While Hillary Clinton has promised to get tough on companies that offshore U.S. jobs, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has ratcheted up his criticism of her jobs record. Campaigning to clinch the Democratic Party nomination battered by offshoring, he has keyed on Clinton’s support for trade deals that he says helped companies move jobs overseas, and he has pointed to a 2012 video showing Clinton telling an Indian audience when it comes to outsourcing American jobs, there have been aspects that “benefited” America.
In 2004, though, it was Clinton who was slamming outsourcing as she led Democrats’ criticism of the Bush administration. Back then, Greg Mankiw, President George W. Bush’s top economic adviser, touched off a firestorm when he declared “outsourcing is a growing phenomenon, but it’s something that we should realize is probably a plus for the economy in the long run.”
“Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade,” Mankiw said. “More things are tradable than were tradable in the past — and that’s a good thing. A few days later, Clinton took to the Senate floor to reject those comments.
“I do not think outsourcing American jobs is a new kind of trade,” she said. “I do not think we should be thinking of our people as commodities, and I certainly do not believe it is a good thing. If the other end of Pennsylvania [Avenue] believes it is a good thing to have companies shift jobs from America to the rest of the world, then maybe they do not have a clue about what it is going to take to bring jobs back to this country and create the kind of economic prosperity that will put our people back to work again.”
Clinton said the comments from Bush’s adviser represented “a strategy for decline. This is a strategy for the destruction of the American job market.” She pledged to present a Senate resolution “to stand against this philosophy in the White House that turns a blind eye to the damage that is being done to the American economy: The loss of jobs, the loss of income, the loss of self-confidence and prestige that is now sweeping our land.”
The following day, Clinton introduced that resolution, which called on the Senate to “(1) oppose any efforts to encourage the outsourcing of American jobs overseas; and (2) adopt legislation providing for a manufacturing tax incentive to encourage job creation in the United States and oppose efforts to make it cheaper to send jobs overseas.” The measure was not successful.
Five years later, however, Clinton’s rhetoric shifted. In a 2009 interview with an Indian television outlet, she lauded President Obama for opposing efforts to protect domestic U.S. jobs, saying he was trying to “speak against protectionism and to make sure that our administration does not in any way give credence to it.” She also said while Americans were concerned with job losses, Obama administration officials were determined to avoid taking actions that might fundamentally alter international commerce.
“Outsourcing is a concern for many communities and businesses in my country,” she said. “So how we handle that is something that, you know, we are very focused on doing in a way that doesn’t disrupt the great flow of trade and services that go between our countries.”
Then came the 2012 comments that Sanders is now criticizing. During her trip that year to India, Clinton was asked about job outsourcing, and replied: “Well, it’s been going on for many years now, and it’s part of our economic relationship with India. And I think that there are advantages with it that have certainly benefited many parts of our country, and there are disadvantages that go to the need to improve the job skills of our own people and create a better economic environment. So it — like anything, it’s about pluses and minuses.”
Raj Shah, an Indian American entrusted with the Republican National Committee’s opposition research arm, a beehive of two dozen tech-savvy idealists who have already spent two years searching through decades of government documents, tax filings, TV footage and news archives, has been leading research on Hillary Clinton, the possible Democratic Party candidate in the US General Elections this year.
Searching in the Clinton presidential library to probe the Clintons’ accumulated past, and requesting more than 330 Freedom of Information Act, the teamhas netted 11,000 pages of records, and counting. Clinton “may not like those of us willing to hold her accountable, but she only has herself to blame,” Shah says. “We’re simply citing her own past words, positions and actions.”
“In this political cycle Republican investigators have been given a rare gift: a clear front-runner with a long and public history,” The New York Times wrote of Hillary Clinton. The Republicans boast that their research shop is bigger and better than the Democratic National Committee’s, but in fact the Republicans’ biggest advantage is Mrs. Clinton herself. Over 40 years of public life, she has changed roles, funding mechanisms, policy positions, even regional accents.
