded Swadesh Chatterjee, the founder and chair of the Friendship Council for “your incredible guidance and mentorship over the years.
“You have been a trail-blazer for the Indian-American community, when it was hard to get appointments with (Congressional) staff assistants, let alone getting members of Congress elected,” he said, turning to Chatterjee.
Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, continued that “that kind of dedication is something that I’ve never forgotten in terms of the commitment that people like Swadesh have shown and we’ve grown on the sacrifices that people like you’ve made.”
He recalled that it “took people like Swadesh and Ramesh Kapur, who were willing to speak out of turn, who were willing to chase down members of Congress down the hallways, just trying to get a word in. They refused to be passive observers of democracy, but were willing to get into people’s faces in Congress to move forward.”
Khanna continued, “I’ve always believed that their generation and the sacrifices that they’ve made for this country and the community, will always be far more than my generation.”
He said that thanks to this older generation, “Our generation was handed a lot of good opportunities in life — good families, good education, and it’s never lost on me how many people have paved the way for our being able to be in public service.”
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D.-Ill.), speaking at the evening reception, pointed out to the scores of political and community activists who were on hand spanning three generations, that it was the U.S.-India Friendship Council led by Chatterjee and a handful of other community leaders who were catalytic in lobbying the Congress to pass the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2008, which was a transformational moment in the history of the relationship between Washington and New Delhi.
He said that “really showed the Indian-American community coming of age in terms of building those bridges between the U.S. and India that will last.”
Krishnamoorthi also made a strong pitch for more members of the Indian-American community to run for public office, including the U.S. Congress and help swell the ‘Samosa Caucus,’ of four Indian- American lawmakers in the House.
“If you dream it, you can do it,” he said, and added, “The fact that a guy like me with 31 letters in his name that 99 percent of my constituents cannot pronounce is testament to the greatness of this country and the fact that anyone can do anything they want to do in this country.”
On Saturday, April 20, 2019, more than 900 guests attended the annual Houston gala, which commemorated 20 years of Pratham’s presence in the US. Held at the Hilton Americas, the event raised $4.5 million—the largest amount ever by a local Indian-American charity—to support our education programs.
The enormous impact we’ve made on the education sector in India was reflected in the evening’s program. A touching video tribute to gala honoree Vijay Goradia, who established Pratham USA in 1999 after visiting a small preschool in the slums of Mumbai, was followed by an insightful conversation between Goradia and Pratham co-founder and president Dr. Madhav Chavan, a former University of Houston professor.
“Like I would bet on an established company over a startup, by investing in an NGO like Pratham, I am investing in the future of tens of millions of children,” explained Goradia, who pledged $1 million at the benefit. “It has a proven track record, continues to be well managed and grow.”
Local luminaries and gala underwriters Bimla and Swatantra Jain, who were also recognized for their longstanding commitment to education, made a commitment of $1 million to support the construction of a vocational training center in North India.
“This is our city’s 20th annual gala, and every year we see an increase in participation and
Celebrity guest Anil Kapoor was visibly moved by the tremendous show of support. “It’s a privilege, it’s an honor, it’s an emotional moment for me to be here listening, observing, absorbing emotionally the kind of work Pratham has done for 20 years!” exclaimed the Bollywood superstar. “I’m feeling really very small compared to all of you and all the people who have done so much for such a noble cause and for such a great organization. It proves that Pratham is one of the world’s best organizations.”
“It’s an easy sell,” explained Joe Patterson, senior vice president of Bank of America, who has been part of the Pratham family for close to two decades. “The efficiency of what Pratham does for really small dollars, what it can achieve in these villages and the way it pulls together the Houston community is very powerful.”
Among the many prominent community leaders and philanthropists in attendance were Dr. Anupam Ray (consul general of India), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Illinois congressman), Andrea and Bill White (former mayor of Houston), and Anne and Albert Chao.
The event, hosted by mistress of ceremonies Nicole O’Brian Lassiter, featured an inspirational speech from Ali Dhanani, who supports a Pratham vocational training center in Hyderabad; a heartfelt message from Pratham beneficiary Mamta Dawar; and lively entertainment from the dance group Rhythm India as well as a fashion show by leading Indian designer Anita Dongre presented by Raaz.
The evening’s success would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of gala co-chairs Peggy and Avinash Ahuja, Indrani and Hemant Goradia, and Shital and Bhavesh Patel and the generous support of sponsors, including Wells Fargo, Ascend Performance Materials, Packwell, Amegy Bank of Texas, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity Family Office Services, and PKF of Texas, all of which have been supporting Pratham’s transformative work for a decade.
Dr. Durga D. Agrawal, a longtime Houston resident, is well known for giving back to the community particularly to his alma mater – the University of Houston. One 26th April 2019, the University recognized his sizable and generous gift by renaming the Engineering building as the Durga D. and Sushila Agrawal Engineering Research Building. A floor is also named after the couple and the gift will provide ongoing support for faculty, students, research and building operations.
Chancellor Renu Khator, Consul General of India Dr. Anupam Ray, members of the Indian community, students, faculty, Dr. Agrawal’s children, grandchildren and colleagues were present at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
In his remarks, Dr. Agrawal credited several people for his success. He expressed his admiration and respect for his professors at UH like Dr. Rhodes (who was present at the ceremony), Dr. Donaghey, Dr. Dawkins and Dr. Elrod who “put their heart and soul” into teaching students including some like him who had trouble understanding both the language and the American accent. He traced his values of compassion, giving back and respect for education to his parents and acknowledged his wife Sushila’s support and patience without which, he said, he would not have completed his doctorate or built his business.
UH, he concluded, “has a very special place in my heart. We must keep the torch of knowledge, excellence and innovation growing and glowing.”
Chancellor Dr. Renu Khator tweeted: “Today, we named the new Engineering building after Dr. and Mrs. Durga Agrawal, our alum and regent to celebrate their generosity. Your gift will inspire our students and alumni for many generations! Thank you.
Over the years, Dr. Agrawal, who is 74, has been providing endowments, scholarships and internships for UH students. In 2013, he was named a member of the UH System Board of Regents by Texas Governor Rick Perry. He hopes his contributions “will encourage additional donors and attract high-caliber students, especially since many UH students are from the Houston area and will most likely stay here upon graduation to pursue their careers.”
The building today bears no resemblance to the one Dr. Durga studied in but has been rebuilt on the same piece of land. UH’s engineering college boasts of more than 4,200 students, including over 1,150 graduate students, enrolled in 10 engineering disciplines, as well as several interdisciplinary graduate programs.
Dr. Agrawal’s kindness and generosity isn’t limited to giving donations but also comes across in small gestures. When Houston was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey, Dr. Agrawal and members of his family showed up at the campus with vans to transport stranded students to other locations and even took many home.
His deep seated value for education probably stems from his own early struggles for educational opportunities. He was born in Lakhanpur, a small village in Madhya Pradesh in India with a population of 700. The village did not have a water supply system, electricity or high school which meant that he had to cycle or sometimes even walk to the high school 13 miles away. He was also the bookkeeper for his father’s prosperous business from the time he was in elementary school and reveals that “when you work in the family business, you learn a lot.”
Encouraged by his parents, he attended one of the best engineering schools in India, IIT, New Delhi. In 1968, he came to Houston to pursue his Masters in Industrial engineering and in 1974 added a Doctorate to his resume, both from the UH Cullen College of Engineering. He attributes his present success to the two institutions equally and gives back unstintingly to both. As he says “giving back to the community is important and there’s no other field where money invested gives back more returns than education.”
In 1975, Dr. Durga put his entrepreneurship skills to the test by building his company Piping Technology and Products from scratch, out of his garage. The company is today one of the leading providers of pipes for industrial and construction needs and employs over a 1000 people.
Dr. Agrawal also earns high marks for his spirit of community service. He was the first major donor and Founding president of India House, a community center that offers free services and community programs. As the founder and first President of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston, he has been part of many delegations to promote trade and the exchange of educational and medical resources between Houston and India. No stranger to high ranking elected officials, he was once introduced by President George Bush as “my good friend from Texas” at a State Dinner for Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Capitol Hill.
A regular practitioner of yoga, Dr. Agrawal is a key contributor to the S-Vyasa Yoga Center that was recently inaugurated in Houston.
TiE Boston, one of the region’s largest and oldest organizations supporting the Massachusetts entrepreneurial ecosystem and connecting entrepreneurs, executives and venture capitalists, announced today the four keynote speakers who will feature at its annual conference, TiECON East. The day-long conference will be held on May 7, 2019 at the Westin Boston Waterfront hotel in Boston and will feature artificial intelligence and digital health as central themes.
The four keynote speakers spanning morning to evening sessions are: legendary investor, founder and CEO of Breyer Capital Jim Breyer, Kronos CEO and author Aron Ain, Veracode CEO Sam King and Seema Kumar, Vice President of Innovation, Global Health and Policy Communication at Johnson & Johnson.
“We are very excited that four giants of the new economy have joined TiECon East 2019 as keynote speakers,” said TiECON Chair Sanjay Jain. “In addition, we will have about 40 speakers who are experts in their fields. TiECON East will give you the facts and knowledge that you need to make vital business decisions.”
Breyer, who has led investments in household names including Facebook, Didi, Spotify and Etsy, will talk about his new focus on AI-driven companies. His recent investment, Boston-based AI fintech startup Kensho, was acquired by S&P Global for $550 million.
Interviewing Breyer will be another VC heavy-weight and author, Hemant Taneja of General Catalyst. Taneja, whose investments include Snapchat and Stripe, recently authored “Unscaled: How AI and a New Generation of Upstarts are Creating the Economy of the Future”. The conference’s AI & Robotics track will feature several Boston-based leader and unicorn companies including Teradyne, DataRobot, RapidMiner and Cambridge Mobile Telematics.
Ain, CEO of Lowell-based software giant Kronos, will be another prominent keynote. Under his leadership, Kronos has grown to a stunning $1.4 billion in revenue, while creating an exemplary work culture. In 2018, Kronos topped Boston Globe’s “Best Places to Work” list. Mr. Ain, who recently published “WorkInspired: How to Build an Organization Where Everyone Loves to Work” will discuss how company culture is central to building an enduring business.
The third keynote speaker is Sam King, CEO of Boston-based cybersecurity giant Veracode and a recognized expert in cybersecurity, the emerging practice of DevSecOps and business management. As a founding member of the Veracode team, Sam helped lead the establishment and growth of the application security category working with industry experts and analysts. In addition to security and technology, Sam is also passionate about developing leaders and creating positive work environments that foster creativity and personal growth.
The final keynote speaker is Seema Kumar, Vice President of Innovation, Global Health and Policy Communication at Johnson & Johnson. From acquiring robotics startup Auris for $3.4 billion, launching JLAB incubators in 13 global locations, to investing through JJDC, Johnson & Johnson is a player to reckon with in Digital Health. Ms. Kumar will walk the audience through JNJ’s major push in entrepreneurship globally.
In addition to AI, digital health will be another prominent theme at TiECON East 2019.
Leaders from Veritas Genetics, IBM Watson, Amazon, Virtusa and John Halamka of BIDMC, amongst others, will discuss how new entrants like Amazon, technologies like big data and AI, and upstart companies are rapidly changing healthcare as we know it.
“No other conference in Boston comes close to the quality of speakers and depth of discussion than TiECON East. This is because our conference is put together by domain experts – our members who are founders and executives of leading companies in their fields,” said TiE Boston President Nilanjana Bhowmik. “As a not-for-profit, we keep ticket prices low to make such a high-quality event accessible to a broad range of attendees including engineers, founders, and executives in tech and health care.”
Sanjay Raman, associate vice president for the Virginia Tech National Capital Region and president and CEO of the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation, has been named the new dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The announcement was made by John J. McCarthy, provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. Raman begins his new duties at UMass Amherst in August.
McCarthy said, “I’m delighted to welcome Sanjay Raman as our next dean of the College of Engineering. He possesses an outstanding combination of skills in academic leadership, research and development, and collaborating with colleagues across academia, industry and government. We look forward to drawing upon his rich experience in establishing collaborations within and outside the university.”
Raman succeeds Timothy J. Anderson who served as UMass Amherst’s dean of the College of Engineering from 2013-18. Anderson is a Distinguished Professor in chemical engineering and remains on the faculty.
At Virginia Tech, Raman is a tenured full professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering based at the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington, Va. From 1998-2009, he was assigned to the Virginia Tech main campus in Blacksburg.
As the associate vice president (AVP) for the Virginia Tech National Capital Region (NCR), Raman is responsible for planning and executing region-wide initiatives to enhance the university’s research, education, and outreach missions, focusing on cross-cutting themes of data and decision science, integrated security, intelligent infrastructure, global systems science, policy, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Since July 2016, he has also served as the president and CEO of the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation, a 501(c)(3) university affiliated research organization whose mission is to deliver analytic and technology solutions to the university’s government and non-government customers, extending the brand and impact of the Virginia Tech Research and Innovation enterprise.
From 2007-13, Raman served as a program manager in the Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), on loan from the university under Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignments. He is also a graduate of the Virginia Tech Executive Development Institute.
Raman earned his doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1998 and joined the ECE faculty at Virginia Tech. Prior to his doctoral studies at the University of Michigan, Raman served as a nuclear-trained submarine officer in the U.S. Navy from 1987-92. He earned a bachelor’s of electrical engineering degree, with highest honors, from Georgia Tech in 1987.
Raman is a founding member of the Virginia Tech Multifunctional Integrated Circuits and Systems (MICS) group, focused on innovative research in analog, mixed-signal, and RF/microwave/mm-wave IC designs, optoelectronics, and RF interfaces. Raman is an Elected Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for leadership in adaptive microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits. He is also an elected member of the Administrative Committee of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society.
April 22 is Earth Day, an annual event that highlights environmental concerns and encourages civic action. This year’s Earth Day comes amid widespread global concern about climate change. The way people perceive and respond to climate changes depends on one’s ideology, location, income and education, among the many other factors.
A 2018 Pew Research Center survey on how people evaluate eight potential threats, as well as other polls conducted by the Center, has some surprising conclusions.
Majorities in most surveyed countries say global climate change is a major threat to their nation. In fact, it’s seen as the top threat in 13 of 26 surveyed countries, more than any other issue the survey asked about. People in Greece express very high levels of concern, with 90% labeling climate change a major threat (similar to the 88% there who cite the condition of the global economy). People in South Korea, France, Spain and Mexico also express strong concerns. Eight-in-ten or more in each of these countries say climate change is a major threat.
Americans are less likely to be concerned about climate change, with 59% seeing it as a serious threat. About as many people in the United States cite climate change as point to ISIS (62%) and North Korea’s nuclear program (58%). Americans most frequently cite cyberattacks as a major threat. People in Russia (43%), Nigeria (41%) and Israel (38%) are the least likely to say climate change is a major threat to their nation.
Substantial shares see climate change as a minor threat or not a threat at all. Not all people in the surveyed countries consider climate change to be a major threat. A median of 20% across these countries consider global warming a minor threat, while 9% say it is not a threat. About half or more in Israel and Russia say global climate change is a minor threat or not a threat (58% and 51%, respectively). In the U.S., roughly a quarter (23%) believe climate change is a minor threat, while 16% say it is no threat at all.
Concerns about climate change have risen significantly in many countries since 2013. The share of people expressing concern about the threat of climate change around the world has grown since 2013, when Pew Research Center first asked respondents whether they see it as a major threat to their nation. In 2013, a median of 56% in 23 countries said climate change was a major threat; in the Center’s most recent Global Attitudes survey, a median of 67% in the same countries hold this view. And in 10 countries, the share of people who see global warming as a major threat has grown by at least 10 percentage points. For example, 83% of people in France say this, up from 54% in in 2013, an increase of 29 points. Mexico has seen a similar increase, from 52% to 80%, or 28 points.
Americans have also grown more concerned about climate change, even if their overall level of concern is lower than in some other countries. Nearly six-in-ten Americans see climate change as a major threat (59%), up 19 points from 2013.
People with more education tend to be more concerned about climate change; in some countries, women and younger people are also more concerned. Education, gender and age are related to evaluations of climate change as a threat. In most countries surveyed, those with higher levels of education are more likely than those with less education to see climate change as a serious threat. For instance, Hungarians with a postsecondary or higher education are 11 percentage points more likely than their less-educated counterparts to say that climate change is a major threat. Women are more likely than men to be concerned about climate change in nine of the 26 surveyed countries. In Canada, for example, 72% of women consider climate change a major threat, compared with 59% of men. Age is also associated with views of climate change in some countries. In the U.S., 71% of those ages 18 to 29 say climate change is a threat, compared with half of Americans 50 and older.
In the U.S., there’s a wide partisan gap about climate change.Among American adults, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are less likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to express concern about climate change. Roughly a quarter (27%) of Republicans say climate change is a major threat, compared with more than three-quarters of Democrats (83%) – a 56 percentage point difference. Democrats have also grown more worried about climate change since the question was first asked five years ago, while Republican opinions on climate have remained roughly the same. This trend is consistent with wide and growing political divides among Americans on a range of beliefs about climate issues.
The Indian embassy in Washington issued an advisory urging students hoping to study in the United States to go beyond the usual checks to ensure they were not applying to “fake” universities that law enforcement agencies here have set up in the past to “trap” immigration frauds suspects.
The Indian embassy in Washington issued an advisory Wednesday urging students hoping to study in the United States to go beyond the usual checks to ensure they were not applying to “fake” universities that law enforcement agencies here have set up in the past to “trap” immigration frauds suspects.
“In order to ensure that Indian students do not fall into such “traps”, it is advised that due diligence be exercised while seeking admission in US Universities,” said the embassy advisory.
“The fact that a University is duly accredited by relevant US authorities such as its inclusion in the Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVIS), is not an assurance in itself about the bonafides of a University”.
The alert comes in the wake of, and the the advisory mentions them, US authorities apprehending hundred of Indian students enrolled at Farmington University in Michigan, a “fake” university set up by immigration enforcement agencies to ensnare recruiters and students in what was described as a “pay-to-stay” scheme. People enroll only to either stay in the US or extend their stay without any intention of studying, US enforcement agencies have alleged.
The other such institution was University of Northern New Jersey, which was used for the same purpose.
Indian students enrolled in these universities were apprehended and many were deported. They later claimed that they had taken these universities for real, paid their fees and had every intention to study.
“In order to ensure that Indian students do not fall into such “traps”, it is advised that due diligence be exercised while seeking admission in US Universities,” the embassy said.
The mission issued a checklist of steps students could take to ensure they were not duped.
Check if the university function from a campus or merely maintains a website and has administrative premises only? Does it have a faculty and regular instructors/educators? Does it have a a proper curriculum, hold regular classes and actively implement academic or educational activity?
The US grants 65,000 cap-subjected H-1B work visas to foreign workers hired abroad every year and 20,000 to foreigners in US institutions of higher education.
The H-1B visa program for high-skilled foreigners, which has been subjected to prohibitive scrutiny by the Trump administration, has earned the US $4.9 billion in employer-paid fees since 1999, which paid for more than 90,000 college scholarships and training, according to a new study.
These collections are from the $1,500 processing fee that the government charges employers for every new H-1B or a renewal, the National Foundation for American Policy, a non-partisan think tank, says in the report, and adds that the total rises to $7 billion, by adding $500 in anti-fraud fees.
The US grants 65,000 cap-subjected H-1B work visas to foreign workers hired abroad every year and 20,000 to foreigners in US institutions of higher education. More than 70% of these visas have gone to Indians, hired by US companies such as Google and Facebook, and Indian firms such as TCS and Infosys.
The application process for 2020, which comes with changes, started on Monday and will typically end in a few days given the demand. More than 190,000 applications were received by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that runs the programme, in 2018 (for 2019), and 199,000 in 2017.
“Few people realize that fees for each new H-1B visa holder fund scholarships and job training for Americans,” said Stuart Anderson, a former immigration services official and executive director of the think tank that released its report on Monday.
The report argued that the role of employer-paid H-1B fees has received scant or no attention in the policy debate around immigration so far. “People on all sides of the immigration debate agree that it is beneficial to train and educate more Americans in STEM fields, yet policymakers rarely note that every company-sponsored H-1B petition provides money for training and STEM education,” it said.
This side of the H-1B visas has indeed received no attention. The focus has been on American workers displaced by outsourcing. And the Trump administration has initiated a series of measures to check abuse and fraud of the programme in line with its “Buy American, Hire American” policies.
Since 1999, H-1B fees paid by employers have been used to educate and train Americans in technology-related fields. And based on data obtained from the National Science Foundation, the US department of labour and the USCIS, the report said approximately 87,890 college students enrolled in mathematics, engineering and computer science courses were granted scholarships ranging from one to four years and of up $10,000 a year.
Money from the collections also funded training of more than 1.5 million school students and teachers in STEM-related fields, and an estimated $2.5 billion of the total collections was used by the department of labor to train US workers.
“The H-1B fees have benefited American students and encouraged through teaching and financial support many individuals to enter science and engineering fields,” said the report.
Former head of McKinsey & Company Rajat Gupta, who spent 19 month in a US jail on charges of insider trading, on Wednesday said he would like to work for the reforms in the US criminal justice and prison system.
The management guru said through his experience, he saw the underbelly of US justice system and feels that much needs to be reformed in it.
“There is lot of suffering, lot of unnecessary waste of human capital. There is lot of cruelty and lot of families are destroyed,” said Gupta speaking at the launch of his book “Mind without Fear” at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here.
Gupta, who started many initiatives in education and health, said he had now started thinking about reforms in the criminal justice system as it had a staggering impact.
He said US had the largest number of incarcerated people in the world.
“There are somewhere around 3 million people. If you count them and those who go through the incarceration system again and again and think about their families, it is more than 100 million people impacted by the criminal justice system.
“While I never thought about it before I went through it myself, I have become committed to make a difference in whatever I way I can to reforms in US justice and US prison system,” he said.
Gupta, the driving force behind the ISB, shared his thoughts, his experiences and spoke about his mistakes during a conversation with Founding Dean of ISB, Pramath Raj Sinha and while answering questions from students.
He said he was sent in solitary confinement for no reason. He said people in charge of the prison had unchecked power and they make sure that they kill the spirit of the inmates.
He said he had to spend seven weeks in solitary confinement and it was harsh. According to UN Convention, solitary confinement of than two weeks is a big torture.
Gupta admits that his biggest mistake was to be too busy with too many initiatives. “Although in every situation I was involved in, I could make a positive difference but at the end, it added up to the hell of a lot which means I did not pay attention to many details that I should have and steered clear of something I should have steered clear of,” he said.
Gupta, who rose from being an orphan to an international icon, said he could see many transitions in his career as he never lived in comfort zone. “If you are too much in comfort zone, change it dramatically, get out of the comfort zone. If you get too much into a comfort zone, you get into a rut and you will not be creative and innovative anymore,” he told the students.
About the book title, Gupta said that a mind without fear was an aspiration. “In many instances I took risk without being afraid. Sometimes it failed me as well,” he added.
The South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston, known as SABA GB, celebrated its 15th Anniversary earlier this month. The event was sponsored and held at Sullivan & Worcester, LLP’s Boston office. The evening featured a keynote address from Justice Sabita Singh, an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
Justice Singh is a founding member and the first President of SABA GB. Justice Singh also served as the third president of the South Asian Bar Association of North America.
In her address, Justice Singh reminisced about the early days of the organization when the founding members identified South Asian attorneys through the Massachusetts Lawyers Diary and Manual (i.e. a directory for the approximately 40,000 attorneys in the Commonwealth).
Today, SABA GB has over one hundred active members and supports the development of hundreds of law students and attorneys. Justice Singh remarked on her immense sense of pride in the organization’s growth and the accomplishments of its members since the organization’s humble beginnings.
In addition to Justice Singh’s address, the 2019 SABA GB President Keerthi Sugumaran spoke about her hopes for the organization’s continued growth. She highlighted the success of SABA GB’s mentorship program for South Asian law students and the award-winning Know Your Right’s program for the South Asian community. In addition, she announced new initiatives to support and advance the career development of mid-level attorneys and South Asian women attorneys.
As part of the celebration, SABA GB recognized the contributions of the Advisory Board Members and Former Presidents.
The Advisory Board includes Navjeet Bal, Rachna Balakrishna, Rajeev Balakrishna, Manisha Bhatt, Councilor Mehreen Butt, Aloke Chakravarty, Mark Flemming, Chairwoman Sunila Thomas George, Samia Kirmani, the Honorable Maynard Kirpalani, Ameek Ponda, Annapoorni Sankaran, the Honorable Sabita Singh, and the Honorable Neil K. Sheering.
The Former Presidents include Justice Singh, Annapoorni Sankaran, Samia Kirmani, Natasha Varyani, Sa’adiyah Masoud, Manisha Bhatt, Gauri Punjabi, Hinna Upal, Saraa Basaria and Rashima Shukla. SABA GB sincerely appreciates the tireless efforts of these individuals to grow the organization and to advance the interests of South Asian attorneys and the South Asian community as a whole.
Settling into a new time zone is no joke. The faster you sync your body with a local sunrise, the sooner you’ll be able to sidestep jet lag and fully enjoy your trip (without feeling like you need a coffee close to bedtime or lunch when it’s time for breakfast). But W. Christopher Winter, M.D., president of Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and author of The Sleep Solution, tells Condé Nast Traveler that in certain circumstances, actively trying to not adjust to a destination’s local time can work in your favor.
Bear with us. Living in your home time zone during a trip often makes sense if you’re flying far away for, say, a short business trip. Of course, you have to consider the purpose of your travels, too. “I think it’s probably less of a threshold of how many days you’re going to be away and more about what your objective is,” says Winter. If you’re in Paris for a conference for 24 hours and you’re speaking at said conference, you likely have to be on, and would benefit from adjusting. But if you’re simply required to attend and face a full week of work when you return home, resisting the urge to adjust to a new time zone could work in your favor. “If you work hard to adjust and then come back, you’ve got to readjust and the first few days you’re back, you’re going to feel kind of rough,” says Winter.
So for quick trips that don’t require you to live like the locals, consider these techniques for staying on your home clock.
Eat meals at the wrong times.
Research finds that when and what you eat can affect your internal biological clock. “No one is going to wake up at 3 a.m. and have breakfast,” admits Winter. But having an earlier breakfast if you travel West or a later one if you’re headed East can help keep things regular. Keep your iPhone on the time at home and try your best to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner close to when you’d be dining at home.
Shy away from sunlight.
If you’re a New Yorker in Europe, commit to room service in a hotel room with the shades drawn. Waiting to see the sun for the first time can trick your body into thinking the sun isn’t rising until later in the day. Dark sunglasses can come in handy, too, says Winter. You might wear them throughout the day, taking them off in the late afternoon when the sun would be rising at home.
Plan around 4 p.m. your time.
Most of us athletically and cognitively peak around 4 p.m. in the time zone our body thinks we’re in, says Winter. “The chemicals that make us feel sleepy have not accumulated enough to make us sleep, so it’s a sweet spot of sorts right in that middle point.”
The longer you stay in a place, the more you’ll adjust to local time, but when you first arrive, “your brain doesn’t know you’ve traveled for some time,” he says. That means if you’re in London for 24 hours traveling from the East coast, a late client dinner could work in your favor (you’ll likely feel your best around 9 p.m). If you’re in Honolulu coming from the East coast, think about breakfast (alertness will likely peak around 10 a.m.).
If you’re a sleep-on-the-plane kind of person, an overnight return flight delivers you directly to your destination where you’ll wake up to natural sunlight and a full day ahead. “I find this helps people fall asleep quickly when they go to bed that night,” says Winter.
A social entrepreneur from India, Neha Upadhyaya, has been selected by Yale University as one of their 2019 ‘World Fellows.’ The Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program enables extraordinary individuals, from across the globe and from diverse disciplines, to increase their capacity to make the world a better place. Each year, the Program selects 16 World Fellows to spend four months together in residence at Yale University to grow intellectually, share knowledge, strengthen skills and expand networks.
“World Fellows are people of character, integrity, energy and talent. They are dynamic, creative, disruptive and innovative. They are selfless leaders who serve, inspire and motivate others. They have demonstrated impact, they are on the rise in their careers, and they are ambitious to grow to their full potential,” say a statement by Yale University.
Established in 2002, the Program now has a network of over 300 World Fellows contributing to their communities in 90 countries, connected to each other and to Yale.
Upadhyaya is a social entrepreneur based in New Delhi. In 2014, she founded GUNA Organics, which provides ethically-sourced organic food products grown by rural female Indian farmers.
GUNA’s vision is to empower these farmers through vertical integration of organic farming and solar technology. Previously her focus was working with children suffering from various health issues including diabetes, autism, and ADHD.
Curious about alternatives to western medicine, she trained at Daylesford Organic School, Wholefood Harmony, and Navdanya Bina Vidyapeeth.
She was the recipient of Future Leaders Connect (2018) and Social Impact India (2017) awarded by the British Council. She has won several prototype grants and awards, including Entrepreneur Excellence award by I.I.T. Delhi (2017), and was awarded a full scholarship to study sustainability and responsible leadership from the Government of Sweden in 2017. With a strong commitment to environmental sustainability, she envisions an inclusive, equitable, and healthy society where men and women support each other in every aspect of life and enjoy their right to realize their full potential.
This year marks the 18th cohort of World Fellows. Apart from Upadhyaya, a total of 21 Indians, including actress Nandita Das and economist and activist Chetna Sinha have been selected as Yale World Fellows since the program started in 2002, according to PTI.
Emma Sky, director of the Maurice R Greenberg World Fellows Program, said the courage, ingenuity and passion of the World Fellows will be an inspiration to all at Yale.
Prestigious educational institutions in India such as the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, Mumbai and Madras, Delhi University, Jawaharlal University and the Indian Institute of Science have been listed among the top hundred in a latest global subject-wise rankings of the universities, reports Hindustan Times.
The ranking has been done by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), which is one of the world’s leading academic ranking agencies. The QS subject-wise lists, which were released on Wednesday (27 February), ranks universities on 48 different subjects ranging from art and design to engineering disciplines.
The ranking is dominated by the institutions from United States and United Kingdom. The US institutions have topped the list 28 times, which is followed by UK institutions dominating on 13 disciplines. Though, none of the Indian institutions could secure top ranks but few of them were featured in the top 100 lists.
According to the report, Delhi University has secured 37 rank in the Development Studies subject while Jawaharlal Nehru University had been ranked in the 51-100 bracket in both sociology as well as history.
IITs Delhi and Mumbai has been placed in the 51-100 bracket when it comes to civil and structural engineering. Both the institutes also figure in the top 100 to study computer science and information systems.
In the electrical and electronic engineering discipline, IITs at Bombay, Delhi and Madras figure among the top hundred while IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur make it to top 150.
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, along with the IIT Bombay is among the top 100 institution to study chemical engineering. They both also figure among top 100 when it comes to studying material sciences.
“My journey with Create Foundation began with my first ever show “Mahatma – Come find the Gandhi in you”. I performed in front of a huge audience at The National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai as a lead dancer for the Show, and from then on there was no stopping me,” says a former student at CREATE Foundation. “Under the Create program, I have grown in self-confidence, grooming, and communication. Create Foundation feels like my second home. I got an opportunity to perform on stage in front of such an elite audience, my own personal green room, my first character role and a chance to meet so many amazing people and actors. I made tons of friends and so many memories.
“People stop me in the street and ask me “Weren’t you the lead dancer in that show?” When such incidents happen, I feel like I’m living the life of a star, not a life of a child from a low income house and of a backward class.
“I still can’t believe I’m in Gujarat for “Roots of Dancing- Season 3” and that too on a scholarship. I want to thank the entire team of Create Foundation and Raёll Padamsee for giving me this opportunity to prove myself.”
The above testimony by a former student at CREATE Foundation summarizes in a nutshell what this Foundation stands for. CREATE foundation was established in loving memory of theatre veteran Pearl Padamsee, as a Charitable Trust in 2002 with the objective of addressing the needs of local communities from mid to low economic sector for soft skill education and empowerment providing them the platform to enhance their communication and soft skills. This improves their chances of employability resulting in a higher salary scale.
PEARL PADAMSEE was a bundle of energy. She was witty without being sarcastic, solemn without being sombre, and human without being preachy and moralistic. If she was not profound, she was not frivolous either. There was no malice, no rancour in her. She was real, despite spending almost all her life in the absurdly unreal.
Many of us who take these opportunities for granted because of our family of origin, where we have been blessed with opportunities to develop the talents and potential, millions of children in India, who are born in poor families lacking resources, care and time to develop such talents. “Going to school daily is a dream for many. And joining an acting school a school for developing skills in leadership, communications, team work, self confidence and self esteem is beyond the reach of hundreds of milli0ns of children. Their talents and skills stay and die with them, because they cannot afford and there is no one to encourage them and giving them an opportunity to develop them.
Raёll Padamsee, Pearl’s daughter was instrumental in founding the CREATE Foundation. Raëll a vibrant, versatile, dynamic, well-known theatre personality. She says “We want to make learning come alive. One of the ways we do this is through this Foundation.”
CREATE foundation works with children and youth from this sector, who strongly desire to achieve their dreams and live an empowered life with dignity and respect. CREATE Foundation provides various creative platforms for self development and life skills. It aims to “CREATE a world that holds equal opportunity for all irrespective of backgrounds and disadvantages. The children go through extensive rehearsals and are trained by the best in the business of creative expertise, be it singing, dancing or acting and are given an equal opportunity to perform. This strengthens their talent providing tremendous exposure and boosts their overall personality and confidence.”
CREATE aims to create a more equal society which is actually great as this foundation is giving opportunity to every child and helping in bringing out their talents – Priti Sonar, 16 years, Salam Bombay. Providing an inclusive world where every child irrespective of their challenges and economic background has access to equal opportunity to become productive members of society, the Foundation provides opportunities to To empower and educate children from marginalized backgrounds with leadership, teamwork, self-confidence and communication skills through the medium of drama and the creative arts.
Sabira Merchant, a Trustee at the Foundation, is India’s finest etiquette trainer. She specializes in transforming youth into savvy personalities. She says “Teaching manners & soft skills to teenagers gives them the extra edge to excel at interviews and lands them better jobs to function and succeed as adults.”
Raёll says, the result s of their programs are seen in an impressive impact study conducted by Sattva Consultancy Pvt Ltd depicting the improvements before and after the CREATE program. This was conducted with all the stakeholders comprising of children, parents, non-profits and staff.
Where to name a few categories:
Their confidence increased by 57%
Discipline increased by 23%
Team Work increased by 49%
Creative Thinking increased by 40% and
Leadership qualities increased by 49%
CREATE Foundation is urging all those who are committed to make a difference in the lives of poor and marginalized children by: Volunteer – By giving your time to the CREATE Foundation; Donate – By Cheque in favour of Create Foundation – For Wire Transfer & Foreign contributions – please log on to https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/soft-skill-training-for-450-children-for-a-year/ where you get various options to sponsor – The education of a classroom of 30 students or 60 students, As The Create Foundation is a partner at Global Giving, donors who donate are eligible for US(501 (c ) 3 and UK tax benefits (Gift aid) and Spread the word – Refer a friend to contribute to the CREATE foundation.
MIT India Conference 2019, organized by the MIT India team that included the lead Chairs, namely Aditi Shankar, Neil S. Gaikwad, Kritarth Yudhish and lead vice presidents, Amit Kumar, Anchal Goyal, Anupam Jena and many others, was held on Saturday, February 16, 2019.
Several eminent speakers from different fields of life and a large group of audiences that comprised especially of students, young professional and startup entrepreneurs attended the event. Melanie Mala Ghosh, Managing Director, MIT-India & MIT-South Asia, and Prof. S.P. Kothari, the Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting and Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management were the advisors of the conference. The theme of the 2019 conference was “India’s Competitive Edge” that aimed at reflecting on what unique factors have allowed India to thrive in science, sports, art, literature, and technology despite fewer resources at its disposal.
After the registration and breakfast activities, in the opening session, the co-chairs addressed the audiences by welcoming them warmly and requesting them to observe a 30 second silence for the Indian soldiers who died in the Pulwama terrorist attack on 14th Feb 2019. They also highlighted the objectives and plans of the conference. Prof Mala Ghosh made her remarks about the MIT India Program and announced awards and honored Professor S.P. Kothari and Shri Vikram Kirloskar for their outstanding contribution to their fields and community.
Opening remarks of conference were made by Prof. S. P. Kothari this episode was followed by his Fireside Chat with Shri. Vikram Kirloskar ’81’. Prof. S. P. Kothari received award for his contributions to student community, faculty, and business enterprises and for building strong partnership between India and MIT. He also shared his forthcoming plans for making contributions in his fields of interest.
Shri. Preetish Nijhawan’s presentation on the Impact of MIT and India on Entrepreneurship was followed by the fireside chat with Shri. Robin Bose. Shri. Nijhawan said that Indians dominate the immigrant’s eco-system in Silicon Valley and startup eco-system is thriving in India. India and Indians have bright future.
For the Session 1: Gearing India for the future through policy and institutions, Dr. Subramanian Swamy joined the session through a video conference and presented his brilliant insight about India’s Economic Positioning in the Global Perspective. He said that India is doing good in many economic, finance, and business areas and suggested some beneficial measures for the government to make a rapid progress in these areas. Prof Kothari moderated and Q&A and emcee Kritarth Yudhish presented the session on schedule and kept the audience engaged.
Smt. Shereen Bhan presented her powerful views on Indian Media: Tussle Between Accountability & Freedom. She said that media should always present its honest stories based on the ground level facts. emcee Aditi Shankar diligently conducted the session along with the Q&A session of Smt. Bhan as well.
In the Session 2: Business frontiers: opportunities and challenges, two eminent businessmen presented their very interesting talks. Shri. Satish Reddy talked about India’s Competitive Edge in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Shri. Reddy spoke about how healthcare industry in India is booming through low-cost discoveries and how they deal with FDA rules, prices of generic drugs and other issues. Shri. Sanjay Mehta spoke about Building Sustainable Businesses for a Healthier Planet. He said that he adheres to the values of his company, its relationship with consumers, customers and the Hindustan Unilever’s community-based programs at large.
The Fireside chat of this session was moderated by Shereen Bhan. Both speakers answered all the questions of the audiences and the moderator very intelligently and honestly. After this, in a brief video conference, Shri. Anil Kumble talked about his personal experiences on being Time on and off the cricket field. He said that he enjoys not only playing and coaching of cricket but also being an engineer, he wanted to accept the new startup opportunity with Microsoft and succeed in this new endeavor.
Both emcees Neil Gaikwad and Kritarth Yudhish showed their smartness at the deportment of this thought stimulating session. Shweta Aprameya and Raju Goteti’s presentations on Introducing New Scholarship to Support Entrepreneurship for Social Impact and TCS-Co-Innovation Network – India Story respectively were very encouraging for the graduate students who are looking for the opportunities for the advancement of their learning and real world experience.
In the Session 3: STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics), Shri. Anupam Kher spoke on, Evolution of Indian Cinema. What’s Next. He talked about not only about evolution Indian Cinema but also about his own evolution as an actor in the Bollywood and Hollywood industries with his all-time humorous style. He answered all the questions of the audiences in a witty and funny manner under Fireside chat with Prof. Kothari. Smt. Arundhati Katju spoke about Strengthening Human Rights: Breaking the Colonial Closet. She talked about various challenges that she faced as an attorney while fighting for the rights of LGBT group in India.
Prof. Priyamvada Natarajan from Yale University presented her very interesting presentation on Deciphering the Invisible Universe. She talked about cosmology, gravitational lensing and black hole physics. Smt. Indrani Medhi Thies spoke on Designing Technologies for Global Social Inclusion. She talked about her primary work at Microsoft Research which has been in the area of User Interfaces for low-literate and novice technology users. She said that her recent work is focusing in the user experience of conversational agents, mainly chatbots. Fireside chats with Smt. Arundhati Katju and Smt. Indrani Medhi Thies were carried on by the moderator, Prof Danielle wood very diligently. Emcees of the session were Aditi Shankar, Neil Gaikwad did their commendable work.
After the tea break, Session 4: Culture and Innovation started with a speech by Manasi Kirloskar on Education in Free India. She talked about the necessity of introducing new approaches in the field education and about her community service which now has been registered as her own non-profit venture “Caring with Color” thus becoming an youngest social entrepreneur. Ami Shroff spoke about Empowering Women Artisans through Social Entrepreneurship. She is continuing her mother’s organization Shrujan, as a project coordinator in Kutch area and works at the grassroots level and leads the Design Center on Wheels project for the organization, the first of its kind and scale in India. This was followed by the Fireside Chat of Smt. Manasi Kirloskar and Smt. Ami Shroff with Prof. Mala Ghosh with very interesting questions and answers. Emcee Ms. Aditi Shankar coordinated very well all these talks.
Shri. Anil Kumar Gupta talked about Creating Knowledge Networks to Fuel Grassroots Innovations. He talked about how the emergence, recognition, and diffusion of grassroot innovations help trigger experimental self-design ethic and reduce dependence on the government for solving local problems. He also said that creating hotspots for machinery inventions are not the same in every field of life. Shri. D. R. Mehta’s presentation on Affordable Healthcare: Role of Entrepreneurship and Technology created very genuine curiosity about his projects and self-less volunteer work. He set up Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) in Jaipur in 1975 and it has emerged as the largest organization for the handicapped in the world, providing artificial limbs/calipers and other aids and appliances for free. More than 1 million people have been its beneficiaries so far. He also talked about its projects with MIT and Stanford University.
This episode was followed by Fireside Chats with Anil Kumar Gupta and D.R. Mehta which was moderated by Smt. Pooja Wagh. She asked very intriguing questions to know more their works and impending plans for the enhancement of their services. Emcee Kritarth Yudhish harmonized the session very well with all the speakers. Prof. Urmi Samadar, Director of Action Learning, MIT Sloan School of Management, moderated the Fireside chat with Farhan Akhtar by asking her own questions along with audiences’ questions about his initial career, roles, and movies and awaiting plans.
Lastly, a short-pre-recorded video message of Shri Prakash Javadekar, the current government’s Union Minister of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), was shown to all the audiences. In his message he talked many governments policies that are going to help to shape his ministry’s schemes and projects. In the closing session, the co-chairs of the conference thanked everyone in the audiences for attending this event and making it a grand success. Mr. Gaikwad proposed his heartfelt thanks to all the sponsors, co-chairs, vice presidents, conference finance, marketing, operation, outreach team members, and advisors for their support, help, and dedication. He also thanked MIT Media Lab for proving them the well-equipped venue. In addition, he thanked the food and security services for their kind services.
Gold sponsors of this conference included Adani, SARDA, Tata Consultancy Services, MIT Management Action Learning, MIT India, MIT Management Student Life, AU Welfare Foundation and Silver sponsors were Bharat Dak-India Post, Atomic Launch, India New England News, Lokvani, Diya, Indus Business Journal, Network Capital, CNBC TV18. MIT India is the founder and Partner.
Rutgers University, N.J. which has a significant number of Indian and Indian-American students, signed a memorandum of understanding Feb. 21, with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, to establish an ICCR Visiting Lectureship in Contemporary Indian Studies.
The MOU will remain in force till 2023, a press release from the Indian Consulate in New York, said, adding that this agreement “marks a new phase in academic exchanges between India and Rutgers University.”
ICCR had earlier established a Chair at Rutgers School of Management & Labor Relations in 2017. The new MoU will facilitate “focused short term” visits of reputed experts at Rutgers University.
“The chair is likely to draw immense interest from the student community at Rutgers University in view of the increasing interest in India studies as well as large concentration of Indian diaspora in New Jersey,” the press release said.
The Consul General of India in New York Sandeep Chakravarty, signed the MoU on behalf of ICCR; Rutgers’ Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara A. Lee and Chancellor Christopher J. Molloy, signed the MoU on behalf of Rutgers University.
Consul General Chakravorty welcomed the signing of the MOU and noted that the focus of Rutgers University on India has increased significantly in recent months. He also extended the help of the Consulate to connect students of Rutgers University to Indian companies present in the U.S. for both jobs and internship opportunities.
Chancellor Molloy welcomed the signing of the MOU and noted that Rutgers is ready to further intensify its partnership with India.
Both sides also welcomed the launch of the 1st ICCR-Rutgers India Conference scheduled for Feb. 22, and expressed confidence that this will become an annual feature. The theme of the Feb. 22 conference will be “Delivering DemocracyThe Indian Experience’.
Church officials in India have joined rights activists criticizing a drastic government budget cut to an allocation for the rehabilitation of child laborers.
The nation in 2011 had 10.1 million child laborers aged 5-14, according to census records. The estimate now is that there are 12.7 million toiling without access to a proper education.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in a budget handed down earlier this month reduced funding to help stem child labor to US$14 million from last year’s US$17 million.
This will adversely impact the federal National Child Labor Project that aims to offer free education, meals and health care to these children, according to church leaders and rights activists.
“Is there any other problem greater than this in India at present?” asked Bishop Alex Vadakumthala, who heads the Indian bishops’ office for labor.
Just because children cannot vote should not mean they don’t deserve to be able to have a decent existence, Bishop Vadakumthala said, adding that there was no clue as to why the budget allocation was reduced.
India has a law that prohibits employing children below the age of 18. But with lax enforcement, children continue to work in roadside restaurants and small-scale industries, the bishop said.
“There have been no steps to seriously implement the law,” Bishop Vadakumthala said. “The problem is that the government isn’t taking the issue seriously.”
The law has provisions to punish those who employ children with jail terms of up to two years and a fine or US$715 or both.
Puja Marwaha, chief executive of the non-government organisation Child Rights and You (CRY), told ucanews.com that the government’s 2030 Vision goal to make India a developed nation had failed to adopt a comprehensive response to combating child labor.
The February budget was the last one before national elections due in April-May, but it had no specific scheme for the welfare of children who constitute some 40 percent India’s 1.2 billion people, she said.
Balbier Singh, also a child rights activist, said the actual number of child laborers in India could be double the official estimate.
Fear of punishment or of being stopped from going to work force parents and even children to lie about their actual age and employment, Singh said.