“We’ve got all sorts of fun and interesting things that reinforce” Clinton’s image as “untrustworthy, dishonest … whether its policy flip-flops, secret emails, and things about her life story,” Raj Shah, the deputy communications director at RNC, who wrote an operational handbook on GOP strategy against Clinton, said on the nationally syndicated “The Alan Colmes Show” on Fox News Radio April 19.
Clinton, Shah said, was the “architect” of seemingly unpopular policies relating to Libya and the nuclear deal with Iran and other Obama administration policies she staunchly supports even after leaving office. Add to that, her administration of the State Department which he said, showed “failure after failure” revealed in reports such as those routinely issued by the Government Accountability Office, on various government operations. “Donor and special interests rather than those in need … get in the front of the line,” those reports show, Shah contended.
Denying that his work digging the dirt on Clinton supported her contention of a “right wing conspiracy” Shah countered all parties have “professionalized opposition research.”
While admitting that Republican candidates such as billionaire Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz had negatives, he said, “But Hillary Clinton is extremely well defined, and defined in a negative way.
Shah also said the GOP has a big file on Sen. Bernie Sanders, and explained why the GOP plans to focus on the negative aspects of the Iran nuclear deal. “We are prepared for several scenarios including the potential ‘White Night’ scenario with (Vice President) Joe Biden stepping in,” Shah said, “But we are most prepared for Hillary Clinton.”
These revelations can be very damaging to any candidate who is running for public office. For instance, when Mrs. Clinton said recently that she is opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a trade pact she called a “gold standard” when she was secretary of state — they were able to send out her contradictory quotes on social media almost instantly. They did the same thing when she introduced a broad plan for gun control after largely opposing it in her last presidential run.
In New Hampshire this month, when Mrs. Clinton repeated a questionable story about wanting to join the Marines in her youth, the Republicans could catalog the times she made that claim in the past and the shifting reasons she gave. Recently they compiled a list of all the groups with ties to the financial sector and other industries with business before the federal government that paid Bill and Hillary Clinton millions in speaking fees well before the Clintons released lists on their own.
Americans may hate what this dredging enterprise says about modern campaigning, but it’s a legitimate part of the process, and any seasoned politician is likely to have inconsistencies, failures and embarrassments. What really keeps the opposition research machine humming are efforts by the candidates themselves to be all things to all voters, sacrificing their credibility.
Top U.S. House of Representatives from the Foreign Affairs Committee called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint meeting of Congress during a visit to Washington in June this year. Invitations to address the Senate and House are considered a great honor. There have been only two in the past year: Pope Francis, on September 24, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on April 29, 2015.
The invitation would be a sharp turnaround for a leader who was once barred from the United States over massacres of Muslims. In 2002, when Modi had just become Gujarat’s chief minister, more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in sectarian riots in the state. The administration of President George W. Bush denied Modi a visa in 2005 under a 1998 U.S. law barring entry to foreigners who have committed “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”
“Given the depth of our relationship with India across a range of areas – defence, humanitarian and disaster relief, space cooperation, conservation and innovation – we believe this is an ideal opportunity for the Congress to hear directly from the prime minister,” Representatives Ed Royce, the Republican committee chairman, and Eliot Engel, the panel’s ranking Democrat, wrote to House Speaker Paul Ryan. The letter to Ryan was also signed by Republican Representative George Holding and Democrat Ami Bera, the co-chairmen of the Congress Caucus on India and Indian Americans. A spokeswoman for Ryan said she had no announcement at this time about whether Ryan would extend the invitation.
The Treasury Department has decided to place a portrait of Harriet Tubman on the new $20 bill and keep Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill. The choice of Tubman for the $20 bill makes a lot of sense, by contrast, The New York Times wrote. Tubman’s list of achievements is long and distinguished. She escaped slavery and helped scores of others to flee to freedom on the Underground Railroad. She worked as a scout and spy for the Union during the Civil War, gathering intelligence that proved incredibly useful. And she was a suffragist who helped fight for women’s right to vote after the Civil War.