“You can find children working everywhere in the country; be it in construction, vehicle repair, domestic work, carpet making, selling cigarettes on the roadside,” Singh said. “But, ironically, the government isn’t acting to end this.”
J.P. Dutta, a social activist based in Jammu, said government alone cannot address the issue effectively and that social mobilization and community participation remain vital for the eradication of child labor.
“There has to be a public interest,” he said. “An extensive awareness campaign is needed, and budgetary provisions must be made for it.”
Father Jaison Vadassery, secretary of the Indian bishops’ labor office, told ucanews.com that church people in India are already conducting awareness campaigns to educate people against tolerating child labour.
However, he believes that a more effective government system is needed to eradicate the social evil. “Until steps are taken to strictly implement the ban on child labour, the situation will not change for the better,” Father Vadassery said.
The Major Superiors of Religious Orders and Congregations (USIG/USG) on February 19, 2019, issued a statement in advance of the February 21-24 Vatican Summit on the Protection of Minors, with the message: “The abuse of children is wrong anywhere and anytime: this point is not negotiable.”
The statement pledges the support of the superiors for the initiative of Pope Francis in calling the meeting and addressing the abuse crisis.
“In our work as religious, we come across many situations where children are abused, neglected, maltreated and unwanted,” the statement said. “We see child soldiers; the trafficking of minors; the sexual abuse of minors; the physical and emotional abuse of minors. They cry out to us. As adults, as Christians and as religious we want to work so that their lives are changed and that the situations in which they are brought up are improved…
“We bow our heads in shame at the realization that such abuse has taken place in our Congregations and Orders, and in our Church…We need a different culture in the Church and in our wider society. We need a culture where children are treasured and where safeguarding is promoted…
“For our own part, we commit to do our best to listen better to survivors, humbly acknowledging that that has not always been the case. We will implement what is decided at this meeting in terms of the accountability required of those in authority.”
The Full USIG/USG Statement:
As the meeting on safeguarding and protection of minors begins we, the Major Superiors of Religious Orders and Congregations around the world, unite in support of this initiative of Pope Francis.
In our work as religious, we come across many situations where children are abused, neglected, maltreated and unwanted. We see child soldiers; the trafficking of minors; the sexual abuse of minors; the physical and emotional abuse of minors. They cry out to us. As adults, as Christians and as religious we want to work so that their lives are changed and that the situations in which they are brought up are improved.
The common theme across all of these issues is vulnerability. Children are the most vulnerable in our societies. Children who are poor, who are disabled or destitute, or who are on the margins, who belong to lower social classes or castes may have a particular vulnerability. They are considered dispensable, to be used and abused.
Sexual abuse in the Church
This particular meeting focuses on the sexual abuse of children and the abuse of power and conscience by those in authority in the Church, especially bishops, priests and religious. It is a story stretching back for decades, a narrative of immense pain for those who have suffered this abuse.
We bow our heads in shame at the realization that such abuse has taken place in our Congregations and Orders, and in our Church. We have learned that those who abuse deliberately hide their actions and are manipulative. By definition, it is difficult to uncover this abuse. Our shame is increased by our own lack of realization of what has been happening. We acknowledge that when we look at Provinces and Regions in our Orders and Congregations across the world, that the response of those in authority has not been what it should have been. They failed to see warning signs or failed to take them seriously.
Our hopes for this Meeting
Our hope for this meeting is that the Holy Spirit will work powerfully during these three days. A three-day meeting is a short time. However, we believe that with the winds of change blowing through our Church and with goodwill on all sides, important processes and structures of accountability can be started and the ones already in place can be supported. New steps forward can be imagined and decisions can be made so that implementation can follow speedily and universally with proper respect for different cultures. The abuse of children is wrong anywhere and anytime: this point is not negotiable.
The Holy Father
The leadership of the Holy Father is key. He has shown the way in so many of these areas; he has acknowledged the pain and guilt; he has met with survivors; he has acknowledged his own mistakes and his need to learn from these survivors. We join with him in his mission to humbly acknowledge and confess the wrongs that have been done; to reach out to survivors; to learn from them how to accompany those who have been abused and how they wish us to hear their stories.
For our own part, we commit to do our best to listen better to survivors, humbly acknowledging that that has not always been the case. We will implement what is decided at this meeting in terms of the accountability required of those in authority.
A culture of Safeguarding
We need a different culture in the Church and in our wider society. We need a culture where children are treasured and where safeguarding is promoted.
– Education and Health Care: Through the schools and the hospitals which many of us run, we can make a difference. Those institutions now have a heightened awareness of the issue of abuse and better protocols and higher standards of protection are in place. Children in these places are more secure than ever before. Sometimes, although admittedly not in all cases, our practices can be a model for others.
– Formation: we will integrate the protection of minors and vulnerable adults into our formation programmes, ensuring that, at every stage, appropriate instruction and education is given to both formators and those in formation. Cultural assumptions must be challenged. As said earlier, it must be clear that whatever the culture and background, the abuse of children is never permitted or tolerable.
– Spirituality: We will ask our Spirituality Centres to develop special outreach to any survivor who wishes to find help in their struggles with faith and meaning. Finding Jesus in a personal way is something that can heal us all. But we understand, too, that those who have been abused by priests or religious may want to stay far distant from the Church and from those who represent the Church. We do know that there are some survivors who want to make this journey of healing and we will try humbly to journey with them. A spirituality that emphasizes personal growth and healing is for many survivors a special gift and grace. Traditional ways of speaking of sin need particular attention. Those who have been abused often carry a sense of guilt, shame, and even sin. In reality, however, they are the ones who have been sinned against.
These and other steps are ways in which our work as religious can help the efforts of the Church.
Conversion
Pope Francis rightly attacks the culture of clericalism which has hindered our fight against abuse and indeed is one of the root causes. In addition, the strong sense of family in our Orders and Congregations – something usually so positive – can make it harder to condemn and expose abuse. It resulted in a misplaced loyalty, errors in judgment, slowness to act, denial and at times, cover-up. We still need conversion and we want to change. We want to act with humility. We want to see our blind spots. We want to name any abuse of power. We commit to engage in a journey with those we serve, moving forward with transparency and trust, honesty and sincere repentance.
Resources
Resources are always an issue. A glance at societies that have put child protection practices in place shows that even government health services struggle with providing adequate resources. We need to collaborate with each other in this area so that resources are used effectively and efficiently. The UISG and USG will work to ensure that Congregations cooperate so that we reach out in the most effective way to survivors in their journey of healing. Formation and ongoing formation can perhaps be the best areas where we can work together. The screening of candidates who join religious life is also something we can collaborate on, identifying best practices. This screening should be compulsory and of the highest quality.
A plea for the Involvement of parents and of women
We ask the help of parents in our fight against abuse. They have a natural instinct for the protection of children that is indispensable. Their advice, their support, their expertise and their challenge to us will be particularly welcome. In particular, we underline the role of mothers. It is fair to say that if women had been asked for their advice and assistance in the evaluation of cases, stronger, faster and more effective action would have been taken. Our ways of handling allegations would have been different, and victims and their families would have been spared a great deal of suffering.
A message to Survivors
Lastly, but most importantly, we want to send a message directly to survivors and their families. We acknowledge that there was an inadequate attempt to deal with this issue and a shameful lack of capacity to understand your pain. We offer our sincerest apologies and our sorrow. We ask you to believe in our goodwill and in our sincerity. We invite you to work with us to put in place new structures to ensure that the risks are minimized.
This meeting will focus on the Protection of Minors. However, recent media attention has also focused on the abuse and exploitation of religious sisters, seminarians, and candidates in formation houses. This is a matter of grave and shocking concern. We pledge ourselves to do all in our power to find an effective response. We want to ensure that those who generously apply to join religious orders or who are trained in seminaries live in places of safety where their vocation is nourished and where their desire to love God and others is helped to grow to maturity.
As the meeting on safeguarding starts, we ask pardon of all for our failures and repeat that we stand with the Holy Father. We commit our efforts to working with him so that the Church can move forward in a coherent, credible and unified way, a way that is genuinely healing, truly renewed, with new eyes to see and new ears to hear.
This is not the first time when technological advances have created a virtual riot in homes, schools, and offices. When telephones were first introduced in the late 1800s, debates ensued about whether they would interfere with office comradery and whether clients would find a call more off-putting than a face-to-face conversation. Television caused a similar stir as scientists and families debated whether the old-fashioned definition of screen time would create a generation of couch potatoes who could no longer think or communicate. So, the current spat over a more modern “screen time” that includes television, smartphones, tablets, and the varied media developed on these platforms is really nothing new. Yet, the debate rages on: Is screen time in its modern guise bad or good for children—and for us?
The past few weeks have seen a flurry of new pieces speaking to the hazards or benefits of screen time. In January, Jordan Shapiro released his new book, “The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World.” In this beautifully written text, Shapiro argues that screen time is here to stay and that children must merely learn how to navigate it well so that they do not overdose or view content that is not healthy for development. Again—not new. Similar discussions were popular as televisions became an indispensable feature of home life. The science, however, reassured us. If time on the tube could be monitored and we could ensure that our young children were not watching gunfire and gang fights, some kids could even benefit from educational TV. In short, the results suggested that “Sesame Street” and “Blues Clues” were great, and the nightly news should be avoided. However, the picture that emerged was more nuanced than “Is television bad or good?” and the answer to the question became “It depends.”
The crop of papers that appeared in the past few weeks suggest this more nuanced approach for digital screen time. On the one hand, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in London noted that children between the ages of 11-24 were spending approximately 2.5 hours on the computer, 3 hours on their phone, and 2 hours on the television per day. Did that amount of viewing hurt them in some obvious and measurable way? Looking at 940 research abstracts, the Royal College did find associations—though not causal links—between screen time and a less healthy diet, less energy, and higher obesity rates. There were also data linking screen time to poorer mental health. Yet, in the last week, a report also suggested that even these associations are weak at best, with new data touting that teen engagement with social media (screen viewing) is not associated with depression.
The inconclusive results and contradictory findings led the Royal College to conclude that a causal chain between screen watching and bad outcomes could not be established. It thus recommended that we find balance between screen and non-screen time—a balance that is dependent on the nature of the child (temperament), the child’s age, and the content in question.
This advice is consistent with Shapiro’s take. In the past few weeks, however, we have also seen several new studies that continue to raise a red flag. In one, we learn that increased face-to-face interactions emerge when we put Facebook use on hold for a year. In another, we learn that when we carry our phones in our pockets, have them on a desk in front of us, or have them more distant from us—in another room—we get different results on cognitive tasks. As you might guess, we do better when our phones are in another room. And at the end of January, we were told by author Sheri Madigan and her colleagues in the pediatric journal JAMA that screen time at 24 months of age relates to lower outcomes at 36 months and that screen time at 36 months relates to lower performance on a developmental screening task when the same children were 60 months of age. This latter study suffered from a few limitations that the authors themselves own: They lumped all screen time—computer, gaming systems, television—together and the effects they report, while significant, were not strong. Nonetheless, the results were suggestive: More screen time does likely reduce other activities children need to participate in to learn and grow.
What are educators and parents to do with this flurry of messages? Perhaps it is time for that more nuanced approach. Screens—be they television or computers—can transport us to places we have only imagined. They can present narratives that enrich our understanding of the world. At the same time, they can eat up precious time and draw our attention away from important human-to-human contact.
To date, the science cannot definitively say that there is a threshold for screen time use after which it is harmful for children. What the science can tell us, however, is that face-to-face interactions are critically important for development and that sometimes the digital technology gets in the way. When adults model poor screen manners by picking up a phone call in the middle of a conversation and fail to teach children how to wisely choose among social media options, then they do so at their own risk. It is our job as adults to help children wisely choose which programs to watch and for how long. Shapiro suggests that when we do this, we will need less surveillance of our children and their digital habits. We can become more like mentors, guiding children to make smart choices until they are old enough to do so—all while protecting their time to engage in crucial human relationships and generate their own imaginative worlds.
Naperville IL: Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico, running for re-election, kick-started his campaign on Thursday, January 24th at Features Bar and Grill. In addition to free admission, attendees enjoyed cocktails, appetizers and speeches from elected officials and community leaders. The strong support of his campaign co-chairs, Pam Davis, Kristin Fitzgerald, Scott Wehrli and John Zediker combined with the enthusiasm of the diverse Host Committee drew a crowd of more than 400 residents and supporters.
In his inspiring address, Chirico stated that during his 3.5 years as Mayor of Naperville he conceptualized and executed strategic initiatives to ensure that Naperville thrives as a vibrant business hub, a role model for neighbourhood safety and a destination for quality education.
Chirico spoke at length about the quality school districts, spacious parks, great restaurants, citizen-friendly property taxes, responsible fiscal policy, strong local economy, progressive police department, competent fire department and significant efforts toward pro-environmental sustainability.
The Mayor also highlighted the Connect for Life Program – a great community resource. Chirico shared that with the Connect for Life program, Naperville Police are able to help those with prescription drug addiction. “There will be no arrests and no charges. The police department is not about arresting people or giving tickets in this situation…they are there to help, educate and share resources,” he added.
Chirico assured that in his second term as Mayor, he will continue his work to diversify the tax base through economic development initiatives and will focus on next steps to ensure Naperville can retain our senior population and attract young professionals.
“Mayor Steve Chirico is easily accessible, business-friendly, and, above all, he a friend of our community. He will, therefore, be an asset as the Naperville Mayor”, said one of the community leaders.
“Naperville’s heritage has helped shape the values of our community and Steve firmly believes in the same values. He, therefore, will lead us into the next generation of prosperity”, stated by one of the Naperville resident.
“The worth-emulating and multifaceted development of Naperville, under the enlightened leadership of Steve Chirico as the mayor, is a sure guarantee of his success in his second term too”—opined a large number of his die-hard supporters belonging to different walks of life from the Naperville community.
(Atlanta, GA: February 9, 2019): Registration for the historic 37th annual convention by American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) to be held at the Omni Atlanta at CNN Center and Georgia World Congress Centre (GWCC) in Atlanta from July 3 to 7, 2019 has begun since February 1st.
“We are excited about the enthusiasm shown by the AAPI members from across the nation,” says Dr. Naresh Parikh, President of AAPI. “Over 2,500 attendees, delegates including Physicians, Academicians, Researchers and Medical students, along with guests are expected to gather at the 37th Annual AAPI Convention in Atlanta, GA.”
“With the Early Bird Special Registration for the convention to end on April 1st, we are seeing an increased interest among AAPI members to secure their seat at the convention,” says, Dr. Sreeni Gangasani, Vice Chair of AAPI BOT and Convention Chair. Early Bird Registration fee for the delegates will be $100 less than the regular rates, says Dr. Gangasani. Also, one gets to pick your own choice of seats at the Galas as soon as you register for the convention. The sooner you register the better the chances for getting the seats of your own choice with the ability to sit closer to the podium and with your friends/families.
Being organized by Georgia Chapter of AAPI, the convention offers unique opportunities for
extensive academic presentations, recognition of achievements and achievers, and professional networking at the alumni and evening social events.
A dedicated pool of Physicians, led by Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda, Vice President, AAPI; Dr. Syamala Erramilli, President of GAPI; Dr. Asha Parikh, Chair of GAPI BOT; Convention Co-chairs: Dr. Raghu Lolabattu, Dr. Piyush Patel, Dr. Subodh Agrawal and several Convention Team members, are working hard to make the convention a memorable experience for all.
In addition to offering over 12 hours of cutting edge CMEs to the physicians, the event will have several hours of product theaters/promotional opportunities, plenary sessions, CEOs Forum, and a women’s leadership forum. The convention will be addressed by senior world leaders, and celebrities from the Hollywood and Bollywood world.
The AAPI Atlanta Convention is where sponsors and advertisers can reach their target audience of over two thousand under one roof. The convention offers a variety of ways to reach physicians and their families. It provides access to nearly 2,500 health professionals who are leaders and decision-makers regarding new products and services, as wells as to national and international health policy advisors.
The venue is the fabulous Omni Atlanta at CNN Center and Georgia World Congress Center. This world-class facility will afford an intimate setting that will facilitate our ability to convoy cutting-edge research and CME, promote business relationships, and display ethnic items.
“Exhibitors and Corporate Partners remain our priority as we work together to provide a world-class forum for increased interactions between physicians, sponsors, exhibitors, and all other attendees,” says Dr. Syamala Erramilli.
Dr. Asha Parikh adds, “The unique layout of the Exhibit Hall will promote positive discourse between all and various planned activities will ensure their visitation to the Exhibit Hall and maximize attendance. The ease with which members and attendees can move between the Exhibit Hall, conference and ballrooms, and their hotel rooms will ensure maximum attendance and visibility for Sponsors and Exhibitors.”
Dr. Raghu Lolabattu says, “Given that a physician of Indian origin sees every 7th patient in this country and every 5th patient in rural and inner city Georgia, the reach and influence of AAPI members goes well beyond the convention. Urging all corporate and local sponsors not to miss the opportunity, Dr. Suresh Reddy, President-Elect of AAPI, says, “Take advantage of our sponsorship packages at the 37th Annual AAPI convention to create high-powered exposure to the highly coveted demographic of AAPI’s membership.”
“AAPI offers customized and exclusive sponsorship packages to meet your needs. These can include keynote speaker opportunities (non-CME), awards and recognition at breakfast, lunch and dinner, roundtable meetings with AAPI leadership, premium exhibit booth selection, etc,” Dr. Piyush Patel. “We also offer corporate identity packages that utilize our registration area, Internet kiosks, plasma display panels, the souvenir book, and audiovisual screens during CME hours and events to display your company name,” Dr. Subodh Agrawal.
“We have convened a fantastic group of people to meet the needs of the 2019 convention and are very excited about next year. Please reach out to any one of the representatives from the Atlanta team with questions or comments,” Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda. “They are flexible and can accommodate specific products, services, target market goals, brand requirements, and budgetary limits. If the packages below do not meet your needs, please contact us, and we will create a package that will!”
Representing the interests of the over 100,000 physicians of Indian origin, leaders of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), the largest ethnic organization of physicians, for 37 years, AAPI Convention has provided a venue for medical education programs and symposia with world renowned physicians on the cutting edge of medicine, says Dr. Subodh Agrawal.
“The 2019 AAPI Annual Convention & Scientific Assembly offers an exciting venue to interact with leading physicians, health professionals, academicians, and scientists of Indian origin. Physicians and healthcare professionals from across the country will convene and participate in the scholarly exchange of medical advances, to develop health policy agendas, and to encourage legislative priorities in the coming year. We look forward to seeing you in Atlanta, GA!” says Dr. Naresh Parekh.
(Chicago, IL. February 4, 2019) After mesmerizing musical lovers all across the world with his enchanting voice, Sukhwinder Singh, a top Bollywood singer, accompanied by the first lady of Maharashtra, Ms. Amruta Fadnavis, is now on AAPI’s Nine-City Jai Ho Musical Dhamaka this spring, performing in Nine Cities around the United States.
Organized by the American Association of Physicians of Indian origin (AAPI), the spectacular musical program combined with educational and networking opportunities for AAPI members, supporters and sponsors, is being organized with the objective of bringing CME and non-CME sponsored medical lectures, exhibits, Gala Dinner, community outreach talks and lively musical nite in each of the 9 cities across the country.
“Following the past successes of multi-city musical tours organized by AAPI, I am inspired by the concept and how such events have helped in strengthening the relationship between the AAPI Chapters and national office, in addition to help raise funds for the many noble programs for AAPI and the local Chapters” says Dr. Naresh Parikh, President of AAPI.
Dr. Hemant Dhingra, Entertainment Chair of AAPI provided a detailed description of the planned 9-City Tour by popular Bollywood star, Sukhvinder, which is a way to raise funds for AAPI and its many local Chapters. Dr. Dhingra, who has close relationship with the Entertainment Industry, worked with Sukhwinder Singh and team to put together the mega event.
The 9 city musical and educational tour is being launched on Friday, May 10 Columbus, Ohio and will be followed by Atlanta on May 11th and in Washington DC on May 12th. Sukhvinder and his team will perform in Charlotte, NC on May 17th, in New Jersey on May 18th and in Dallas, TX on May 19th. In the final weekend, the popular artist will begin his tour in Milwaukee, WI on May 24th, in San Jose, CA on May 25th and the grand finale will be in Hollywood City, Los Angeles on May 26th.
“A major objective of this program is to bring together various local Chapters, says Dr. Parikh. “National coordinators of the program, Drs. Narendra Kumar. Hemant Dhingra, Raj Bhayani. Amit Chkrabarty, Anjana Samadder, and Gautam Samaddar, as well as and the entire AAPI team and leadership enthusiastically received this idea and the net result of our collaboration and dialogue is the 9-city grand mega concert.”
Senior leadership and several past Presidents and leaders of AAPI have extended their whole-hearted support in organizing this mega event across the nation, Dr. Parikh says. “I am sincerely grateful to Dr. Narendra Kumar, Dr. Sanku Rao, Dr. Vinod Shah, Dr. Ravi Jahagirdar, Dr. Ajay Lodha, Dr. Jayesh Shah, Dr. Vijay Koli, Mr. Anwar Feroz Siddiqi and all past Presidents of AAPI for their senior advisory role in making this mega event a grand success.”
Anwar Feroz Siddiqi, Chief Strategy Adviser says, “We are now poised to take our commitment to newer heights, the 9 City Musical Tour by world renowned Bollywood artist Sukwinder accompanied by an icon of women leadership, the first lady of Maharashtra, Ms. Amruta Fadnavis, a very well know personality, a great singer and amazing community leader that continues to pursue her career with her spouse being in the most powerful office in Maharashtra, a true demonstration of great leadership.” Coupled with three honorable causes addressing cardiovascular disease, lymphoma and leukemia, this is truly a worthy and honorable effort that enhances AAPI’s commitment to major health issues and its strong support to eradicate them.
“Entertainment was only just one component of the entire program,” Dr. Parikh adds. “The idea is to put together mini seminars, networking and strengthening the relationship between members and the national office. “Due to popular demand from several physicians on the need for enhancing scientific component at AAPI meetings and allowing greater number of members to participate, AAPI is now organizing the 13-city programs to make it easy for physicians to participate locally avoiding extensive travel and time away from practice,” he explains.
“Many of our industry partners liked this concept where they could get prime time with a few hundred doctors in each location for product promotion/theater, non CME lectures, exhibits, booths,” Dr. Narendra Kumar, national coordinator of the event, says. “These multi-city mini-seminars are a novel concept for education and recreation that will raise funds for the local chapters of AAPI, the national AAPI and the AAPI Charitable Foundation.”
Describing the process leading to the Tour, Dr. Suresh Reddy, President-Elect of AAPI, recalls, “Realizing that it takes a lot of coordination and tremendous effort, we were successful in involving dozens of AAPI office-bearers of various Chapters and Executive Committee members. Each of them is committed to work hard, coordinate with the local leadership, while committing to have the funds raised would be given to AAPI, the local Chapters, and the many philanthropic endeavors organized by AAPI and its Charitable Foundation.”
AAPI has established itself as the most successful and premiere ethnic medical organization in the United States. AAPI-Charitable Foundation, the crest jewel of AAPI, is committed to serve the poorest of the poor in remote areas of India and USA.
Since 1992, the Foundation has been providing an infrastructure support system for needy patients in India with two main goals: enabling AAPI members to commit their time and resources to support the clinics for the indigent; and to monitor effectively the clinics’ progress and be accountable for the overall success of the project.
The Seminars, CMEs, and workshops will be led by accomplished faculty of leading Physicians, Industry Leaders, Cardiologists, Cardiovascular Surgeons and Psychiatrists. Each of the nine medical educational programs is expected to have an audience of 250-400 Physicians, which will be followed by an annual gala event and entertainment with an expected 2,500+ audience at each location.
Sukhwinder Singh, an internationally recognized Bollywood playback artist, best known for singing “Chaiyya,” for which he won the Best Male Playback Award at the 1999 Filmfare Awards, in association with composer A.R. Rahman has resulted in numerous hit songs. The list includes Chaiyya from Dil Se, Ramta Jogi, Ni Main Samajh Gayee, Taal Se Taal Mila and Nahin Samne from Taal, Ruth Aa Gayee Re, Raat Ki Daldal Hain and Yeh Jo Zindagi Hain from Earth, Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai from Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, Aayo Re Sakhi, Bhangari Morori and Piya Ho from Water, Chinnamma Chilakkamma from Meenaxi, Thok De Killi from Raavan and the most popular Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire.
The song “Jai Ho”, sung by Singh, composed by A.R. Rahman and written by Gulzar, was nominated as a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Song and won an Oscar Academy Award for Best Original Song. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media in 2010.
Proceeds from the 9-city tour will support some of the noble initiatives of AAPI, says, Dr. Parikh. “We are requesting all AAPI members, all doctors of Indian origin, all south Asians to rally and support this amazing opportunity of the 9-city musical tour to promote awareness and raise funds for supporting programs to address the rapidly growing problem of cardiovascular diseases in south Asians and minorities living in the United States and Lymphoma & Leukemia in India.’
Ms. Amruta Fadnavis was born, as Amruta Ranade on 9 April 1979 in Nagpur, Maharashtra, to Dr. Sharad Ranade, an Ophthalmologist and Dr. Charulata Ranade, a Gynaecologist. She grew up in a household where education and independence for women was essential. She initially studied at St. Joseph Convent School, Nagpur. She graduated from G.S. College of Commerce and Economics. Later she pursued MBA in finance and studied taxation laws from Symbiosis Law School, Pune. Along with studies she also participated in sports and an excellent sports person. She was a state level under 16 tennis player.
Dr. Parikh promises to “make this event both transparent and successful, and we hope it becomes an annual event. Many of our industry partners have also shown great interest in this concept, where they can receive prime time with a few hundred doctors for product promotion, theater, non-CME lectures, exhibits and booths. Because of this, we hope to have a significant number of national sponsors for this program.”
This extensive Musical/Educational Tour program put together by Dr. Parikh and his Team is a step towards reaching the message of AAPI across the globe and help AAPI realize its noble mission. “I am calling on all AAPI members, all doctors of Indian origin, all South Asians to rally and support an amazing opportunity of the 9-city musical tour to promote awareness and raise funds for supporting essential programs to address the rapidly growing problem of cardiovascular diseases in South Asians and minorities living in the United States and Lymphoma & Leukemia in India.” For more details on the Musical Tour and for sponsorship opportunities, please visit: http://www.aapiusa.org/ https://www.aapievents.com/
As many as 129 Indians are among the 130 foreign students arrested for enrolling at a fake university allegedly to remain in the US. The university in Detroit’s Farmington Hills was part of an undercover operation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designed to expose immigration fraud, according to federal prosecutors who announced charges in the case. The arrest of such a large number of students has created panic among the Indian students.
Officials said all of them face deportation, besides being put under detention. A number of students have been put under some kind of house arrest with tracking device on their ankle, that prohibits them from moving out of a designated area in their neighbourhood.
As part of its investigations, early this week, the ICE arrested eight recruiters on criminal charges. From their names it appears that all of them are either Indian nationals or Indian-Americans. “These suspects aided hundreds of foreign nationals to remain in the United States illegally by helping to portray them as students, which they most certainly were not. HSI remains vigilant to ensure the integrity of US immigration laws and will continue to investigate this and other transnational crimes,” said Special Agent Charge Francis. According to the ICE, in 2017, as many as 249,763 Indian students were enrolled in the various American universities. Students from China topped the list with 481,106 in 2017.
On its website, the University of Farmington advertised an innovative STEM curriculum that would prepare students to compete in the global economy, and flexible class schedules that would allow them to enroll without disrupting their careers. The Michigan-based school touted the number of languages spoken by its president (four) and the number of classes taught by teaching assistants (zero.) Photos of the campus showed students lounging around with books on a grassy quad, or engaged in rapt conversation in its brightly-lit modern library. Tuition was relatively reasonable – $8,500 a year for undergraduates and $11,000 a year for graduate students.
“Located in the heart of the automotive and advanced manufacturing center of Southeast Michigan, the University of Farmington provides students from throughout the world a unique educational experience,” the site informed prospective applicants.
But there were no classes taking place at the university, which employed no instructors or professors. In court filings that were unsealed Wednesday, federal prosecutors revealed that the school’s employees were actually undercover agents working for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The fake university had been set up in 2015 as part of an elaborate sting operation aimed at ensnaring foreign nationals who had initially come to the United States on student visas. Its “campus” consisted of a small office in a corporate park in the northwestern Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills, Michigan, with no quad or library in sight.
The phony university was “being used by foreign citizens as a ‘pay to play’ scheme,” prosecutors allege. After forking over thousands of dollars, students would provide immigration authorities with evidence that they were enrolled in a full-time educational program. They could then continue to live and work in the United States under a student visa. But since the University of Farmington didn’t actually exist, they didn’t have the hassle of writing papers, taking tests or showing up to class.
Students knew that the scheme was illegal, “and that discretion should be used when discussing the program with others,” prosecutors wrote in their indictment, which was filed Jan. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
According to the Detroit News, which first reported on the undercover operation, dozens of University of Farmington students were arrested on immigration violations on Wednesday as part of a massive nationwide sweep, and are now potentially facing deportation. In addition, eight people who allegedly worked as “recruiters” for the school and collectively helped at least 600 students to remain in the country under false pretenses now face federal conspiracy charges.
The Department of Homeland Security’s list of certified schools where international students can enroll includes the University of Farmington. And the school made some pretense of being a legitimate institution. Before Wednesday night, when the school’s Facebook and Twitter accounts were abruptly deleted, posts on social media notified students about school cancellations due to an ice storm, and advertised an upcoming admissions fair. It had a Latin motto – “Scientia et Labor,” meaning “Knowledge and Work” – and a handful of positive online reviews from people claiming to be satisfied alumni.
But no one enrolled at the university was making progress toward a degree, the indictment said. The “unique educational experience” promoted on the school’s website apparently consisted of not going to school at all.
There were some clues that not everything was aboveboard. The school’s website never said how many enrolled students it had, though it claimed that they came from all 50 states and 47 countries. It didn’t name the university’s president or the year when the school was founded. As the Detroit News’s Robert Snell noted on Twitter, a photo showing a diverse group of students deep in concentration came from Shutterstock. The university claimed to be accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, but did not appear in an online directory of accredited institutions on the organization’s website.
According to prosecutors, students were well aware that the school was a fraud. They allegedly chose to enroll anyway because doing so would allow them to remain in the country on F-1 nonimmigrant visas, which allow foreign citizens to temporarily reside in the United States while studying accredited academic institutions.
Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for ICE in Detroit, told local news station WXYZ that the students had entered the United States legally on F-1 visas after being accepted to legitimate schools, and had later transferred to the University of Farmington.
The federal indictments name eight people in eight states who allegedly worked as recruiters for the school. All have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harboring aliens for profit. They face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The eight recruiters allegedly helped create fraudulent records, including transcripts, that students could give to immigration authorities. Authorities contend that they collectively accepted more than $250,000 in kickbacks for their work, not realizing that the payments were actually coming from undercover agents who worked for Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE.
“We are all aware that international students can be a valuable asset to our country, but as this case shows, the well-intended international student visa program can also be exploited and abused,” Matthew Schneider, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in a statement emailed to media outlets on Wednesday.
This isn’t the first time that the feds have set up a fake university with the goal of rooting out visa fraud. Calling “pay to stay” a national security threat, officials announced in April 2016 that they had charged 21 people with recruiting international students who paid to enroll at the made-up University of Northern New Jersey so that they could get student visas. More than a dozen students who partook in the scheme later told the New York Times that they felt they had been deceived by the government.
Many of the students who enrolled at the University of Farmington appear to be Indian nationals who belong to the Telugu ethnic group. The American Telugu Association said in a Wednesday statement that “scores of Telugu students nationwide” had been arrested in early-morning raids, and that the organization was attempting to provide them with legal guidance.
As the News noted, the undercover investigation seems to have ramped up one month after President Trump took office. While the fake university was set up in 2015, it wasn’t until February 2017 that HSI agents began posing as university officials, the indictment said. The undercover operation, nicknamed “Paper Chase,” continued until earlier this month.
The Indian embassy has appointed a nodal officer to handle and coordinate all issues related to helping Indian students affected by the busting of the “pay-and-stay” racket run by a group of Indians that has put some 600 students under trouble.
The Indian embassy in the US has opened a 24/7 hotline to assist 129 Indian students arrested by the American authorities in the “pay-and-stay” university visa scam, officials have said. The two numbers – 202-322-1190 and 202-340-2590 – would be manned by senior embassy officials round the clock, officials said on Friday. The arrested students, their friends and family members can contact the embassy at cons3.washington@mea.gov.in.
The US announced that starting April 1, it will switch to a new system for processing H-1B petitions that will give priority to foreign workers with advanced degrees from an American institution of higher education, over those hired abroad, in India, China and other countries.
The new system will also introduce electronic registration of petitions, which, however, will be suspended for the upcoming H-1B 2020 season that will typically kick off from April 1.
The United States has announced that starting April 1, it will switch to a new system for processing H-1B petitions that will give priority to foreign workers with advanced degrees from an American institution of higher education, over those hired abroad, in India, China and other countries.
The new system will also introduce electronic registration of petitions, which, however, will be suspended for the upcoming H-1B 2020 season that will typically kick off from April 1.
The switch in the selection process is expected to increase the number of beneficiaries with advanced degrees from US institutions by an estimated 16% (or 5,340 workers). It is in line with President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions in support of merit-based immigration.
Francis Cissna, director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which runs the H-1B visa programme, gave a nod to Trump in a statement announcing the new rule and said, “US employers seeking to employ foreign workers with an American masters or higher degree will have a greater chance of selection in the H-1B lottery in years of excess demand for new H-1B visas.”
Trump had himself signalled the new rule in a tweet earlier this month in which he had said “changes are soon coming which will bring both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship”. And, he had added, “We want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to pursue career options in the US.”
The US grants 65,000 visas to foreigner workers hired abroad for speciality professions sponsored by American employers every year under a congressionally mandated cap. Another 20,000 visas are granted to foreigners with advanced degree from US colleges and universities.
More than 70% of the total visas go to Indian beneficiaries hired by both US companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google, and US arms of Indian outsourcing giants such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro.
Kiran Patel, chairman of Tampa, Fla.-based Freedom Health and a pioneering Cardiologist, was accorded the highest national honor given to any person of Indian origin living outside of India, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019.Dr. Patel received the award from the Indian President Ram Nath Kovind at the 15thPravasi Bharatiya Divas in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, which concluded last week.
The other three chosen fro the award from the US included, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath, Illinois-based scientist Chandra Shekhar Mishra and Michigan resident Gitesh Jayantilal Desai. Besides the four Indian Americans, 24 other prominent personalities from the Indian diaspora worldwide received the awards.
Dr. Patel has generously contributed his fortune for several noble causes in India, his country of origin, the United States, his adopted country, and Zambia, the country of his birth. Dr. Patel is also the Chairman and President of Optimum Healthcare, Inc.
All philanthropic campaigns, contributions and projects have resulted from his passion for health, education and charity. That’s why he has also commissioned Drs. Kiran and Pallavi Global University, a 120-acre institute under construction in India.
Sharing his own experiences of investing in the state of Gujarat and in the United States, Dr. Patel, said, with the state requiring more trained personnel to support the growing needs, he is willing to establish a Medical College in Rajasthan.
Dr. Patel, a very soft spoken physician of Indian origin, said the projects combine his passions for health education and charity. In his first venture in running a university, he hopes to fulfill a need for competent doctors in the area while also educating generations of physicians who can serve in underprivileged areas across the globe.
Dr. Patel had purchased the former Clearwater Christian College property with a goal of developing an osteopathic medical school in his home-state, Florida. The Indian American physician closed on the $12 million purchase of the 25-acre campus overlooking Old Tampa Bay at the west end of the Courtney Campbell Causeway.
In 2014, Patel broke ground on the $175 million, 448-room Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach resort, creating a successful and modern hospitality business.
In July, the city of Clearwater purchased the 111 acres of wetlands and submerged lands surrounding the campus for preservation and restoration projects. If his plans are fulfilled, Patel will develop the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, catering to both domestic and international students, especially from India and Africa, who otherwise could not afford medical training.
“One goal,” he said, “is to train doctors who can return to their home countries and treat underserved communities. It is not easy — there are a lot of challenges — but if somebody’s heart is there and doing the right thing, the right results will follow,” Patel said.
The hope is for the school to serve upwards of 150 students by the fall of 2018 or early 2019, following the credentialing and certification process. Patel estimates it could cost $50 million to launch the school, most of which will come from his own pocket, although having existing classroom infrastructure and dormitories significantly reduces costs.
Mayor George Cretekos of Tampa described Patel’s proposed development as a “boom for the city.” “I think it’s a good fit and goes with what we were wanting to see with that property,” Cretekos said, according to the Tampa Bay Times report. “The potential to benefit the entire area is just amazing.”
Planning and overseeing the charitable works, according to Dr. Patel has “Two approaches: direct involvement in the areas of Zambia, East Africa and India. I oversee the utilization of the funds to the penny. What you have seen in the Tampa area is a legacy gift. To impact as large a group as possible, we have entrusted a responsible institution to perpetuate our mission, such as the performing arts center and University of South Florida.”
Born in Zambia to Indian American parents, educated in India, Dr. Kiran Patel arrived in the United States on Thanksgiving Day, 1976. He returned home to attend medical school, where he met his wife, Pallavi, a fellow student, but ultimately decided to return to the U.S. permanently. “I wanted to make sure my children had a better future, and the political climate in Africa at the time was a bit challenging,” he says.
Dr. Patel was educated in Zambia and then got his diploma in Cambridge University and The University of London. He came down to India to study medicine in Gujarat University in India and did his Internship in Africa. Dr. Patel did his residency in Internal Medicine in New Jersey in 1980. He completed a fellowship in the Cardiology program affiliated with the Columbia University of New York in 1982.
Dr. Pallavi Patel did her undergraduate degree from M.G. Science College, Gujarat University, and attended Municipal Medical College of Gujarat University in Ahmedabad. She did her internship from St. Barnabas Hospital in New Jersey, School of Medicine Dentistry of New Jersey and Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey, in affiliation with Columbia University in New York. She started her private practice in Kabwe, Zambia, from 1974 to 1978 and worked as a part-time consultant physician from 1974 to 1978 for Kabwe Industrial Fabrics, Ltd. and Kapiri Glass Products, Ltd.
The Patel family moved to Tampa, Florida in 1982 and Dr. Kiran Patel began his practice in Cardiology. His dedication, compassion, and skills made him very successful at the very early stage of medical practice, and was soon a distinguished cardiologist in that area. He developed a physician practice management company and expanded to places adjoining Tampa Bay area diverging into 14 practices including Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Cardiology.
Dr. Patel was also in partnership with several point-of-service locations to form multi-specialty networks. This network helped patients to access most medical services conveniently. He has actively engaged himself in managed care contracts and has expanded so much that it provides care for more than 80,000 patients annually. Apart from this, he has developed good associations with several HMOs and hospitals. His success in managed care contracts led a group of doctors to seek his services to help them with an HMO in New Port Richey, Florida.
Dr. Patel took up the project after discussing a pre-determined purchase option of the company. It was called the Well Care HMO, Inc. (Well Care). In 1992, Dr. Kiran Patel, along with Rupesh Shaw, CEO, and Pradip Patel, President, started a Medicaid managed care company. Not long after, this company became the largest Medicaid provider in the state of Florida.
He helped to bring around the struggling HMO, WellCare of New York and Connecticut. While turning around the company, he worked with nearly a hundred hospitals and a few hundred physicians in settling past due medical claims. Dr. Kiran Patel provided an additional $15 million in equity through Conversion of Brow and infused $10 million of new capital and acquired 55 percent of the publicly held Well Care Management Group.
Between 1995 and 2002, Dr. Kiran Patel built it into a billion-dollar company, providing services to more than 450,000 members, employing more than 1,200 employees and operating in Florida, New York and Connecticut. Dr. Patel subsequently entered the managed care industry and was the Chairman of WellCare of Florida.
He had served as Chairman of Visionary Medical Systems. He believes that the Visionary Office will reduce the paperwork for the physicians and give them more time to devote on their patients. He is a member on the following organizations: Fellow of American College of Cardiology; American Medical Association, American College of Physicians, American Association of Physicians from the South East Asia, Past Chair Scholarship Committee.
A cardiologist, visionary, businessman and philanthropist, Dr. Kiran Patel, along with his wife devotes substantial sums towards charity and education both in India, Zambia as well as in the United States. A 50-bed charity hospital serving 100,000 villagers in India was established by her along with her family; provision of funds for annual scholarship for underprivileged children to obtain a college education; funding for the construction of the USF Charter School for Underprivileged Children in Hillsborough County; sponsoring of 25 orphans from India to visit and perform a cross-cultural program in the United States.
In 2003, the Patels sold their majority of his interest in their business, and Dr. Patel turned his attention to the family’s many philanthropic endeavors. That same year, he became chairman of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI). It was from this vantage point that he began to tackle several significant humanitarian projects in India, including the construction of numerous hospitals, a diabetes research study, and improved health care access for poor and rural citizens. His enormous contributions during and after national calamities in India are very remarkable.
Dr. Patel united the Tampa Bay community and AAPI and led an effort that eventually rehabilitated the villagers’ homes, constructed an orphanage and model school and created four modern hospitals, and was able to utilize generous contributions from the Tampa Bay community, and often matched them with his own money.
One of the leading philanthropists in America, the Patels also sponsor 25 orphans from India to come annually to the United States and participate in cross-cultural programs.
On the challenges he had to face upon arrival here in the US, Dr. Patels says, “There are many challenges when you come from an Eastern culture to the Western world. It’s a tougher transition for children than for us. I have a rigid personality … as a parent I have firm expectations on behavior, certain etiquette and rules. My children all got used to it, in a good way. They know I am there for them and they for me, but I’m not a warm, fuzzy type of guy.”
The couple’s gift of $12 million to the University of South Florida, resulted in converting the Patel School of Global Sustainability to the Patel College of Global Sustainability. “It was important to create a college to be a perpetual institution that creates students and scholars who are going to change the world dramatically,” Dr. Patel says. “I believe it will create champions of the profession. Most people don’t understand sustainability; they think it’s just a problem for third world countries. They don’t realize the U.S. and Europe are most guilty of consuming resources. At the current rate the Western world uses natural resources, we would need six Earths to provide the rest of the world the same lifestyle. We must change.”
Another area of focus for the Patels is health. “Intellectual capability without physical capability, you still have a problem. Arts and culture are more in the luxurious category, which it should not be, but I feel that way. It can play a unique role in integrating people, but if someone is starving, he’s not going to think of the arts,” he says.
The family has become renowned in the Tampa Bay area and beyond for their openhanded philanthropy: The suburbs of Tampa is home to one of the largest single-family estate in the United States, according to property assessment records obtained by the Tampa Tribune. Dr. Kiran and Dr. Pallavi Patel, along with their son, daughters, and grandchildren, live inan elegantly built beautiful house with the combined square footage of the buildings within the estate amounts to 35,000 square feet, with the main residence contributing 15,000 square footage of the total. Each of the six satellite homes is more than 7,000 square feet.
Dr. Pallavi serves on many boards and is a member of several organizations. She is president and CEO of Stat Care and Bay Area Primary Care Association, Inc. with five locations across Tampa. She is also a founder, trustee and administrator for the India Cultural Center. She is a member of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Board of Trustees, Shakti Krupa Charitable Foundation Board of Directors and the ICC Hope Scholarship Foundation Board of Directors.
In 2003 the couple set up a nonprofit Foundation for Global Understanding. Dr. Kiran Patel serves as the chairman and Dr. Pallavi Patel is president of Foundation that develops and funds a wide variety of programs in health, education, arts and culture. Together they have made possible the USF/Dr. Kiran C. Patel Charter School along with the Dr. Pallavi Patel Pediatric Care Center at the school as well as the highly celebrated Dr. Pallavi Patel Performing Arts Conservatory.
The Patels not only earned a highly cherished reputation as physicians, but also gained a unique vision of the future of the medical care. Rather than shunning the growing trend toward managed health care, they began to develop solutions that made sense from the physician’s point of view.
Recognitions came their way with several awards and honors from around the country. Among the honors and awards that he has received is the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Southeast United States, Jefferson Award for Public Service-National Media Award, Community Leader Award-Community Development Corporation of Tampa, Lions Clubs International Academy Award for Humanitarian Service, and Ike Tribble Award from National Urban League.
Volunteers of America, one of the nation’s largest and oldest human services charities, presented its highest honor – the 2012 Ballington and Maud Booth Award – to Drs. Pallavi and Kiran Patel on during the organization’s national conference at the Hyatt Regency Tampa.
On New Year’s day in 2007, Dr. Patel was honored with the “Glory of Gujarat” award from the Chief Minister of his home State in India. In May 2007, Dr. Patel received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for Exceptional Immigrant Patriots. Both Dr. Kiran Patel and Pallavi Patel were inducted into the Tampa Bay Hall of Fame in 2010 by the business community of Tampa Bay.
Dr. Pallavi Patel was honored as the Business Woman of the Year in 2006 for her outstanding role in the community. In 2007, she was awarded Woman of Distinction by the Girls Scouts of Florida, and in 2008 she was inducted into the prestigious Florida Women’s Hall of Fame.
The Patels were selected for the 2012 Booth Award because of their generous philanthropic work to support programs in health, education, arts and culture, both in the Tampa area and around the world. Their foundation supported the Pepin Heart Hospital Research Institute in Tampa as well as the Dr. Pallavi Patel Conservatory for Performing Arts. In 2011, the Dr. Kiran C. Patel for Global Solutions, based at the University of South Florida, was established to develop solutions to some of today’s major global problems.
In 2003, Dr. Kiran Patel was appointed by Florida’s governor to the University of South Florida Board of Trustees. In 2004, the Patel were awarded the Cultural Contributor of the Year Award by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. The Foundation also support a yearly U.S. scholarship fund for underprivileged youth and the IMAGINE Project, which teaches philanthropic entrepreneurism to young leaders. USF CHART-India Program, another innovative foundation project, works aggressively to provide HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and education programs throughout India’s rural and urban populations.