In addition to the decision to place Tubman on the $20 bill, the Treasury secretary, Jacob Lew, also announced that the back of the $10 bill would feature images of five suffragists – Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony – and the back of a new $5 bill will have an image of Marian Anderson, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt. Designs for the three bills will be unveiled in 2020 and the first to go into circulation will be the new $10, followed by the $20 and the $5.
Although it will take years before these bills go into circulation, as Lew says designing anti-counterfeiting measures takes time, and for the first time the Treasury will add tactile features to the notes for blind and visually impaired people, Lew and the Federal Reserve, which orders currency notes from the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, are expected to do everything they can to speed up the introduction of these bills.
Jackson has been on the $20 bill since 1928 and it is not clear exactly why he was put there in the first place. That seems like quite a lot of time to have one highly controversial and destructive personality on American currency. And Lew says that Jackson will remain on the back of the $20 bill in some form, so he won’t exactly be gone and forgotten.
Continuing with their intent to kill those with moderate opinions on Islam, ISIS, known for its notorious killing of innocents, has targeted Huma Abedin an Indian-American aide to Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Abedin is listed with a number of other Western Muslim leaders in a lengthy article, which called extremists to “kill the Imams of Kufr (the infidels) in the West,” according to The Clarion Project, a nonprofit that monitors Islamic extremists.
As per media reports, the list put out in the ISIS magazine Dabiq names Huma Abedin, Clinton’s woman-Friday for more than a decade. It also targets other prominent Muslims among them, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, and British politicians Sayeeda Warsi and Sajid Javid.
The magazine describes them as “overt crusaders” and “politically active apostates” involved “in the politics and enforcing laws of the kufr,” or disbelievers. The spokesman for Clinton’s campaign told the New York Post he had no comment about the ISIS hit list.
Abedin began as an intern in the White House 15 years ago, and worked at the State Department when Clinton was secretary of state, is married to disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner. “I have one daughter. But if I had a second daughter, it would [be] Huma,” Clinton is quoted saying at a celebration for Abedin’s wedding in 2010, the Washington Post reported. Born to an Indian father and Pakistani mother, Abedin was brought up in Saudi Arabia.
The latest issue of the magazine celebrates the Brussels attacks and identifies the key culprits behind the bombings, which killed 31 people. “Paris was a warning. Brussels was a reminder,” the magazine said, according to the New York Post. “What is yet to come will be more devastating and more bitter by the permission of Allah, and Allah prevails.”
New York, NY: Kshama Sawant, the only Socialist on the Seattle City Council, traveled to New York seeking support for Bernie Sanders On April 9th. Sawant, a member of the Alternative Socialist Party, identifies with Sanders who describes himself as an avowed Democratic Socialist with the watchword “political revolution” as his main campaign slogan.
In a “Clinton v Sanders” New York proxy debate between supporters of Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Sanders, held at the Judson Memorial, a radical church on Washington Square in the Big Apple, opponents lined up in a vehement debate about their respective candidates’ positions, Slate.com reported. Seated among prominent nationally recognized personalities, Sawant, sought New Yorkers to support the Vermont Senator to be th next President of the nation.
Kshama Sawant had addressed one of Bernie Sander’s biggest rallies to date last month, the evening before Washington State voters delivered a whopping 73% victory for Sanders. Kshama Sawant fired up the crowd with a fist of solidarity before saying “Sisters and brothers, are you feeling the Bern?!”
She went on to say, “It’s really amazing how Bernie’s campaign has transformed the entire landscape of US national politics. His anti-corporate insurgent campaign has made gains that have been stunning enough to deny Hillary (the Wall Street and Wal-Mart candidate) the straight up coronation she thought she deserved….It’s not just young people in general, it’s young women. Women who were told by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, ‘If you don’t support Hillary, you’re becoming complacent about reproductive rights.’ Women who were told by Madeline Albright that ‘there was going to be a special place in hell for them’ if they supported Bernie against Hillary.’ I think there’s a special place in hell for Madeline Albright. Look at the results in Michigan which defied all polls, where both black and white working class people, when they cast their vote for Bernie, spoke out against the massive de-industrialization that has gone through the mid-West because of NAFTA and those shitty trade deals the Clinton’s were responsible for. And Arab Americans, Muslims, voted in large numbers for Bernie, because they respect a real challenge to imperialism. But, my sisters and brothers, the most profound sign of our times, is the support for Socialism. This is America, this is the belly of the capitalist beast and we have millions of people saying socialism is not a dirty word, capitalism is a dirty word.”
Writing in the Huffington Post on March 2, under the headline, “Bernie vs Hillary, What’s a Feminist to do?” Sawant argued fervently for Sanders. She sees women’s rights clashing with ‘corporate interests’ time and again, she said, even on issues such as $15 minimum wage where women council members voted for ‘sub-minimum’ wages most affecting women. “Do these women not consider themselves feminists? I think they do, though I won’t speak for them.”
“If the question is one of policy and not of identity, can there be any doubt that Bernie Sanders is the real feminist in this race?” Sawant proclaims, declaring that “Feminism, solidarity and socialism are interconnected and inseparable.”
(WASHINGTON) — For Americans of nearly every race, gender, political persuasion and location, disdain for Donald Trump runs deep, saddling the Republican front-runner with unprecedented unpopularity as he tries to overcome recent campaign setbacks.
Seven in 10 people, including close to half of Republican voters, have an unfavorable view of Trump, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. It’s an opinion shared by majorities of men and women; young and old; conservatives, moderates and liberals; and whites, Hispanics and blacks — a devastatingly broad indictment of the billionaire businessman.
Even in the South, a region where Trump has won GOP primaries decisively, close to 70 percent view him unfavorably. And among whites without a college education, one of Trump’s most loyal voting blocs, 55 percent have a negative opinion.
Trump still leads the Republican field in delegates and has built a loyal following with a steady share of the Republican primary electorate. But the breadth of his unpopularity raises significant questions about how he could stitch together enough support in the general election to win the White House.
It also underscores the trouble he may still face in the Republican race, which appears headed to a contested convention where party insiders would have their say about who will represent the GOP in the fall campaign.
“He’s at risk of having the nomination denied to him because grass-roots party activists fear he’s so widely disliked that he can’t possible win,” said Ari Fleischer, a former adviser to President George W. Bush.
Beyond their generally negative perception of Trump, large majorities also said they would not describe him as civil, compassionate or likable. On nearly all of these measures, Trump fared worse than his remaining Democratic or Republican rivals.
Not that voters have all that much love for those rivals. But their negative perceptions don’t match the depth of the distaste for Trump. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is seeking to catch Trump in the Republican delegate count, is viewed unfavorably by 59 percent, while 55 percent have negative views of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Another problem for Trump is that his public perception seems to be getting worse. The number of Americans who view him unfavorably has risen more than 10 percentage points since mid-February, a two-month stretch that has included some of his biggest primary victories but also an array of stumbles that suggested difficulties with his campaign organization and a lack of policy depth.
A survey conducted by Gallup in January found Trump’s unfavorable rating, then at 60 percent in the their polling, was already at a record high level for any major party nominee in their organization’s polling since the 1990’s.
Clinton’s campaign believes Trump’s sky-high unfavorable ratings could offset some questions voters have about her own character, and perhaps even give her a chance to peel off some Republicans who can’t stomach a vote for the real estate mogul.
More than 60 percent of all registered voters and 31 percent of Republicans said they definitely would not vote for Trump in the general election. One group that is still with him includes those who describe themselves as both Republicans and supporters of the tea party movement. Sixty-eight percent of them have a favorable view.
New York, NY: United States has a much bigger global agenda with India in contrast to Pakistan, and Washington has moved far beyond looking at its relations with the South Asian neighbors as linked, according to US Defence Secretary Ash Carter.
“We have much more to do with India today than has to do with Pakistan.” Carter said Friday. “There’s important business with respect to Pakistan, but we have much more – a whole global agenda with India, an agenda that covers all kinds of issues.” He was answering a question from the audience during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations about how the growing US ties with India will impact Washington’s relations with Islamabad.