The Patels believe that “education gives the maximum impact. In my father’s village, we built a school that has transformed a generation. Uplifting a single student will uplift five or 10 families.” And the noble mission goes on with no boundaries, benefitting millions of deserving people across all continents.
Dr. Sudha S. Parikh, an anesthesiologist in tri-state area, was awarded the Nari Udyami Award for her philanthropic work at a ceremony in India on Jan. 23. On the concluding day of the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Varanasi, at an event entitled “She The Change: Nari Udyami Award” several pravasi Indians were recognized for their work relating to women’s empowerment.
Dr. Sudha Parikh received the award for her work with girl’s education and women’s empowerment through various non-profits like Akshay Patra, Share and Care, and Project Life. Dr. Sudha Parikh is the wife of Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh, founder and chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media and ITV Gold.
Dr. Sudha Parikh, philanthropist and vice chairperson of ITV Gold, 9th from left in back row, holding the award along with other’s recognized during the “She The Change: Nari Udyami Award 2019” event in Varanasi, Jan. 23, organized by the Beti & Shiksha Foundation. The event was held on the last day of the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas.
“I feel great and humble to get this award … along with very accomplished women. I thank the BS Foundation (Beti Shiksha Foundation) for recognizing my work and inspiring me to do more work helpful to the community,” Dr. Sudha Parikh said in an interview to ITV Gold. “Women’s education is the most important because if one woman is educated in the family, she will educate a whole family and she can uplift a whole family,” she said.
Dr. Sudha Parikh, who is also the vice chairperson of ITV Gold, urged other social workers and those interested in philanthropy to join in helping to empower women and children through education and with other needs such as health services, and training in skills so that they can earn a living.
“I am connected with a few organizations like Share and Care and Akshay Patra,” which raise funds to help with children and women’s empowerment, and hot school lunches that keep kids in school, she noted.
Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh, founder and chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media and ITV Gold, seen at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Jan. 23, in Varanasi, with Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, the daughter of the youngest son of Mahatma Gandhi, Devadas, and daughter-in-law, Lakshmi Gandhi. She has been dedicated to the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, and also works for rural women and children with the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust established by Mahatma Gandhi.
Dr. Sudhir Parikh praised the Beti & Shiksha Foundation for its work and said he felt “very humble and very grateful” for the recognition accorded to Dr. Sudha Parikh. “Because this kind of recognition encourages us to work harder for women’s empowerment , women’s education, and women’s health.”
These kinds of recognition, “is like an adrenalin for us to keep working in our senior age. We are both in our 70s, but we are working relentlessly on these kinds of philanthropic work,” Dr. Sudhir Parikh said.
He reiterated his belief that “The more you give the more you become,” and that giving to society was a “double pleasure.”
A performance by Deepak Maharaj, son of Birju Maharaj, at the ‘SheThe Change: Nari Udyami Award” ceremony Jan. 23, in Prayagraj (Varanasi) on the last day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
“When you are giving, it is a pleasure for you, and when you look at the person receiving it, look at his smile and satisfaction, that gives us another pleasure,” he said.
“I would encourage people to support female members of the family to go out and help the poorest of the poor and children in society because it lifts the whole family,” Dr. Sudhir Parikh said.
The B & S Foundation was founded in 2008, because of the “persistent gender inequalities in India and the sheer need of finding non-traditional, high-return livelihood options for poor women,” in urban and rural areas, according to the website. The organization operates in Delhi, as well as in Jammu & Kashmir and North-Eastern states in India. “Our aim is to level the employment field for disadvantaged women by providing livelihoods options that enhance women’s economic status, dignity, and decision-making within their families.” It does this through its WE-SHAKTI program aimed at empowering women with minimal economic and social capital to become professional commercial drivers.
Renu Gupta received the She The Change – Nari Udhyami Sanman 2019 for her lifelong efforts in bringing about a positive change in the lives of people in India and the US. The award, conferred by the Beti & Shiksha Foundation in Varanasi, India was presented by Tara Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi and Baby Rani Maurya, Governor of Uttarkhand. While happy at the honor, Renu downplays her achievements and says there are many people who are doing as much work as she is and she just “happened to be lucky” that she was recognized.
This is typical of the friendly no nonsense awardee who doesn’t believe in doing “anything that doesn’t make sense to her,” but will do whatever it takes to help someone in need.
Renu, 61, spent her growing years in Rajasthan where she completed her studies in Sanskrit and English. Marriage to Dr. Arun Gupta, a scientist, brought her to the US where she plunged into a job, studies and community activities.
She credits two strong influences in her life. Her maternal grandmother who instilled the values of Hindu dharma and her paternal grandfather from whom she absorbed the spirit of selfless service. The appeal of Hindu Dharma, observes Renu, is its “universality, logic and its step by step direction for self-realization.” She is “very comfortable being a Hindu in the US” and accepts other religious traditions with the same openness.
A member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad America for the last 36 years and now serving as VP of Seva in VHPA, Renu spearheaded a group of 15 likeminded women for “Seva, Shakti and Sadhana.” All activities are geared towards this mission such as organizing spiritual retreats, workshops and serving the community. In 2008, she received a call from a Catholic Service coordinator who asked for help in rehabilitating 50 refugee Bhutanese and Nepali families. Over the course of 10 years, the VHPA group worked with the refugees to set up their homes, taught them to clean houses and drive so they could find employment, file taxes and helped their children enroll in school.
Five years ago she took up the “Support A Child” project – a VHPA initiative that was languishing for want of attention. The initiative raises funds for the education and boarding of under privileged children in India and her efforts helped the support grow from 700 children to 2500 children. Renu makes it a point to visit the Ekal schools and the SAC hostels every year to supervise its operations personally. Plans for the future include increasing the number of children in the program from 2500 to 5000.
One of the original volunteers of Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA, Renu was elected as the first woman to become the chairperson of the Board. Renu’s husband Dr. Arun Gupta, is equally engaged in Ekal and serves as a Board Director.
Renu also spends time teaching Hindi and Hindu culture to children in Cincinnati, Ohio where she is based. Role models, for our children, she inserts, must be characters like Mirabai, Shivaji, Maharana Pratap and Laxmi Bai. Playing on the word “Hindi medium” she enjoins Indian American parents to “raise their children through the Hindu medium and teach them values of Hindu dharma.”
Growing up, Renu was often buried in books thanks to a friend’s father who owned a bookstore. Writing came naturally and she has several books to her credit. Her experiences and observations in America served as fodder for her books. Close to her heart is “Mrityorma Ma Amritam Gamay” and deals with a friend’s battle with cancer while her latest book “Sansari Sanyasi” is a biography of Hanuman Prasad Poddar, a saintly personality who played a key role in her spiritual journey.
Renu, along with her husband and son is also actively engaged in running the dozen franchisees of Great Clips – the hair salon chain they own.
Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa, a joint venture between Pratham and MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), has been named one of five recipients of an $80 million commitment from the global philanthropic collaborative Co-Impact. Selected from a pool of more than 250 projects, the grant was awarded to change-makers with proven strategies in education, health and economic opportunity.
Despite progress worldwide in school enrollment, millions of children are not acquiring basic foundational skills. Pioneered by Pratham, the TaRL methodology significantly raises children’s basic learning levels in a short period of time. The approach uses a simple tool to assess children’s ability to read and do arithmetic, grouping them by level rather than grade and advancing them to the next learning group as they progress and continue to grow.
Six randomized control trials conducted in India by J-PAL-affiliated researchers over the past two decades have shown that the approach, whether delivered by Pratham staff or trained teachers in government-run schools, has led to some of the largest, most cost-effective learning gains of any primary education program evaluated.
“Using Teaching at the Right Level,” explains Dr. Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham, “we have helped millions of children to read and to do basic math in India. Together with J-PAL, we are excited to have the opportunity to work in Africa with many partners. Foundational skills can transform a child’s life and unlock their potential to do so much more in education and in life. We are grateful for Co-Impact’s support for this partnership.”
The multi-year grant from Co-Impact will support Pratham and J-PAL in building the capacity of governments and other partners in multiple countries across Africa, including Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Zambia, to design and scale TaRL-like approaches that will help three million primary school children learn to read and do basic arithmetic.
“This grant is a true validation of Pratham’s efforts in pioneering innovative, cost-effective learning solutions,” asserts Pratham USA Chairman Deepak Raj. “While our focus remains on addressing India’s education crisis, we are proud to see Pratham’s methodology replicated in other countries, where it will have a lasting impact on millions of children.”
Shifting the focus from school enrollment to learning outcomes in Africa will require critical support at all levels. This includes adjusting the approach to local contexts, training and assisting on-site mentors and continually assessing progress while empowering government officials and teachers to act on the evidence generated.
According to Iqbal Dhaliwal, Executive Director of J-PAL, “This grant represents the critical importance of using evidence from rigorous impact evaluations to drive decision-making. Our partnership with Pratham is based on innovation, learning, and a unifying vision—shared with Co-Impact—of creating systems-level change. Through investing in rigorous research and evidence-backed approaches, we can disrupt the status quo and transform lives. We have a lot of work ahead of us and are putting together an outstanding team to lead and execute this exciting initiative.”
Co-Impact, the global philanthropic collaborative formed in 2017 by Olivia Leland with commitments from Richard Chandler, Bill and Melinda Gates, Jeff Skoll, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Rohini and Nandan Nilekani, aims to drive social change through investment in proven solutions that are ready to be scaled even further. “We know that investing in the lives of the poorest families and children around the world is probably the highest return on investment we can make,” says Rockefeller Foundation President Rajiv Shah. “We’ve designed a project where as philanthropists, we’re standing on each others’ shoulders to scale the hardest and highest walls in philanthropy.”
Pratham is an innovative learning organization. Set up almost 25 years ago, Pratham believes that every child should be in school and learning well. Pratham means ‘first’ or “primary” in Sanskrit. As one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the country, Pratham facilitates India’s well-known Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) exercise, which has been providing estimates of reading and arithmetic skills every year for every rural district in India since 2005. For more information, visit prathamusa.org.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific e
On January 16, 2019 the esteemed Gandhi Peace Prize was conferred upon Akshaya Patra for their contribution in providing mid-day meals to millions of school children in India. The International Gandhi Peace Prize, named after Mahatma Gandhi, is awarded by the Government of India to individuals and institutions for their contribution towards social, political and economic transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods.
The jury under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and comprising of Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the Chief Justice of India; Smt Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker of Lok Sabha; Shri Mallikarjuna Kharge, Leader of the single largest Opposition Party in Lok Sabha; Shri L.K. Advani, Member of Parliament unitedly announced the award.
Prime Minister Modi applauded the dedicated work of Akshaya Patra in saying, “The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s determined efforts ensure nutritious meals for many. Their outstanding work has also ensured more children go to school. I congratulate them for the Gandhi Peace Prize, 2016.” The award is an annual prize but no winner had been conferred the honor since 2014.
The announcement of the award on January 16th encompassed 2015-2018. The award was instituted in 1995 during the commemoration of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It carries an award of Rs one crore along with a citation and plaque. Previous winners of the Gandhi Peace Prize include Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Vaclav Havel, Ramakrishna Mission and other venerable individuals and organizations.
Extending humble gratitude, Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation said, “Thank you Prime Minister Modiji for the Gandhi Peace Prize. Your constant patronage for Akshaya Patra’s mission from beginning days as Chief Minister of Gujarat and as Prime Minister has been a big strength.” ABOUT THE AKSHAYA PATRA FOUNDATION Akshaya Patra means the unlimited bowl of abundance and sustenance. Started in 2000, the pilot program served 1500 children daily in 5 schools. Today the organization feeds 1.76 million school children daily in 14,702 schools across 12 states. The state of the art kitchens provide fresh, nutritious hot meals to counter the issues of malnutrition and support the right to an education for children from socio-economically deprived backgrounds. To learn more about The Akshaya Patra Foundation, please visit www.FoodForEducation.org
New Delhi judge sets precedent by saying Indian-American doctor’s work at hospital not a breach of law. Delhi High Court recently quashed an order to deport a Christian doctor, India-born U.S. citizen Christo Thomas Philip, by ruling he has the right to practice his faith and offer his services for free, even if that involves propagating his faith.
Christian leaders and activities have hailed the Jan. 8 order as a landmark decision at a time when hard-line Hindu groups are trying to project Christian missionary services as a violation of the law and contrary to the national interest.
The Protestant doctor has “a right to practice his faith, and his rendering medical services, even if it is for the furtherance of his religion, cannot be denied,” the court said in its ruling.
The deportation order for the doctor was issued “on the assumption that such (missionary) activities are against the law of the land” but such assumptions “are fundamentally flawed,” the court said.
Philip was ordered to leave the country back in April 2016 after authorities decided that the services he was providing at a hospital in eastern Bihar state amounted to “evangelical and subversive activities.”
Philip, 36, completed his medical degree specializing in emergency medicine in the United States and was granted U.S. citizenship 2012.
That same year, Delhi granted him the immigration status of Overseas Citizen of India, permitting him to live and work in India indefinitely with a de facto visa for life.
Philip moved to India with his family in 2013 and began working at the hospital in Raxaul, a busy town on the India-Nepal border in Bihar.
Things proceeded smoothly until he was detained in the wake of an overseas conference in April 2016, after which he was deported.
The government counsel told the court his visa had been cancelled by the Consulate General of India in Houston, Texas, because the doctor was found to have been indulging in “evangelical and subversive activities.”
Anti-conversion laws are now actively enforced in at least seven of majority-Hindu India’s 29 states. Uttarakhand became the seventh state to follow suit in May 2018 when state governor Krishna Kant Paul signed the bill into law on April 18.
Penalties for those who breach the law range from fines of up to 50,000 rupees (US$735) to a maximum prison sentence of three years.
These laws make conversions a criminal offense if they are done through “forcible” or “fraudulent” means, or by “allurement” or “inducement.” Christian leaders say their services rendered in education and health care cannot be construed as a violation of these laws.
In Philip’s case, the consulate also recommended that his Overseas Citizen of India status be revoked.
Yet the court dismissed those contentions, arguing that Indian law does not forbid people from practicing their faith.
“The (government) has not produced any law that proscribes missionary activities” in India, it ruled.
“It has perhaps escaped their attention that India is a secular country. All persons in this country have a right to practice their faith in the manner they consider fit, so long as it does not offend any other person,” the judgment said.
“If the petitioner’s faith motivates them to volunteer for medical services at a hospital, there is no law (certainly not of this land) that proscribes him from doing so,” the court observed.
“This is a landmark judgment,” said Tehmina Arora, director of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)-India, which has taken on Philip’s case.
The judgment “protects the rights of foreign nationals working in Christian organizations to freely live out their faith in India,” Arora told ucanews.com.
The court held that the Ministry of Home Affairs “had acted without any complaints of law and order problems,” said A. C. Michael, a Christian leader based in New Delhi.
The ministry falls under the sway of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been accused of tacitly supporting Hindu groups that oppose missionary activities in several Indian states in a bid to further Hinduize the nation.
The latest judgment has set an important precedent by establishing the right to practice one’s Christian faith by offering voluntary service, said Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary-general of the Indian bishops’ conference.
The charter guarantees Indian citizens the right to profess, practice and propagate any faith of their choice, he said.
“If one’s faith motivates one to volunteer for social service, one is free to do so. There is no law in India that stops people from doing so,” he said. Phillip is now living and practising medicine in Texas, U.S.
Indian American business leader Chandrika Tandon will be receiving the 2019 Horatio Alger Award, among 12 others, from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education.
Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education, has announced that Chandrika K. Tandon, Chair and Founder of Tandon Capital Associates, Soul Chants Music, and the Krishnamurthy Tandon Foundationhas been selected for membership in this prestigious organization.
For more than 70 years, the Horatio Alger Award has been annually bestowed upon esteemed individuals who have succeeded despite adversity, and who have remained committed to higher education and charitable endeavors throughout their lives.
Ms. Tandon was born the first daughter of a traditional family in Chennai, India. Raised from an early age to make a good wife, her only exposure to the world at large was through music and the poetry and literature her grandfather shared with her. Though she dreamt of making music her life’s work, she was discouraged, as it was not considered a respectable profession at the time. Ms. Tandon instead pursued business, not knowing that music would find her again later in life. Fighting for her dreams against the narrow future her family envisioned, she went on hunger strikes to be allowed to leave home for college and business school. In 1973, Ms. Tandon graduated with a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Madras Christian College, and went on to attend the prestigious Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad for her MBA. Immediately thereafter, she began her career for Citibank, starting in war-torn Beirut.
At age 24, Ms. Tandon immigrated to the United States to work for McKinsey and Company, becoming the first Indian woman hired, and all without an American education. She found herself advising CEOs on their biggest problems even though she didn’t own a business suit, didn’t know how to drive, and was totally new to American culture. With a dogged determination to create impact for businesses and clients, coupled with a fearsome work ethic, she made partner at the firm within a few years. In 1990, she risked her life savings to found Tandon Capital Associates, a financial advisory company, restructuring preeminent financial institutions worldwide, and creating billions of dollars of market cap. This decision quickly catapulted her to a new echelon.
At the pinnacle of her career, despite all the trappings of success, Ms. Tandon became increasingly tormented by life’s bigger questions. She was compelled to reevaluate her definitions of success, and self-reflection led her to remember that the happiest moments of her childhood were tied to music. Ms. Tandon decided to pursue singing as an extension of her professional life, often leaving home at 4:00 a.m. for lessons on Saturdays so that she could learn from artists she idolized. Her dedication to the craft has since gained admiration around the world, allowing her to perform for millions, release four albums, and in 2011, garnering her a Grammy nomination for her album, Soul Call.
“Chandrika is a visionary who took control of her future at a young age,” said Matthew Rose, president, Horatio Alger Association and 2013 Horatio Alger Award recipient. “Despite barriers, she never lost sight of her goals, and fought for the life she wanted and deserved. We are delighted to welcome Chandrika as a lifetime Member, and I look forward to sharing her story of triumph and accomplishment with our Scholars.”
In the past 20 years, Ms. Tandon has used her business skills and resources pro bono to better humanity and commit to a life of public service. Through the Krishnamurthy Tandon Foundation, she strategically directs resources to create pathways to economic, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being for all. As one of the largest Indian-American donors to American higher education, Ms. Tandon and her husband have given $100 million to the New York University (NYU) Polytechnic School of Engineering, renamed the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. She serves as Vice Chair of the NYU Board of Trustees and sits on the boards of the NYU Langone Health System, the NYU Stern School of Business and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. From 2002 to 2008, she served as NYU Stern’s Distinguished Executive in Residence, where she lectured about business transformation and leadership, and earned the Walter Nichols Medal in 2009. In 2016, she received the university’s highest honor, the Gallatin Medal.
“I spent my life working hard to create impact for businesses and society,” said Ms. Tandon. “But I know I would not be where I am today without the teachers and supporters I’ve had – especially my grandfather. My love for music has been an important outlet for me in finding myself, and for that, I am forever grateful. I hope I can help to advocate for our young Horatio Alger Scholars as they fight for their professional and personal passions, just as I did.”
Through its Members, Horatio Alger Association aims to educate young people about the limitless opportunities afforded to them by the free-enterprise system. To further this mission, the organization awards scholarships to outstanding high school students who are committed to pursuing higher education and giving back to their communities. Like Association Members, Horatio Alger Scholars have faced significant adversities, but have also displayed unmatched resilience in overcoming their challenges. Since the scholarship program was established in 1984, Horatio Alger Association has provided more than $159 million to students in need, all of which has been funded solely through the generosity of Association Members and friends.
“Ms. Tandon defines tenacity and boldness – characteristics that many of our Scholars also embody,” said Terrence J. Giroux, executive director, Horatio Alger Association. “Her business acumen, dedication to service and passion for education will serve our Association well. I’m certain she will be a tremendous role model for the young men and women we support.”
Ms. Tandon and the Member Class of 2019 will be formally inducted into the Association on April 4-6, 2019, during the Association’s 72nd Horatio Alger Award Induction Ceremonies in Washington, D.C. The annual three-day event honors the achievements of both Members and National Scholars, affording both groups the opportunity to meet and interact as well as exchange stories of hardships and triumphs.
For more information about Horatio Alger Association and its Member Class of 2019, please visitwww.horatioalger.org
Who’s afraid of artificial intelligence? A lot of people, it turns out. The late Stephen Hawking predicted in 2015 that man-made machines would, within a century, become more capable than people, making one wonder whether they’ll tolerate our presence on earth. Silicon Valley entrepreneur Elon Musk — not one normally given to technological doom and gloom — is only slightly less pessimistic when he claims that AI poses a greater threat to humanity than North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
Even those who don’t believe machines pose an existential crisis for humanity agree that AI represents a hugely disruptive force for the global economy. Autonomous vehicles are likely to render professions like long-haul truck driving and taxi driving obsolete. Robots could replace humans who clean homes and wash dishes for a living. High schoolers from the mid-21st century may receive extra help from machine-based, not human, tutors.
These changes will present governments around the world with an acute problem: what to do about the millions of people whose jobs will disappear and never come back. According to Kai-Fu Lee, a longtime expert on AI, job-displacing artificial intelligence will force people to look beyond work in order to define who they are.
“We were all brainwashed by the Industrial Revolution-era value that our work equals the meaning of our life,” he said in a recent talk at Asia Society in New York. “Perhaps AI is a wakeup call, for us to realize that there’s something else. That there’s love, compassion, empathy, and human-to-human relations.”
That Lee himself is saying this is something of a surprise. The Taiwan-born venture capitalist and entrepreneur is known for his Herculean work ethic: When he served as president of Google China, Lee would wake up at 2 a.m. and again at 5 in order to check and send emails. “I did that so my American colleagues knew I was responsive,” he said. “And to set an example for my Chinese employees.” And in 1991, while his wife was in labor with their first child, Lee made plans to leave her bedside in order to finish work on a presentation — only to be spared this decision when his daughter arrived earlier than expected.
Lee’s perspective changed in 2013 when he was diagnosed with lymphoma, which has since gone in remission. “I realized my priorities were upside down,” he said. “Whatever remaining days I had, continuing to work was no longer something I wanted to do. Much more important was loving the people I wanted to love, and giving back to the people who loved me. [I wanted to pursue] things I was passionate about.”
One of these subjects is artificial intelligence — a field that Lee has studied since his graduate school days at Carnegie Mellon University in the 1980s. In his new book AI Superpowers, he sketches a vision of the near future in which artificial intelligence transforms key economic sectors like transportation, health care, and personal finance. The typical office worker of 2040 — or perhaps even sooner — will travel to work via a public, self-autonomous vehicle that will not get stuck in traffic, cause accidents, or need to park anywhere. A patient displaying troubling symptoms will receive an accurate, instant diagnosis from a machine more knowledgeable than any human doctor. And a bank officer reviewing a loan application will consider more than just an applicant’s income and credit score: variables like one’s propensity to let a cell phone battery die, for instance, will matter, too.
In his talk at Asia Society, Lee said that the rise of machines in the workforce will allow humans to devote themselves to professions which depend on innate human characteristics like compassion and empathy. Far fewer people in the middle of this century will be employed as factory workers, for instance — but more will be needed in elderly care, a job that Lee believes cannot be performed by robots. “Elderly people don’t want a robot,” he said. “They want other people.” And while doctors will no longer dispense diagnoses, they’ll be repurposed as workers whose interpersonal skills matter more than medical knowledge — a medical therapist, if you will.