In his address on the eve of leaving on a visit to India, Carter said US relations with India was “destined to be one of the most significant partnerships of the 21st century.” He said there would be “exciting new projects” and a “strategic handshake” with India encompassing military cooperation and defence co-production.
“The days are gone when we only deal with India as the other side of the Pakistan coin, or Pakistan as the other side of the India coin,” he said. “I know that there are those in India and Pakistan who are still glued to that dyad way of thinking. But the United States put that behind us some time ago.” While describing Pakistan as “an important security partner,” he said, “We have a big set of issues having to do with the border with Afghanistan, where we continue to operate; with terrorism, both on the territory of Pakistan and also obviously cross-border into Afghanistan, including affecting US service members there.” He added, “I’m sure I’ll be asked about it in India. It’s long past – we’re long past the point in US policymaking where we look at the India-Pakistan dyad as the whole story for either one of them,” he said.
America is strongest when we recognize our many traditions, says First Lady Michelle Obama
WASHINGTON: “We think America is strongest when we recognize our many traditions, when we celebrate our diversity, and when we lift each other up,” First Lady Michelle Obama said during Nowruz celebrations at the White House on April 6th. “And in times like these, when we think all — that’s more important than ever before, right now and today with what’s going on. Right now, when we’re hearing so much disturbing and hateful rhetoric, it is so important to remember that our diversity has been -– and will always be -– our greatest source of strength and pride here in the United States,” Obama said.
Criticising the “disturbing and hateful” poll rhetoric, First Lady Michelle Obama has asserted that America is a “nation of immigrants” and diversity will always be its greatest strength. “In times like these, when we think all– that’s more important than ever before, right now and today with what’s going on. Right now, when we’re hearing so much disturbing and hateful rhetoric, it is so important to remember that our diversity has been — and will always be — our greatest source of strength and pride here in the United States,” she said. “We are a nation of immigrants. And we should cherish the talent and energy and the beautiful traditions and cultures that come with that heritage, not just today but every day,” she said.
In her remarks, she underscored the number of festivals of various cultures now White House has been celebrating. “I’m proud that here at the White House, we host special events to mark the holidays but we celebrate St Patrick’s Day, Diwali, Cinco de Mayo. And with your help, today, we’re celebrating Nowruz, which is one of our newest White House traditions,” Michelle said.
Nowruz, she said, is a time to visit loved ones. It’s a time to reflect on the past year, and to renew hopes for the New Year to come. Nowruz is a traditional Iranian festival of spring and considered as the beginning of the New Year among Iranians.
New York, April 6: Pakistani Christians and their supporters demonstrated outside the United Nations headquarters here Tuesday asking for the protection of minorities in Pakistan and help for hundreds of Christian asylum-seekers from that country detained in Thailand.
At the protest that comes in the wake of the Easter bombing by the Pakistani Taliban directed against Christians in Lahore, an organiser, Tariq Javed, said that the community was under constant threat in Pakistan, both from the government through measures like the anti-blasphemy laws and from terrorist organisations and extremist politicians. The Lahore bombing was only the latest in a series of attacks on Christians and their places of worship, he said.
Javed, who is the president of the International Community Care Foundation, said the UN and the United States should work to end the persecution of Christians in Pakistan. Islamabad should be made to “take measures to provide security and protection to Christians in the light of recent terrorist attacks and continual religious persecution,” he said.
He said that of about 4,000 Pakistani Christians who fled to Thailand, about 500 have been put in detention centers with illegal immigrants under harrowing conditions and not treated as asylum-seekers. Eleven of them have died so far in detention, he added.
Pakistani Christians are unable to get asylum in Thailand because that nation has not signed the Refugee Convention and has no formal framework for asylum. Javed appealed to the UN and its High Commissioner for Refugees to intervene to have those in detention released and arrange for their resettlement elsewhere.
Wilson Chowdhury, the chairperson of the British Pakistani Christian Association, said that if Thailand returned the asylum-seekers to Pakistan they would face persecution from the government and violent retribution from extremists. The anti-blasphemy were being used as a legal guise to attack Christians and to even settle private scores.