Managing this transition will require government intervention on a scale that is difficult to fathom. Policymakers in places like Finland have experimented with universal basic income (UBI), a program that provides no-strings-attached payments to everyone, regardless of their employment situation. Lee is skeptical that such an approach will be suitable everywhere and instead prefers government subsidies for modestly-compensated professions, like teaching, that will need to attract more workers. Either solution will require political cooperation that does not seem feasible in today’s hyperpolarized climate. But Lee is adamant that for all its potential for trouble, artificial intelligence will allow humans to transcend our current paradigm that one’s work is one’s life.
“I can imagine our maker is very frustrated with us,” he said. “After thousands of years of evolution, we’re stuck here, like rats on a wheel, doing the same routine jobs every day, and not spending time on what we’re passionate about and with people we love. … Maybe our maker is so frustrated that he threw AI at us to take away all of the routine jobs, so we have time to think, and to love.”
Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, an Indian American professor at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, was one of the two individuals who was selected by the National Science Foundation for its 2018 Vizzies People’s Choice award for photography.
Along with Bhullar, graduate student Daniel Smith, an assistant professor and assistant curator in geology and geophysics, was also named among the recipients.
According to a university press release, both of their winning image show a Madagascar ground gecko embryo after 12 days of incubation in the egg, where areas in red (muscles) and grey (nerves), indicate how much development of these structures has taken place in such a short time. The image was taken by an LSM880 confocal microscope and is made up of 12,000 individual images.
The award comes with a cash prize of $500 and the winning image will be featured on both the NSF’s website and on PopSci.com, the press release adds.
According to his bio on the university’s website, at Yale, Bhullar’s group focuses on great transitions in the history of vertebrates both in the field and in the lab by using the geological record of life to guide questions about major transformations across vertebrata, especially at the origins of extant radiations such as birds, mammals, tetrapods and gnathostomes.
To address the nature and mechanism of pivotal events at crucial points in evolutionary history, Bhullar’s lab brings to bear a full range of modern biological and geological techniques, especially molecular developmental biology and functional biology, coupled with advanced three-dimensional imaging and geometric analysis, however, they maintain a surpassing commitment to the discovery of new fossils in the field, Bhullar mentions in his bio.
The Vizzies is sponsored by NSF and Popular Science magazine, and it honors scientific visualizations that help create a universal language enabling people around the world to better understand scientific ideas and phenomena, a press release said.
Sruthi Palaniappan, 20, an Indian American student, has been elected as the president of the Harvard University Undergraduate Council. Her running mate Julia Huesa, 20, was elected as vice president, according to an announcement by the Undergraduate Council Election Commission, According to the Harvard Crimson.
Palaniappan and Huesa plan to work on improving the Council’s communication with the student body in their initial days in office.
“I think from the onset, better structuring the way we communicate with students is something that we need to already set the tone and plan for. I think we’re going to work on it before we even leave for break and just get off the ground running,” Palaniappan told Harvard Crimson.
Palaniappan was also the youngest delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July 2016. Palaniappan is currently the council’s education committee chair and she will replace outgoing president Catherine L. Zhang.
Last week, researchers meeting in Versailles voted to get rid of it in favour of defining a kilogram in terms of an electric current. The decision was made at the General Conference on Weights and Measures.
But some scientists, such as Perdi Williams at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK, have expressed mixed feelings about the change. “I haven’t been on this project for too long but I feel a weird attachment to the kilogram,” she said.
“I think it is such an exciting thing and this is a really big moment. So I’m a little bit sad about [the change]. But it is an important step forward and so the new system is going to work a lot better. It is also a really exciting time, and I can’t wait for it to happen.”
Currently, it is defined by the weight of a platinum-based ingot called “Le Grand K” which is locked away in a safe in Paris.
Le Grand K has been at the forefront of the international system of measuring weights since 1889. Several close replicas were made and distributed around the globe.
But the master kilogram and its copies were seen to change – ever so slightly – as they deteriorated.
In a world where accurate measurement is now critical in many areas, such as in drug development, nanotechnology and precision engineering – those responsible for maintaining the international system had no option but to move beyond Le Grand K to a more robust definition.
How wrong is Le Grand K?
The fluctuation is about 50 parts in a billion, less than the weight of a single eyelash. But although it is tiny, the change can have important consequences. Coming in is an electrical measurement which Dr Stuart Davidson, head of mass metrology at NPL, says is more stable, more accurate and more egalitarian.
“We know from comparing the kilogram in Paris with all the copies of the kilogram that are all around the world that there are discrepancies between them and Le Grand K itself,” he said.
“This is not acceptable from a scientific point of view. So even though Le Grand K is fit for purpose at the moment, it won’t be in 100 years’ time.”
How does the new system work?
Electromagnets generate a force. Scrap-yards use them on cranes to lift and move large metal objects, such as old cars. The pull of the electromagnet, the force it exerts, is directly related to the amount of electrical current going through its coils. There is, therefore, a direct relationship between electricity and weight.
So, in principle, scientists can define a kilogram, or any other weight, in terms of the amount of electricity needed to counteract the weight (gravitational force acting on a mass).
There is a quantity that relates weight to electrical current, called Planck’s constant – named after the German physicist Max Planck and denoted by the symbol h.
But h is an incredibly small number and to measure it, the research scientist Dr Bryan Kibble built a super-accurate set of scales. The Kibble balance, as it has become known, has an electromagnet that pulls down on one side of the scales and a weight – say, a kilogram – on the other.
The electrical current going through the electromagnet is increased until the two sides are perfectly balanced.
By measuring the current running through the electromagnet to incredible precision, the researchers are able to calculate h to an accuracy of 0.000001%.
This breakthrough has paved the way for Le Grand K to be deposed by “die kleine h”.
What are the advantages of the new system?
Every few decades, all the replica kilograms in the world had to be checked against Le Grand K. The new system, now that it’s been adopted, will allow anyone with a Kibble balance to check their weights anytime and anywhere, according to NPL’s Dr Ian Robinson.
“It feels really good to be at this point. I feel it is the right decision. Once we’ve done this it will be stable for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Common Sense Media to Honor Khan Academy Founder Sal Khan at 2018 Awards Gala Common Sense Media announced it 2018 award recipients, including Indian American Sal Khan, who will be recognized at its 15th annual awards gala.
Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, will be recognized as the Educator of the Year. Other winners include “Black Panther” as the Great Family Media Award winner; March for Our Lives with the Advocacy Award; and Bill Price with the Common Sense Leadership Award.
Common Sense Media said the evening will honor the visionary media creators, educators and policymakers who are helping kids thrive in our rapidly changing digital world.
Despite restrictions on visitors to the US by the Trump administration, foreign students seeking higher education continue to rise. India is the second largest source country of foreign students in the United States after China, according to a new official report.
The biannual report on international student trends, released Oct. 28 by the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that India was the second largest source country of foreign students in 2017, with 249,763 students from the country studying in American universities. China sent 481,106 students.
The total number of students from India and China studying in the U.S. was out of a total of over 1.5 million international students studying in various educational institutions in the U.S. in 2017.
“Forty-nine percent of the F and M student population in the United States hailed from either China (377,070 students) or India (211,703 students), and interest continues to grow,” the report said.
“Over the reporting period, both China and India saw proportional growth between 1 and 2 percent, with China sending 6,305 more students and India sending 2,356 more students. It is this level of participation from China and India that makes Asia far and away the most popular continent of origin. In fact, 77 percent of all international students in the United States call Asia home,” the report noted.
China and India together accounted for nearly half of the foreign students in America, followed by three other Asian countries — South Korea (95,701), Saudi Arabia (72,358) and Japan (41,862) — in the top five. Other countries in the top 10 are Canada, Vietnam, Brazil, Taiwan and Mexico.
Despite being second in the overall standing, India topped the list of students with STEM OPT authorization.
While India topped the list of STEM OPT authorization with 50,507 students, China came in second with 21,705 students. They were followed by South Korea (1,670), Taiwan (1,360), and Iran (1,161).
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Optional Practical Training (OPT) program is a 24-month extension of OPT for qualifying students with STEM degrees.
The biannual report, however, said the total number of SEVIS records for active F and M students decreased by 0.5 percent, from 1,208,039 in March 2017 to 1,201,829 in March 2018. The J-1 exchange visitor population increased by 4 percent from 201,408 exchange visitors in March 2017 to 209,568 visitors in March 2018.
Of the four major regions within the continental United States, the Northeast and South hosted the largest number of F and M students and were the only two regions to experience growth over the reporting year. The Northeast welcomed 2 percent more F and M students, while the international student population in the South grew by less than a percentage point.
The week of October 6 -13, 2018, has a special significance in the 30-year history of “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation (EVF)”. In this week, ‘Ekal’ (as it is popularly known), hosted three fund-raising glittering Galas at three strategic places in USA and raised record $5.5 Million in pledges.
This was in addition to $7.5 Million it had already realized through its annual 50+ fund-raising concerts across USA. On Oct. 6 Ekal-Houston, TX hosted a Gala where generous donors collectively gave $1.5 Million. In similar fashion, on Oct.12, Ekal-Washington hosted a Gala in Bethesda, MD and raised $1.1 Million.
A year earlier (2017) New York (NY) region had successfully initiated Gala for high net-worth philanthropic donors, and so all eyes were on magnificent ‘Cipriani-Wall Street’ banquet Hall in NY as the grand finale of this gala-phase and NY did not disappoint anyone. It raised $3 Million. This crowning achievement pushed Ekal’s donation total for Yr 2018, way beyond $10 Million it had initially hoped for. In addition, what was remarkable was all three Galas were completely sold-out affairs.
At the NYC Ekal-GALA, the presence of John Sculley, former CEO of ‘Apple & Pepsi’ and veteran film actor Anupam Kher as two key-note speakers was the highlight of the evening. These two Iconic personalities, not only freely mingled with the crowd during initial social hour but also patiently took time to interact with their fans. Sandeep Chakravorty, Consul General of India was the Chief Guest of this event. Mohan Wanchoo’s opening remarks, after national anthems of USA & India, set the tone for the evening. As the Chairman of the GALA, he touched on aspirations of village folks and what could be done to bring them into the mainstream. Chirag Patel, as the co-chair of the event emphasized urgency to transform villages so that India could tackle challenges of the future.
Ranjani Saigal’s presentation of ‘EKAL’ (with montage of slides, pictures in the background) was a defining moment. She gave several real-life examples of ecliptic rise of some of the Ekal alumnus in 10-12 minutes. This made the first-timers to Ekal, including ‘Key-note speakers’, fairly knowledgeable about crucial aspects of Ekal movement. John Sculley and Anupam Kher were simply amazing as keynote speakers.
John Sculley commended innovativeness of Indians and lauded Ekal’s dedication to bring changes in rural life by empowering women and boasting self-esteem of rural folks, in general. Anupam Kher drew parallels between his life and the life of poor village-folks and elaborated on how he overcame obstacles in his own life by believing in himself. Laminated letters of Ekal-school children at each placement on every guest tables were quite soul-touching. This immediately connected the attendees with the village-based children in India. On this occasion, Ekal India Team – Bajarang Bagra and Naresh Jain – was also felicitated. Honoring them, Mohan Wanchoo said,” we in USA only raise funds for rural folks but the real hard work is done by ‘Ekal-India’.
The pledging process was focused on supporting a variety of projects in the field of education, health and skill development. Inspired by a matching donation from ‘Sarva Mangal Family Trust’ to bring ‘tablets’ to Ekal schools, $150,000 was raised, instantaneously so that it could turn into $300,000 and equip 600 schools for hand-held ‘Tablets’.
Chintu Patel, Co-Founder and CEO of Amneal Pharmaceuticals gave a passionate speech on the importance of supporting the eye initiative of Ekal which he personally promised to support in partnership with ‘Irada’, a foundation started by his family. As of this moment Ekal has 77,000 Ekal-schools across India grooming 2 Million Children – more than half of them girls. PM Modi has given Ekal a goal to establish 100,000 schools by YR 2022 (75th Anniversary of India’s Independence).
The highest bid – $500,000 – came from an anonymous donor who wanted to support the expansion of the schools specifically to reach this target. The overwhelming support that Ekal witnessed in ‘Galas’, it is very likely that Ekal will reach PM Modi’s target 100,000 schools by Yr. 2020 (way ahead of time).
This unprecedented support from patrons has also given confidence to Ekal to revise and aggressively pursue its developmental agenda. Yr 2018 saw the highest ever growth in Ekal’s 30-year history. New schools were opened in 18,000 villages. E-Shiksha – tutoring by ‘Tablets’ – was initiated in 180 schools, as a pilot project. For digital literacy, 10 ‘Ekal-on-wheels’ mobile digital labs have been added.
Each van can educate 5,000 youths, each year, in basic computer skills. Four ‘Gramotthan Ctrs’ that directly benefit 400,000 farmers (indirectly up to 4 Million) have been planned along with ‘Satellite Skill Ctrs’. First ‘Tele-Medicine’ project, with support from ‘John Hopkins Univ’ was undertaken in Odisha to bring expert Medical advice to the doorsteps of remote Villagers. As Bajrang Bagra, CEO of Ekal-India said, “the primary objective of this all-round integrated development is to give dignity and self-esteem to rural-tribal folks of India. For the first time, Ekal went ‘live’ on Facebook and Twitter for this event. This memorable evening concluded with concert by ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ contest singing superstars, ‘Bishakh Jyoti & Suchetana Sinha’.
Keynote speaker Senator Cory Booker emphasizes the importance of giving back at annual fundraiser
LOS ANGELES, CA, October 22, 2018 – On September 29, 2018, more than 250 corporate and civic leaders attended the Los Angeles gala of Pratham, one of India’s largest and most successful education NGOs. Held at the scenic Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach, with its captivating ocean view, the event brought together local supporters to celebrate the achievements made possible through their generosity and generated $2.5 million in commitments for Pratham programs.
In his keynote speech, Senator Cory Booker, a longtime friend of Pratham, engaged the crowd with inspiring words about the importance of education and giving back. “We cannot ever forget that the best way to ensure a great future for humanity is to invest in the education of children,” Booker explained, adding, “Never forget that you owe a debt to others that came before you. You owe a debt that you can’t pay back but you’ve got to pay forward.”
Booker’s comments are exemplified by several longstanding LA-based supporters: the Sudesh and Chitra Arora Family Foundation and the Mody family have been instrumental in empowering indigent youth through their ongoing support of Pratham’s vocational training programs, while the Sarva Mangal Family Trust provided the seed capital to launch Pratham’s digital initiatives. The effectiveness of both programs were on display during the evening. First, in a series of live feeds conducted by Dr. Madhav Chavan, co-founder and president of Pratham, children delighted the room with demonstrations of their tablets from halfway around the world, and participants in vocational training centers across India thanked the chapter for its life-changing support.
Then, in person, Pratham graduate Pranali Kaurati, who has overcome great adversity in her young life and is now thriving as a result of Pratham, shared her experience of the bedside assistance training program. “My dream is to help people who can’t help themselves. I was one of them a few years ago, and now thanks to Pratham and my job, I get to look after patients and assist them with their needs, and this provides me with an incredible amount of satisfaction and happiness.”
Earlier in the evening, guests were treated to a mesmerizing mind reading performance by mentalist Oz Pearlman and enjoyed traditional Indian cuisine provided by Manohar Delhi Palace.
“Tonight is a testament to what we can accomplish when we come together to provide opportunities for young people,” said Pratham LA President Raj Dhami. Thrilled with the chapter’s momentum, he added, “This is our city’s 15th annual gala and another record-breaking year of impact for Pratham. The funds raised will give us the ability to make an even bigger impact on the lives of India’s children.”
Launched in October 2017, the Penn IREF awards represent another milestone in Penn’s engagement in India. During the next two years Penn IREF will award as much as $2 million in matching research grants to Penn faculty to stimulate and support research activity in India.
The inaugural Penn IREF grants, totaling $800,000 in matching funds from the Provost’s Office, support 15 projects involving researchers across eight of Penn’s 12 schools and six centers and institutes which are collaborating with nearly 50 Indian institutional partners, as well as more than 10 international universities and other partner organizations worldwide.
“The first tranche of Penn IREF awards represents Penn’s commitment to the integration of knowledge across disciplines,” said Pritchett. “These cross-disciplinary, highly collaborative projects highlight the breadth of expertise across Penn’s Schools and Centers, and support partnerships with over 40 Indian institutions, universities and organizations, while building on relationships and collaborations with nearly a dozen U.S. and international partners.”
Emanuel expressed optimism about the potential for the IREF awards to bring Penn’s India initiatives to new heights, saying, “As a global University, Penn is intentional about bringing the world to Penn and Penn to the world. Deepening Penn’s engagement in India and expanding partnerships with Indian institutions aids Penn in seeking real-world solutions to some of society’s most challenging issues.” He added that “the Penn IREF awards will spur innovative inquiry, catalyze transformative ideas, and stimulate academic exploration between Penn’s scholars and researchers and our peers in India.”
From “Applying behavioral economics insights to achieve reductions in household air pollution in India” to “Reversing the Digital Divide: Digital Banking in Rural India,” the IREF sponsored projects cover a broad array of issues. They include dairy and water buffalo production and economic development; urbanization; rising sea levels and the future of coastal cities; connections between health, social, behavioral change, and the environment; and improving treatment for disease.
Anuradha Mathur, professor of landscape architecture in Penn’s School of Design, said the IREF awards will bring her work to another level. Mathur’s project, “Reclaiming India’s Nalas,” reimagines the hydraulic infrastructure of Indian cities, and she said that the funds will “facilitate the participation of leading biotic engineers in the U.S. and India on a project in Patna that has implications for other places in India and how we think about design and infrastructure in a monsoon landscape.”
Penn’s connections in India include nearly 2,000 Penn alumni who live in India. Indian students make up a large percentage of Penn’s international undergraduate and graduate student population on campus, and annually, Penn sends many students to India for study abroad programs and internship exchanges. At present, 147 Penn faculty members report activity on more than 230 projects in or relating to India, though the actual figures are certainly higher than this.
A number of the inaugural Penn IREF projects will be featured as part of a research “blitz” at the second annual Penn India Research Symposium Friday, Nov. 2. The symposium from 2 to 6 p.m. at Perry World House is free and open to the public.
Over four decades after he began his scientific engagement with gravitational science, Professor Abhay Ashtekar, professor of physics, Evan Pugh Professor, Holder, Eberly Chair, and director of the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos at the Pennsylvania State University, has been chosen to receive the prestigious Einstein Prize conferred by the American Physical Society (APS).
The prize for 2018, which carries an award of $10,000, is scheduled to be announced on October 23. Its citation reads: “For numerous and seminal contributions to general relativity, including the theory of black holes, canonical quantum gravity, and quantum cosmology.”
“The prize is special because is it the highest honor bestowed by APS in the broad area of gravitational science,” Ashtekar told IANS in an email interview. Ashtekar’s passion for the physical sciences started while he was in high school in India.
“At first, I knew only Marathi literature. That is my mother tongue, and was the medium of instruction until I was 11. Then I was exposed Hindi and English literature and realized how deeply literature is tied to specific cultures. What is considered great in one language or context could well be mediocre in another. At the same time, I learned Newton’s laws and universality of gravity — what makes the apple fall on earth also makes the planets go around the sun. This was stunning by itself,” he said.
What he found most remarkable was that, unlike art and literature, which are “so tied to human conditions,” Newton’s laws transcend both. “It was striking to me that the same Newton’s laws are taught and admired in India as in China, Japan and the West,” he said.
“Later, in college, fundamental physics seemed to me to be the deepest and purest way to pursue understanding of Nature (the external world). In graduate school, I chose to work in general relativity, cosmology and quantum physics because that is where the most fundamental questions about space, time and the nature of the physical universe are discussed,” he said
Somewhere along the line, he also recognized that although one of the main four forces of nature, gravity is the weakest, yet it is so crucial to the way the universe formed and exists.
After receiving his Ph.D. in 1974 from the University of Chicago, Ashtekar went on to hold influential positions in France, Canada and India. His biography on the National Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected a member in 2016, describes him as someone “best known for initiating the Loop Quantum Gravity program by introducing new variables to simplify Einstein’s equations, for analyzing the very early universe using Loop Quantum Cosmology, and for his contributions to the study of the asymptotic structure of space-time and gravitational waves in full non-linear general relativity.”
After such a long career in a diversity of physics disciplines, he said science is currently in the “truly golden age for gravity.”
“Until about the mid-1960s, general relativity had remained isolated from mainstream science — a pristine and beautiful theory, to be admired from a distance.
“The paradigm has shifted completely and relativistic gravity has moved to center stage of physics and astronomy. Through the big bang, black holes and gravitational waves, we realized that the universe is not a calm, peaceful place that the astronomers believed it to be in much of the 20th century,” he pointed out.
“There are highly energetic explosions sourced by strong gravity that have shaped the history of our universe. Thus, relativistic gravity has completely overhauled our understanding of the cosmos,” he said.
Asked whether physicists in India are producing world-class research, Ashtekar said: “There are extremely talented physicists in India who are making first-rate contributions to pure physics in areas I have first-hand acquaintance with. I am particularly pleased by the ‘LIGO-India’ project that is now placing India firmly in the front ranks of international efforts. The Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, in particular, will play an important role in the major discoveries that will be made with the international network of gravitational wave observatories between five and ten years from now. In this area India is ahead of China, for example.
“My colleagues in other areas of physics, on the other hand, tell me that this is not the case in their field; that there is a lot of good research but not enough ‘great’ research that gets published in the most visible journals,” he said.
The case alleging of discrimination of students of Asian origin by a group that claims Harvard’s admissions office discriminates against Asian applicants in order to boost other racial groups, seen as a referendum on affirmative action hiring practices, opened in a Boston federal district court on October 15th.
The case has been brought by a group from the Washington DC area called Students For Fair Admissions, which ultimately wants courts to rule that race-based decisions in education are a civil rights violation.
Harvard is one of the top-rated and most selective universities in the US, admitting about 1,600 freshman students out of 42,000 applicants each year. Harvard disputes the claim and says race is only one small factor in their secretive student selections process.
The lawsuit claims that the elite university unfairly weighs race when considering an applicant, forcing Asian-Americans to meet a higher bar in order to be accepted. They claim Harvard uses a quota system or a system of “racial balancing” – practices that are illegal under federal law – to limit the number of Asian students on campus in an effort to maintain space for other racial groups. The plaintiffs say that if race was not considered, and if admissions were only based on grades alone, twice as many Asian pupils would be admitted because they perform well academically.
Before the trial, groups of protesters took the streets in the city, either opposing or supporting an admissions policy that includes race as a factor. The case is expected to shed light on admissions practices at universities. Courts have previously allowed universities to examine race as a factor in order to promote diversity on campus, a practice known as affirmative action, or “reverse discrimination”.
Some unexpected revelations could also come out of the trial, such as how the university considers the children of alumni or donors, or the applications of other pupils who are not admitted through the typical process.
Harvard says they use a “holistic” strategy to evaluate students, and that race is only one minor consideration. The institution points out that its population of Asians students has been growing, and now stands at 23% of the student body. Harvard University Dean Rakesh Khurana told WBUR that it takes more than just good grades to be chosen.
“We’re looking for people who are genuinely curious. Not just those who do well on exams but actually want to lean and have an integrative capacity,” he said.
Other Ivy league schools and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are supporting Harvard in the case. In an amicus brief – a court filing supporting Harvard – the ACLU argued that “a whole-person, race-conscious admissions process furthers a university’s academic freedom to assemble a diverse student body”.
The Students For Fair Admissions group was formed by conservative activist Edward Blum – who opposes affirmative action, ie the proactive effort to include minorities that have been historically marginalised due to discrimination.
The Justice Department has also launched a probe into whether Yale University discriminates against Asians – something which it denies. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. But regardless of the outcome, the loser is expected to appeal the verdict to the US Supreme Court.
Drs. Kiran & Pallavi Patel top the list of nearly 50 Indian-Americans who have donated a total of more than $1.2 billion to various colleges and universities as a way of giving back to higher education since the year 2000, according to a study conducted by Indiaspora, a nonprofit organization which says its mission is to transform the success of the community into meaningful impact worldwide.
According to a press release, Indiaspora has created the Monitor of University Giving, which it says is a “living database” to keep track of donations given to universities and other higher education programs by Indian Americans.
Fifty different donors made the 68 donations that were analyzed for the study, the first in a series conducted by Indiaspora, a nonprofit organization that aims to transform the success of Indian Americans into meaningful impact worldwide. The study showed that about 47 percent of the donations are from repeat donors who had also given $1 million or more to either the same or a different university or college.
The goal of this database is to illustrate how Indian-Americans are giving back to higher education in their adopted homeland. However, it only keeps track of donations amounting of $1 million or more, which it says would could cause an under-reporting of the results.
Some of the other prominent among those who have donated to the cause of education are: Sumir Chadha, Desh Deshpande, Kris Gopalkrishnan, Raj Gupta, Deepak Raj, Anand Rajaraman, and Sanjay Swani.
The largest-ever donation by an Indian American to a U.S educational institution was made by Pallavi and Kiran Patel, a $225 million donation in 2017 to Nova Southeastern University in Florida to build a new medical school in Clearwater.
The Patels followed in the footsteps of Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon, who in 2015 gave $100 million to New York University’s engineering school. “The imagination and inventiveness of the students and faculty as they worked together on real world problems; the cutting-edge work being done both within the school and collaboratively across schools in such diverse areas like the arts, medicine, education, incubators; the entrepreneurial spirit that pervades the place — all this inspired us so,” said Chandrika Tandon, as quoted in the Indiaspora report.
Dubai businessman Rajen Kilachand is also one of the largest donors to a U.S. educational institution. In 2017, Kilachand made a $115 million gift to Boston University’s Science and Engineering Schools.
The Indiaspora report also noted donations made by Indian Americans to universities that were not their alma maters. Rangaswami cited the $61 million donation of Ram Shriram, an early backer of Google, to create the Shriram Center for Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. Shriram attended the University of Madras and Loyola College.
Similarly, Kris Gopalakrishnan, a co-founder of Infosys, graduated from IIT Madras, but has donated $1.8 million to Carnegie Mellon University to conduct research on brain function, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s Disease.
His donation also funds research in disciplines such as machine learning and imaging technology to attempt to address important questions concerning neuro-degeneration and the aging process, according to the Indiaspora report.
Nearly half of the donations are by individuals who donated more than once, “indicating how passionately Indian Americans feel towards giving back to American institutions of higher education, in many but not all cases, their alma maters,” Indiaspora says.
According to the study, a total of 37 different colleges received these donations and while private universities received more than one donation, public universities received $5 for every $2 donated to them.
The five universities which received the most donations were University of California, Los Angeles, Harvard University, Boston University, the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania.
“While Indian Americans continue to donate time and money towards causes in India, our community also believes that charity begins at home. Indian Americans are acutely aware of the vital role played by American Institutions of Higher Education in their professional success stories, and many of us consider it a moral obligation to give back and pay it forward for the next generation of Americans,” M.R. Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora, is quoted saying in the press release.
Business schools received the largest share of gifts – 23.5 percent – followed by medicine – 20.6 percent – and South Asian studies – 17.6 percent. Surprisingly, donations to support engineering schools received slightly less than 12 percent of donations; computer science and technology schools received negligible sums.
Gifts to support schools of humanities were also negligible – 1.5 percent. One notable donation for this field was businessman Anand Mahindra’s $10 million donation in 2011 to found the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard. Mahindra received his MBA at Harvard in 1981.
No Indian institution figures in the top 250 of the Times Higher Education’s (THE) world university rankings 2019, though the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has retained its position as the highest-ranked centre in the country, while the Indian Institute of Technology-Indore has risen to the highest position behind it.
The rankings, released on Wednesday last week, show Oxford continues to hold the first place, Cambridge second, and Stanford third. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology rose one place to number four.
There was some good news for India: number of Indian institutions in the rankings increased from 42 last year to 49, making it the fifth best-represented nation. India is the most-represented country in the table when those in the top 200 are excluded.
The India group in the ranking was again led by the Indian Institute of Science, which retained its position in the 251-300 band. But IIT-Indore became India’s second highest-ranked university – and a global top 400 institution – with its strong score for research volume and research impact.
It overtook the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, which slipped from the 351-400 band to the 401-500 band.
Pradeep Mathur, director of IIT-Indore, told THE: “Our efforts in making research the focus of the institute is now reflected in the form of citations and other impact metrics of research. We continue to make research the focus of all our programmes which is why you see even our undergraduate students are active participants of research projects and collaborations within India and internationally too.”
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (headquartered in Tamil Nadu) saw a rise, from the 801-1000 band to the 601-800 band this year, with a particular improvement in its citation impact (research influence) score.
However, while some institutions gained this year, the majority of India’s universities remained static or declined, struggling amid increased global competition, according to the global list.
Education levels have generally risen since 1980 among the largest U.S. immigrant-origin populations. More than three-in-four immigrants ages 25 and older from India (77.5%) had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2016 – the highest share of any top origin country – up from 66.1% in 1980.
Overall, the estimated 44 million immigrants in the United States are better educated than ever, due in part to rising levels of schooling in many of the countries they came from and an influx of high-skilled workers to the U.S. in recent years, especially from Asia, a Prew Study found recently.
In 2016, 17.2% of immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree and another 12.8% had attained a postgraduate degree, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. Both shares are up since 1980, when 7.0% held a bachelor’s degree and another 8.7% held a postgraduate degree.
Compared with the U.S.-born population, immigrants are about as likely to hold bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees, though this varies by country of origin. In 2016, 30.0% of immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 31.6% of the U.S. born.
The educational attainment of U.S. immigrants has improved in recent decades for a variety of reasons. Each year, thousands of immigrants temporarily work in the U.S. under the federal government’s H-1B visa and Optional Practical Training programs, the two largest sources of new temporary high-skilled immigrant workers. Each requires some level of college education. More broadly, education levels have increased in many parts of the world as nations have invested in their educational systems. One result is that global literacy rates among people ages 15 and older have increased from 56% in 1980 to 85% in 2014.
Changes in the origins of U.S. immigrants in recent years have also contributed to the increased share with a college education. In recent years, Asia has surpassed Latin America as the largest source of newly arrived U.S. immigrants, in large part because immigration from India and China has increased steadily while immigration from Mexico has declined sharply. This follows one of the largest mass migrations in modern U.S history, during which more immigrants came to the U.S. from Mexico than any other country in the world. Overall, 11.6 million Mexican immigrants and 11.7 million South and East Asia immigrants lived in the U.S. in 2016.
More than half of immigrants from South and East Asian countries (52.1%) had a bachelor’s degree or more in 2016, which is in part explained by Asian countries being the largest source of foreign college graduates who stay to work in the United States.
Asian immigrants also make up a majority of H-1B visa holders and foreign students. Latin American immigrants, by contrast, tend to have lower levels of education. The vast majority of Mexican immigrants (81.2%) and Central American immigrants (74.6%) had a high school degree or less, the lowest educational attainment level of any origin region.
Immigrants from Korea, which is second to India, have had the biggest increase in educational attainment among those ages 25 and older. The share of Korean immigrants with a bachelor’s degree jumped from 34.4% in 1980 to 53.6% in 2016, a 19-percentage-point increase.
By contrast, the share of Mexican immigrants with a bachelor’s degree or higher has increased by only a few percentage points since 1980, reaching 6.2% in 2016. However, the share of Mexican immigrants ages 25 and older with a high school degree has more than doubled, from 11.4% in 1980 to 25.2% in 2016.
Today, the U.S. has more immigrants than any other nation in the world. About 13.5% of the U.S. population was foreign born in 2016. This share has been on the rise since 1970, when it was at a historic low of 4.8%, but it remains below the record of 14.8%, reached more than a century ago in 1890.
The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) has appointed Dr. Devesh Kapur as Starr Foundation Professor of South Asian Studies and Director of Asia Programs.
“It is my pleasure to welcome Dr. Devesh Kapur to the school’s faculty,” said Dean Vali Nasr. “We will benefit immensely from his extensive scholarship in the study of India and South Asian politics, and his pioneering research on how local-global linkages affect political and economic change in development countries. We look forward to Dr. Kapur’s leadership in deepening the school’s expertise on Asia and expanding the cross-disciplinary nature of Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS,” said Nasr.
Kapur is the author of Diaspora, Democracy and Development: The Impact of International Migration from India on India (Princeton University Press), which earned him a 2012 Distinguished Book Award of the International Studies Association and The Other One Percent: Indians in America (with Sanjoy Chakravorty and Nirvikar Singh) for which he received a Choice Outstanding Title of 2017.
Before joining Johns Hopkins SAIS, Devesh was a professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India, holding the Madan Lal Sobti Chair for the Study of Contemporary India at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his tenure at Penn, he was Associate Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Frederick Danziger Associate Professor of Government at Harvard. Kapur received the Joseph R. Levenson Teaching Prize, awarded to the best junior faculty at Harvard College and Outstanding Teaching in Political Science by the American Political Science Association, in 2005. Devesh holds a doctorate from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and a bachelor’s from the Indian Institute of Technology at Varanasi.
Shruti Naik, an Indian American scientist, who works as an Assistant Professor in the New York University School of Medicine, has been chosen to receive the prestigious 2018 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists.
Another Indian American researcher, Priyanka Sharma, a postdoctoral researcher at Stony Brook University, received honorable mention in the “Chemistry” category. She was recognized for her pioneering work on the low-cost conversion of untreated biomass to carboxycellulose nanofibers, which have applications in biomedicine and water purification.
Instituted by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences, the awards support outstanding postdoctoral researchers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Naik was nominated in the Life Sciences category for demonstrating that skin stem cells retain a “memory” of previous inflammatory experiences, allowing for a more robust and rapid response to subsequent injury, according to a press release.
Since skin tissue is sustained by pools of long-living epithelial stem cells, Naik discovered that the exposure of these stem cells to noxious stimuli can induce an inflammatory “memory” that alters stem cells’ genetic landscape and makes them respond more quickly and robustly to a subsequent insult.
According to a press release, Naik has also found that exposure to inflammation increases the accessibility of the cell’s DNA in regions that are associated with stress responses and in turn, these “poised” stem cells more quickly trigger inflammatory gene expression after a second injury. This discovery may help the development of better treatment for a variety of skin conditions in the future.
According to a press release, 125 nominated researchers competed for the total 9 awards at stake this year. The winners and finalists will be honored at the New York Academy of Sciences’ annual gala in New York on November 5, 2018. The winners will be awarded $30,000 and finalists will be awarded $10,000.
“These outstanding, early-career scientists are highly innovative and inspirational,” said Len Blavatnik, founder and chairman of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, and member of the President’s Council of the New York Academy of Sciences. “We are proud of their contributions to science and excited to observe how their current and future discoveries will make the world a better place.”
Ellis Rubinstein, president and CEO of the Academy and chair of the Awards’ Scientific Advisory Council, said: “The New York Metropolitan area’s scientific eco-system is a melting pot of scientific ideas and research disciplines. This year’s winners and finalists have taken risks, stepped ‘outside of the box’ of their traditional fields, and drawn from methods and applications beyond their strict disciplines, forging new ideas in the process. Their research and dedication is promising for the future of our world.”
The Blavatnik Family Foundation, founded by industrialist and philanthropist Len Blavatnik, supports educational, scientific, cultural, and charitable institutions in the United States and other parts of the world.
The New York Academy of Sciences, a 200-year-old nonprofit, advances scientific research, education, and policy.
Harvard University’s admissions policy has illegally discriminated Asian-American applicants, the United States Department of Justice stated last week. In a statement issued, the Justice Department said Harvard’s admission process “significantly disadvantages” Asian-American students compared to other racial groups.
“No American should be denied admission to school because of their race,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “As a recipient of taxpayer dollars, Harvard has a responsibility to conduct its admissions policy without racial discrimination by using meaningful admissions criteria that meet lawful requirements.”
A group, Students for Fair Admissions, filed a lawsuit in 2014 claiming that Harvard uses “racial balancing” as part of its admissions formula and that the practice is illegal. Harvard has challenged those claims, saying the group is misinterpreting data it released about how it selects students.
Students for Fair Admission said in a June court filing, Asian-Americans would account for more than 43 percent of the students admitted to Harvard, rather than the 18.7 percent.
In its court filings, Harvard accuses the group of painting “a dangerously inaccurate” picture of its admissions process, saying it also considers personal essays and teacher recommendations.
“Harvard College does not discriminate against applications from any group in its admissions process,” the universitysaid in a statement, vowing to “vigorously defend the right of Harvard and other universities to seek the education benefits that come from a class that is diverse on multiple dimensions.”
Justice Department lawyers said the group has presented “compelling evidence” that Harvard’s factoring of race into admitting students does discriminate against Asian-Americans. Furthermore, they argue that Harvard agrees not to discriminate on the basis of race as a condition of receiving millions of dollars in annual taxpayer funding.
Furthermore, the Justice Department said the government has a vested interested in the case because Harvard receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funding on the condition it won’t discriminate based on ethnicity.
Harvard uses a “personal rating” that includes subjective factors including “likability” and whether someone is a “good person” with “human qualities,” according to court documents. The school has admitted that, on average, it has ranked Asian-American applications lower on these qualities, the Justice Department charges in its court filing.
The Justice Department lawyers said Harvard has not provided any meaningful criteria to explain how it weighs race against the other factors in a application, a requirement under Supreme Court of the United States precedent.
In June, both sides filed motions for summary judgment, seeking to head off a potential trial scheduled for October in a Massachusetts federal court. The Justice Department’s motion asks the court to deny Harvard’s motion for summary judgement.
The American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday it will be filing a brief in support of Harvard, accusing the Justice Department of seeking to dismantle “progress in racial equity.”
“While the DOJ’s brief does not challenge Supreme Court precedent granting universities the right to freely select their own student body … the Trump administration has advocated for ‘race blind’ policies, which Harvard and virtually all other universities have found are demonstrably insufficient to achieve meaningful diversity, given the reality of historic and continuing racial discrimination in this country,” the ACLU said in a statement.
After last year’s phenomenal success of magnificent fund-raising gala – ‘Future of India’ – “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation (EVF)”, this year, is launching the most ambitious plan to host three Galas, at three strategic locations in USA. In sold-out Yr.2017 Gala at majestic art-deco ‘Cipriani-Wall Street” banquet hall, ‘Ekal’ raised $2 Million for its Literacy, Healthcare and Integral-Development projects for rural India. It was Ekal’s first ever attempt at gathering generous individuals for its nation-building cause. According to EVF-USA President, Suresh Iyer, this unprecedented show of support from philanthropists brought the year-end tally of donations to $8 Million.
Every year, Ekal’s hosts over 50 fund-raising events in major metropolitan centers across USA, by bringing famous ‘Bollywood Artistes’ for concerts. Earlier this year, Ekal had invited two groups of talented performers for this purpose. One group was headed by Kathak dancers Aditi Bhagwat & Kunal Tavri and another group was headed by Kaushik & Pranita Deshpande. They each were the star-attractions in 23 and 30 concert-events, respectively. The response to these concerts was so overwhelming that the events were sold-out at most of the places in advance. Over the years, Ekal’s progress has been consistently exponential. Now with three forthcoming Ekal galas planned for high net-worth supporters, Ramesh Shah, the Chairman of EVF-USA has no doubt that Ekal in 2018, is going to hit $10 Million magical mark for the first time.
As of now, Ekal has 72,000 schools under its wings, grooming 1.92 Million children annually – more than half of which are girls. Hon. PM Modi, in his clarion call to eradicate illiteracy from every small corner of the nation, wants Ekal to establish 100,000 schools by year Yr. 2022 – 75th anniversary of India’s independence. The primary objective of glittering galas is not only to raised funds for this task of national concern, but also, to encourage every sphere, every strata of Indian diaspora to invest itself in India’s future. Three eagerly-awaited galas, are all taking place in October – Houston, TX on October 6; Bethesda MD on October 12 and in New York City NY on October 13. For details of venue, tickets and sponsorship kindly tap into <http://www.nycgala.ekal.org/> OR <www.ekal.org>. The distinguished speaker at all three galas will be Media Moghul Dr Subhash Chandra (Chairman, Essel Gr of Companies that includes ZEE-TV). In addition, at NYC gala iconic former CEO of Pepsi and Apple, John Sculley, is going to grace the evening as a Chief guest speaker. This NYC gathering will also be entertained by ‘Indian Idol’ competition winner – ‘Sreeramchandra’. In Houston, along with Dr Subhash Chandra, another highlight of the evening is going to be renowned motivational speaker, Shiv Khera.
As the largest grass-root educational movement undertaken by Indians and NRIs, Ekal is socially conscientious, wherever it operates. Last year during ‘Hurricane Harvey’, Ekal volunteers not only worked along side ‘Sewa International’ in rescue and rehabilitation efforts in Houston region but also raised money for the victims. As the catastrophic destruction is currently unfolding in Kerala due to torrential rain and floods, ‘Ekal-India’ is actively involved there too with “Sewa Bharati”. Bajrang Bagra, CEO of ‘Ekal-India’ says,” the whole Ekal movement is all about giving dignity and self-esteem to rural-tribal folks of India”.
Harvard’s efforts to leverage technology to create more effective teaching tools, strategies, and resources will have a new leader this fall, with the appointment of Harvard Business School Professor Bharat Anand as the University’s new vice provost for advances in learning (VPAL).
Anand, the Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration, will take over in October from Peter Bol, the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages, who has held the post since its launch five years ago. Bol, a scholar of Chinese history, plans to return to teaching and research.
Since 2013, Anand has been the faculty chair of HBX, the Harvard Business School digital learning initiative that he helped to create. Anand said that he is looking forward to the challenge and opportunities of his University-wide role.
“Harvard has been a hotbed of innovations in pedagogy and learning during the last few years,” he said. “It’s a good time to take stock of what we’ve learned from these various projects and how this might inform our future efforts, while also recognizing that we are still probably in the early stages of imagining and shaping what the future of higher education will eventually look like. I’m looking forward to working with the many colleagues across the University who care deeply about these questions, and seeing how I can help with those efforts.”
In announcing the appointment, Provost Alan Garber cited Anand’s experience with HBX and said that he has been among the most dedicated contributors to the University’s efforts to explore innovations in learning.
“He is a distinguished scholar of organizational strategy and digital change, and he is an accomplished teacher, having twice received the HBS Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence,” Garber said in his statement. “Over the years that I have known Bharat, I have been continually impressed by his leadership and strategic insight, his ability to innovate and collaborate, and his deep analytic skills.”
According to Bol, Anand was instrumental in establishing HBX as a model for excellence in online business education, and was also helpful to Bol during his own years as vice provost.
“Bharat Anand has been an invaluable adviser during my term as VPAL,” Bol said. “I know of no one who has a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges of open-access online learning. His book ‘The Content Trap’ is the most important I have read in the field. He had great success in establishing HBX as the very best platform for online business education.”
The office of the vice provost for advances in learning was established in 2013 to oversee initiatives such as HarvardX, the University’s online learning platform. HarvardX is Harvard’s contribution to the edX collaboration, in which more than 100 universities, nonprofits, corporations, and international organizations provide free online courses to students around the world. Today, edX offers 1,900 courses that reach 14 million learners.
The vice provost for advances in learning also oversees the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT), whose aim is to catalyze innovation and excellence in learning and teaching, in part by offering grants and programming to support efforts by individual faculty members, programs, centers, and other University affiliates.
In addition, VPAL has a research function, performed by the Advances in Learning Research Group, which explores how students learn and examines data from online platforms. A fourth major VPAL component is DART, or Digital Assets for Reuse in Teaching, a tool that enables instructors to search all existing audio and video resources on HarvardX for possible reuse in other classes.
Anand said that the University’s various efforts to leverage technology to improve education have already been impressive, particularly in reaching and engaging learners far beyond campus. He also highlighted three areas of priority going forward — amplifying and supporting existing efforts while continuing to innovate; second, exploring how these projects across the University can not only achieve their own specific goals, but also support those of other initiatives; and third, examining how these advances can be extended and applied to the on-campus residential educational experience.
As IIT Bombay students, we are proud that this institution has now stepped in its Diamond Jubilee year and has occupied a prominent place among the other well-known institutes of learning in this world. However, invitation of Mr. Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, as a guest of honour in the convocation of this year, has raised some concerns among several students which we would like to share with the larger body of students, academicians and people in general. We would like to question the contribution of the ruling government, whose head is PM Narendra Modi, in higher education and in other vital social issues affecting the social harmony and fundamental rights of a substantial section of the Indian population. Visit of politicians and ministers is not new for academic institutions, but, the motive behind this is also a matter of concern. whereas nobody would be stopping the Prime minister from entering the campus, or delivering his speech, there are questions, which we would like to raise here. There are the issues which affect even the privileged students in IITs as well as the other students from more neglected institutions . Such issues should at least be raised, if not addressed by the authorities.Let us begin with the question of poor public expenditure in higher education.
Expenditure of the Indian government in education is abysmally low, and it is almost negligible in higher education, compared to many other countries. Budgetary expenditure in higher education is in a steep decline for the last few years as more and more private universities are coming up and public universities are compelled to hike their fees, leading a large number of students to difficulties and forcing many out of higher education.
Public Expenditure in Higher Education in India
Kundu,P. 2017: Education Budget lacks imagination, Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. LII. No.27
This ever declining public expenditure in education, is making us question the higher education policy of the ruling government, and naturally we wonder, whether Mr. Modi wants higher education for all, or whether he is promoting the Brahmanical idea of education only for a few people, belonging to upper caste and upper class backgrounds. Even out of this limited education budget, the share of the IIT’s alone is more than half. Academia in social sciences is facing acute shortage of funds. We fear, scraping of Non-NET fellowship in central universities or scraping of GOI-PMS scholarship (for SC, ST and OBC students) in TISS,are just the beginning. Further fee hike and scraping of scholarships are expected if the present system is allowed to continue. Of course, the worst sufferers would be the underprivileged students coming from non-upper caste backgrounds. Already the General Financial Rules (GFR) of the MHRD and UGC are about to be implemented in the central universities, and if these rules are implemented, a substantial expenditure of the central universities has to be raised from the fees paid by the students.This will automatically lead to fee hike. Is it wrong for us to question, what happens to the state universities? Is it wrong to think this to be an attack on the entire academic community of the country in general? Incidentally IIT Bombay has already complied with GFR and recently a massive fee hike was announced. This is true in every other institutions despite how privileged they are. Shouldn’t we ask here what happens to the students who are not able to meet this increased financial burden of higher education without economic assistance from the state? Why shouldn’t we ask that this abysmally low budget in public education be raised immediately, and education be made inclusive?
The next set of concerns obviously arises with the HECI Bill (Higher Education Committee of India Bill), which is proposed to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC), the main body regulating funds given to the institutes of higher education. Since the power to control funds will remain with the MHRD under the new act and HECI will have the power to punish or even shut down any institution which will not meet its guidelines,as researchers and students we suspect this to be an attack on the autonomy of the universities. Also without grants, the universities are expected to repay the ‘loans’ they have taken from the MHRD, which will automatically lead to further hike in fees, making the higher education spaces exclusionary for students. Already specialized centres like Centres for Study of Social Exclusion or Centres for Women studies, which deal with social exclusion and raise criticisms are dissolved in universities like JNU and TISS. HECI can regulate this to a far greater extent and totally curb the autonomies of the universities in selecting which courses they are willing to offer. Will it be wrong for us to question the prime minister why his government is hell bent on destroying the educational institutions of this country? Will it be wrong for us to ask, why the government is scared of higher education and freedom of teachers and students in selecting what they want to study?
The next very important concern is that of employment. Despite our privileged status as students of IIT Bombay, we are indeed concerned about the falling rate of employment across the country. The government has managed to create very little number of jobs over the last few years.The employment generation speed faced a six-year low in 2015 as only 135,000 new jobs were created compared to 421,000 jobs in 2014 and 419,000 in 2013, as per a quarterly industrial survey conducted by the Labour Bureau under the Labour Ministry.Jobs in the IT sector have dwindled to 1.5 lakh annual recruitments from over 3 lakh recruitments in previous years. After a survey conducted by job site Naukri.com, the report said, “The overall job market saw an 11 percent fall in new jobs, with IT-software industry most hit. IT-Software industry was hit the most with a 24 percent decline in hiring in April as compared to April 2016.” Besides,as per Labour bureau figures, India added just 1.35 lakh jobs in eight labour-intensive sectors in 2015, compared to 9.3 lakh jobs that were created in 2011. Whereas recruitment in government sector is almost negligible and employment in other sectors are falling, we are rightfully concerned about the validity of the entire ‘Make in India’ narrative and how much it actually guarantees. Without presence of any reservation for SC/ ST or OBC candidates in the private sector, more than 50 % of the Indian population with higher education, are likely to be pushed out of the job market as well. The prime minister is expected to answer for this exclusion in the employment sector.
As researchers and students, we believe that academia is not something disconnected from the society. We condemn all the hate crimes happening across the country in name of religion, caste, ethnicity and race. Somehow, the ruling government has found out a way to defend or be silent about most of such occurring. As we write this, we condemn the rape and murder women across the country, particularly of those, who were targeted because of their Dalit, tribal or Muslim identities. We question how the perpetrators of such heinous crime could get all solidarity from the ruling party. We condemn all the atrocities committed on Dalits and Muslims over the last few years in the name of religion and aggressive upper caste pride. We question how beef becomes so important an issue that living human being could be killed for it, and the murderer would get perfect impunity from the state. We question how the government could so easily decide who is a citizen and who is not on basis of their religious identities. But finally we would like to question Mr. Modi’s silence on all these issues. As a prime minister, we demand that he takes a positive stand and condemn all the hate crimes committed and supported by his party members.
The Declaration of Independence guaranteed Americans the right to pursue happiness, and we haven’t stopped looking for it since. But despite the college courses, research labs and countless self-help books dedicated to that search, only 33% of Americans actually said they were happy in a 2017 survey. A new research may help explain why: We’re trying too hard.
The research, published in the journal Emotion, found that overemphasizing happiness can make people more likely to obsess over failure and negative emotions when they inevitably do happen, bringing them more stress in the long run.
“Happiness is a good thing, but setting it up as something to be achieved tends to fail,” explains co-author Brock Bastian, a social psychologist at the University of Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences in Australia, in an email to TIME. “Our work shows that it changes how people respond to their negative emotions and experiences, leading them to feel worse about these and to ruminate on them more.”
“When people place a great deal of pressure on themselves to feel happy, or think that others around them do, they are more likely to see their negative emotions and experiences as signals of failure,” Bastian says. “This will only drive more unhappiness.”
Bastian says the study isn’t a condemnation of trying to be happy; rather, it underscores the importance of knowing and accepting that feeling unhappy sometimes is just as normal and healthy.
“The danger of feeling that we should avoid our negative experiences is that we respond to them badly when they do arise,” Bastian says. “We have evolved to experience a complex array of emotional states, and about half of these are unpleasant. This is not to say they are less valuable, or that having them detracts from our quality of life.”
In fact, recent research has suggested that experiencing negative emotions can ultimately boost happiness, and another new study finds that stressful or unpleasant situations may help people process bad news. Bastian also adds that failure can be invaluable for learning and growth.
“Failure is critical to innovation, learning and progress,” he says. “Every successful organization knows that failure is part of the road to success, so we need to know how to respond well to failure.” Doing so will likely take a culture change. A society that embraces messy emotions and experiences, Bastian says, is one that is poised for better mental health.
The invention of zero was a hugely significant mathematical development, one that is fundamental to calculus, which has made physics, engineering and much of modern technology possible.
The invention of the zero was a hugely significant mathematical development, one that is fundamental to calculus, which made physics, engineering and much of modern technology possible. But what was it about Indian culture that gave rise to this creation that’s so important to modern India – and the modern world?
The mathematical zero – ‘shunya’ in Sanskrit – may have arisen from Shunyata, the Buddhist doctrine of emptying one’s mind. Buddhist and Hindu religions that have origin in India embrace the concept of nothingness as part of their teachings. Dr Peter Gobets, secretary of the Netherlands-based ZerOrigIndia Foundation, or the Zero Project, which researches the origins of the zero digit, noted in an article on the invention of zero that “Mathematical zero (‘shunya’ in Sanskrit) may have arisen from the contemporaneous philosophy of emptiness or Shunyata [a Buddhist doctrine of emptying one’s mind from impressions and thoughts]”.
In addition, the nation has long had a fascination with sophisticated mathematics. Early Indian mathematicians were obsessed with giant numbers, counting well into the trillions when the Ancient Greeks stopped at about 10,000. They even had different types of infinity.
Mariellen Ward of the BBC writes, the earliest known example of zero written as a digit can be found in the temple inside an 8th century Gwalior Fort in India. Indians, unlike people from many other cultures, were already philosophically open to the concept of nothingness. Systems such as yoga were developed to encourage meditation and the emptying of the mind, while both the Buddhist and Hindu religions embrace the concept of nothingness as part of their teachings.
Although Gwalior has long been thought to be the site of the first occurrence of the zero written as a circle, an ancient Indian scroll called the Bhakshali manuscript, which shows a placeholder dot symbol, was recently carbon dated to the 3rd or 4rd Centuries. It is now considered the earliest recorded occurrence of zero.
Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, is quoted on the university’s website as saying, “[T]he creation of zero as a number in its own right, which evolved from the placeholder dot symbol found in the Bakhshali manuscript, was one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of mathematics. We now know that it was as early as the 3rd Century that mathematicians in India planted the seed of the idea that would later become so fundamental to the modern world. The findings show how vibrant mathematics have been in the Indian sub-continent for centuries.”
But equally interesting are the reasons as to why the zero wasn’t developed elsewhere. One theory is that some cultures had a negative view of the concept of nothingness. For example, there was a time in the early days of Christianity in Europe when religious leaders banned the use of zero because they felt that, since God is in everything, a symbol that represented nothing must be satanic.
So maybe there is something to these connected ideas, to the spiritual wisdom of India that gave rise to meditation and the invention of zero. There’s another connected idea, too, which has had a profound effect on the modern world.
The concept of zero is essential to a system that’s at the basis of modern computing: binary numbers. The concept of zero is essential to binary numbers, the system at the basis of modern computing. Bengaluru may even overtake Silicon Valley, with predictions suggesting it could become the single largest IT hub on Earth by 2020, with two million IT professionals, six million indirect IT jobs and $80 billion in IT exports. It’s binary numbers that make this possible.
Modern-day digital computers operate on the principle of two possible states, ‘on’ and ‘off’. The ‘on’ state is assigned the value ‘1’, while the ‘off’ state is assigned the value ‘0’. Or, zero.
“It is perhaps not surprising that binary number system was also invented in India, in the 2nd or 3rd Centuries BCE by a musicologist named Pingala, although this use was for prosody,” said Subhash Kak, historian of science and astronomy and Regents Professor at Oklahoma State University. And yet all of this started in India… from nothing.
The Indian Catholic priest and astrophysics researcher who found conclusive evidence of a long lost galaxy, the third biggest after Andromeda and the Milky Way, said that like many others before him he nearly gave up on the search.
Speaking to the media from the University of Michigan USA, where he made the discovery, Fr Richard D’Souza said the journey seemed destined for disappointment until they made the breakthrough.
“People had given up on this and had moved to other problems. We kept plodding along, and finally we had a breakthrough. We realised that we had to unlearn and abandon so many things we thought we knew,” Fr D’Souza said.
Part of the problem lay in the fact that a galaxy like Andromeda was expected to have consumed hundreds of its smaller companions. The researchers thought this would make it difficult to learn about any single one of them.
More importantly this discovery and its method will now pave the way for the discovery of other galaxies that have been cannibalized by other larger galaxies.
“We knew we could recover some information from the existing data, but it also gave us a way forward to solving similar problems with other galaxies,” he said.
Using new computer simulations, the scientists were able to understand that even though many companion galaxies were consumed by Andromeda, most of the stars in the Andromeda’s outer faint halo were mostly contributed by shredding a single large galaxy.
D’Souza, a Jesuit priest who hails from Goa’s Mapusa town and is a staff astronomer attached to the Vatican observatory in Rome, is currently pursuing his post-doctoral research at the University of Michigan’s Department of Astronomy.
He along with fellow researcher Eric Bell hit upon conclusive evidence of galaxy named M32p that was “shredded and cannibalised” by the Milky Way’s galactic neighbour Andromeda about two billion years ago.
This disrupted galaxy was the third-largest member of the local group of galaxies, after the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. Using computer models, D’Souza and Bell were able to piece together this evidence, revealing this long-lost sibling. Their findings were published in Nature Astronomy earlier this month.
Discovering and studying this decimated galaxy will help astronomers understand how disk galaxies like the Milky Way evolve and survive large mergers. “This project was a big risk, but I am glad it paid off. The main thing is that we learned a lot, and we had great fun doing the project,” he said.
Their discovery could alter the traditional understanding of how galaxies evolve. The duo realized that the Andromeda’s disk survived an impact with a massive galaxy, which would question the common wisdom that such large interactions would destroy disks and form an elliptical galaxy.
The timing of the merger may also explain the thickening of the disk of the Andromeda galaxy as well as a burst of star formation two billion years ago, a finding which was independently reached by French researchers earlier this year.
Last week in a radio broadcast, hosts at NJ 101.5 repeatedly referred to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal as “turban man,” and added, “If that offends you, then don’t wear the turban and maybe I’ll remember your name.” In response to these ignorant comments about Mr. Grewal and the Sikh community, the Sikh Coalition immediately urged for a public apology from the hosts and station, provided media resources on Sikhi for the entire radio station and offered cultural and religious sensitivity training for all staff members. As the station takes our guidance and recommendations, we will provide updates.
The Sikh Coalition’s media and communications rapid response work helped bring local and national attention to the media-amplified offensive language in a climate in which our communities are subject to discrimination, harassment and violence, including news coverage in the Associated Press, ABC News, NPR station WHYY, and PIX11. In addition, NJ.com published Executive Director Satjeet Kaur’s op-ed on turning this incident into an educational opportunity. The station moved to suspend the two hosts and issued a public apology to Mr. Grewal and the Sikh community.
“We applaud the station’s swift action in suspending the two radio hosts while conducting an investigation – not because the action was punitive, but because it sets a precedent for what is not acceptable in our society,” said Executive Director Satjeet Kaur in the op-ed. “This is especially important at a time when racism and xenophobia are becoming increasingly normalized.”
Earlier this year, Mr. Grewal made headlines as the first Sikh attorney general in the United States. His appointment joined a number of Sikhs achieving recent groundbreaking political successes across the United States, including in the states of New Jersey, Washington and California.
“We will continue to do whatever we can to ensure that the radio station is held responsible and that we turn this ugly incident into an opportunity for awareness and education,” said Senior Manager of Policy and Advocacy Sim J. Singh.
The Sikh Coalition continues our tireless work to combat bigotry in all its forms through legal, policy, education, media and community empowerment work.
Former Indian American U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy was recently honored by the Association of Recovery in Higher Education, among 15 others.
Murthy served as the 19th U.S. Surgeon General during President Barack Obama’s administration from 2014 to 2017.
Murthy received the Spectrum Award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of recovery, at a July 9 event, themed “The Art of Recovery,” held at the University of Houston.
According to his website, in 2017, Murthy focused his attention on chronic stress and isolation as prevalent problems that have profound implications for health, productivity and happiness.
He then partnered with the Veterans Health Administration and led a meeting that brought together leading thinkers, researchers and practitioners to identify scientifically proven ways we can cultivate emotional well-being and fitness to help us thrive among the most challenging circumstances.
In addition to his role as America’s ‘top doctor’ as the vice admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Murthy commanded a uniformed service of 6,600 public health officers, serving the most underserved and vulnerable populations in over 800 locations domestically and abroad.
Murthy received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and his medical degree and M.B.A. from Yale University.
Murthy completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and later joined Harvard Medical School as faculty in internal medicine.
Trisha Shetty, founder and CEO of SheSays, a nonprofit that provides Indian women with the resources to act against sexual violence, is among the 12 rising social change-makers from around the world selected as the first class of Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University in Manhattan.
The university said in a release June 28 that the scholars from Asia, Africa, South America, South Asia, and Europe, have each shown a commitment to finding practical solutions to complex challenges facing society.
“When President Obama left office, he challenged us to believe — not in his ability to bring about change, but ours,” said Obama Foundation CEO David Simas. “Through our partnership with Columbia with this new scholars’ program and through all of the foundation’s work, we are living this call to action. I am incredibly impressed with the talented young leaders who will be joining Columbia and the Foundation this fall and looking forward to helping support and scale their work,” Simas said.
According to its website, SheSays aims to end gender based discrimination and advance women’s rights in India by engaging with the youth and activating them as agents of social change to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“Equality, Safety and Autonomy should be a guaranteed right and reality for women around the world,” the organization says. Shetty holds India’s leaders to account as evident from a SheSays post on Facebook post April 15, which read – “”We are asking for accountability. We are asking for answers.” Our Founder, Trisha Shetty vehemently condemns all politicans who have failed the girls and women of this country.”
Portraying an activist grassroots agenda, the Facebook post goes on to say, “We cannot be mere bystanders anymore. We cannot let politicians get away with making abhorrent statements. We deserve more from our representatives. Speak up. Take to the streets. Find out where protests are taking place in your area and lend your voice and your support.”
The new, year-long academic program based at Columbia hopes to strengthen the expertise and knowledge of individuals who have demonstrated the ability to be transformative leaders in their communities, nations, and the world. The goals are consistent with the Obama Foundation’s mission to inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of civic leaders, the University says.
“When President Obama left office, he challenged us to believe — not in his ability to bring about change, but ours. Through our partnership with Columbia with this new Scholars program and through all of the Foundation’s work, we are living this call to action. I am incredibly impressed with the talented young leaders who will be joining Columbia and the Foundation this fall and looking forward to helping support and scale their work,” Obama Foundation CEO David Simas is quoted as saying in the press release.
The 12 Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University will have the opportunity to interact with the separate but affiliated Obama Foundation Scholars cohort based at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.
The program will include a core seminar led by Columbia faculty that will run the length of the academic year, an experiential learning component that will engage the Scholars in the work of policy development and implementation, involving the Obama Foundation and Columbia World Projects, an initiative designed to apply the best evidence-based academic research to the creation and application of practical solutions to real-world challenges and a non-core seminar coursework that will provide Scholars with the flexibility to select one or two courses at Columbia, according to the press release.
The 17th World Sanskrit Conference, the premier international forum for Sanskrit scholars, recognized Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s Akshar-Purushottam Darshan as the first new independent school of Vedanta since the 16th century. The recently authored ground-breaking Sanskrit works on the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan, the Swaminarayan Bhashyam and the Swaminarayan Siddhanta-Sudha by Sadhu Bhadreshdas of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, were also launched in the conference’s inaugural session on 9 July 2018 in Vancouver, Canada.
More than 600 eminent Sanskrit scholars and educators had gathered from over 40 countries for this historic event. The triennial World Sanskrit Conference, which for the last half-century has been bringing the finest minds in the world of Sanskrit together to advance understanding of Sanskrit language and literature, was held for the first time in Canada, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. World Sanskrit Conference organizing committee member and senior Sanskrit scholar from the University of British Columbia, Professor Ashok Aklujkar said, “Bhadreshdas Swami is one of the most amazing personalities of the religious traditions of India that I have ever met. His scholarly genius is jaw-dropping, and his commentaries on the Prasthantrayi are a truly great achievement. I think all of us at the World Sanskrit Conference are fortunate to have a bhashyakar in our midst. Just as Śrī Kāśī Vidvat Parisad acknowledged Swaminarayan Bhagwan’s Akshar-Purushottam Darshan as a distinct darshan in the Vedanta tradition, we are honored to do the same from the platform of the World Sanskrit Conference.”
Mahamahopadhyaya Bhadreshdas Swami, an eminent Sanskrit scholar and ordained swami of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, completed the Swaminarayan Bhashyam, a five-volume comprehensive Sanskrit commentary on Hinduism’s three Vedic canonical texts (Prasthanatrayi) – the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras – in 2007. These three texts form the foundation for the philosophical beliefs of Hindu Vedanta (commentarial) traditions. In 2017, Bhadreshdas Swami also completed the Swaminarayana-Siddhanta-Sudha, a classical Sanskrit dialectic treatise that offers an exposition, justification, and defense of the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan’s theological and philosophical principles.
The significance of Bhadreshdas Swami’s achievement was highlighted by Professor Deven Patel of the University of Pennsylvania. He said, “The World Sanskrit Conference is proud to honor this new and truly historic achievement in the world of Sanskrit philosophical culture. It is the first Sanskrit commentary on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita in nearly 200 years and the first commentary on the complete set by a single acharya in over 1200 years. This five-volume commentary, known as the Swaminarayan Bhashyam, interprets the Prasthantrayi through the lens of Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s Akshar-Purushottam Darshan. We are fortunate to have present before us today, in Bhadreshdas Swami, the acharya who, in the tradition of Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Vallabha, and others, has composed these commentaries.”
World-renowned Sanskrit scholar from the University of Pennsylvania, Professor George Cardona aptly detailed the importance of Bhadreshdas Swami’s work in establishing Akshar Purushottam Darshan saying, “This is a very important classical Sanskrit commentary that very clearly and effectively explains that Akshar is distinct from Purushottam.”
In the conference’s inaugural address, Bhadreshdas Swami explained the principles of the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan, the classical name of this distinct school of Vedanta. This darshan was revealed by Bhagwan Swaminarayan in the 19th century and propounded by His Holiness Shastriji Maharaj, the third spiritual successor of Bhagwan Swaminarayan and the founder of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. Bhadreshdas Swami further explained: “The essence of Akshar-Purushottam Darshan is to offer devotion to Purushottam, the supreme being, with loving servitude having qualitatively realized oneself as Akshar, who takes the form of the exemplary living guru.”
This was followed by the blessings of Ishwarcharandas Swami, the International Convener of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, who appreciated the great work of the World Sanskrit Conference and encouraged Sanskrit research and learning.
The World Sanskrit Conference’s inaugural session concluded with all the assembled scholars collectively recognizing Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s Akshar-Purushottam Darshan as a distinct school of philosophy in the Vedanta tradition.
On the morning of Tuesday, July 10, a special darshanic scholarly session was held on the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan in which professors and learned Swamis presented papers. Bhadreshdas Swami spoke on “Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s Akshar Purushottam Darshan: Ontology, Soteriology, and Identity”; Paramtattvadas Swami presented a paper on “Deconstructing ‘brahmajignasa’ in the Brahmasutra-Swaminarayan-Bhashya: A Study of Grammar, Hermeneutics, and Theology”; Aksharananddas Swami presented a paper on “The Akshar-Purushottam Darshan and the Gita Verse: ‘Brahmabhutah Prasannatma…’”; Prof. Deven Patel of the University of Pennsylvania presented a paper on “The Role of the Guru Within the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan”, and Aksharvatsaldas Swami presented a paper on “The Tradition of the Shikhara Within Mandir Architecture – A Study Based on Ancient Treatises and the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan.”
In the evening, Akshar-Purushottam Darshan Vidvat Goshti, a scholarly forum in Sanskrit and English was held on the significance of the Swaminarayan Siddhant Sudha, composed by Bhadreshdas Swami. Several of the world’s foremost experts on Sanskrit, including Prof. George Cardona (University of Pennsylvania), Prof. Sadananda Das (University of Leipzig), C. Rajendran (University of Calicut), Staneshwar Timalsina (San Diego State University), Shrikant Bahulkar (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute), and Bhadreshdas Swami discussed the impact of the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan.
Illustrations in the book are by Akshay Dinakar, who is a product designer who graduated from Stanford University. He is an entrepreneur focused on the intersection of engineering and personal wellness.
Penguin behavior
“I always had connectivity to my Alma Mater and kept up with my professors and the pioneers in establishing this Medical College and many other institutions. Since I had the close affinity with my Alma-mater, I took keen interest in establishing and being the president of Kasturba Medical College Alumni which is one of the largest alumni associations in US, UK and many other countries and had kept up communication with these Associations. Kasturba Medical college, I was honored as an outstanding Alumni of Kasturba Medical college, which is a great honor and that I am much grateful to the Academy.”
Besides being the founding president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian origin in Mississippi, he was also the past president and chair of the India Association of Mississippi and was Advisor to US Department of Health & Human Services at NHSC Washington, DC 2005-2008 during President Bush Administration.
Dr. Sampat Shivangi, an obstetrician/gynecologist, has been elected by a US state Republican Party as a full delegate to the National Convention. He is one of the top fund-raisers in Mississippi state for the Republican Party. Besides being a politician by choice, the medical practitioner is also the first Indian to be on the American Medical Association.
“Dr. Shivangi’s commitment to advancing America’s first principles, his distinguished career as a physician, and a leader at the state and national levels has made a profound difference in the lives of many,” Joel Anand Samy said. “We look forward to working with Dr. Shivangi in his new capacity as an Executive Advisory Board Member of ILS in advancing principled policies in America and strengthening the US-India ties on the healthcare, economic and security fronts.”