A problem the Pakistani Christians fleeing persecution in their homeland faced was that Britain defined their status as facing “severe discrimination” rather than “persecution” and this made it difficult for them to get asylum, Chowdhury said. Many European countries deferred to Britain on this and his organization was working to change this, he added.
About 50 people, including non-Pakistani Americans, were at the protest. Hubert George, the chairman of Hope for Persecuted Christians, said that they were also appealing to Washington to provide asylum to the Pakistani Christians stranded in Thailand.
Not withstanding that Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s leading contender in the Primaries had said that Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers, suggested a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and called for the deportation of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, there are some immigrants supporting him for reasons that are “intensely personal and, not surprisingly, are often aligned with their politics back home.”
As the entire nation is looking upto New York for the upcoming crucial Primaries on April 19th, The New York Times reports that “some small groups of immigrants have come forward to support him.” A group of Latino Republicans in Rockland County is planning to endorse him, and some older Indian-American professionals and young Hindus in the region already have.
Quoting a recent informal poll conducted by a Russian-language radio station in New York City, the Times wrote that more than 80 percent of 5,000 callers preferred Trump, the Republican front-runner, to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party’s likely nominee.
Anand Ahuja, a lawyer in his mid-60s on Long Island, who was a founder of Indian-Americans for Trump 2016, a political action committee, has his own reasons to support Trump. Ahuja visited the United States in his 20s on a tourist visa from India, is reported to have said that “friends were marrying for green cards. They stayed and prospered, but he returned to India and waited nine years to immigrate legally.”
Ahuja is said to have praised Trump for wanting to stop immigrants from entering the country illegally. “You should not reward people who have broken the law,” he said. “You follow the law, you get punished. That’s why I like Donald Trump when he says, ‘Let’s build a wall.” He added, “I believe anybody who came in this country illegally should be deported.” Ahuja, however, added that showing support for Trump also invites backlash and criticism. “You become a subject of mockery and fun and criticism,” Ahuja said, adding that he faced a lot of flak on social media for supporting Trump.
Adity Sharma, 30, a law student, and one of about 20 members of Hindus for Trump, a Facebook group that occasionally meets in cafes in Brooklyn, was quoted in the report that her Indian-American family supported Hillary Clinton. “To each his own,” she said, adding of Trump: “He’s a strong candidate, he’s different than the others. By him not being so politically correct, it does make people sit up and listen.” She and the group’s other members believe that current American policy is too friendly toward Pakistan and that Trump could change that to benefit India. They also approve of Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim refugees.
Raju Bathija, 56, another member of the group, said she no longer trusted Mrs. Clinton or her foreign policy in India. But more than 15 years ago she said she attended a fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton’s Senate race, as a member of the Indo-American Democratic Party. Now, she supports Trump, because, “You go where your bread is buttered,” Ms. Bathija said.
However, these are individuals and their personal views. It looks to be seen if the larger community will go behind the billionaire turned politician. Devesh Kapur, director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania, was quoted in the report in The Times as saying that Ahuja’s group was an outlier in an Indian diaspora that had overwhelmingly voted for Democrats. “It has no reflection of representativeness by a long, long shot,” said Mr. Kapur, who is an author of a coming book about Indian immigrants’ success in the United States. “Whether it’s Sikhs for Trump, Hindus for Trump, in each of them you would say: ‘Really? How can that be?’ It’s a really tiny fraction. They represent themselves, not all Sikhs.”
Chicago IL: “Pakistan, which is the biggest victim of terrorism, has been courageously fighting this menace, and in the process making huge sacrifices, including losing innocent lives”, said Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, Consul General of Pakistan at the Vigil Organized by the Lahore Chapter of Chicago Sister City International, in collaboration with Consulate General of Pakistan and Pakistani-American community, at Devon Avenue in Chicago, in the memory of victims of the heinous terror attack that took place on March 27th, 2016 in Lahore’s crowded Gulshan-I-Iqbal Park resulting in killing 75 and injuring 340 innocent people.
“Pakistan, which is a resilient nation, has been ever ready to counter such acts of the forces of evil and bigotry. These dark forces of terrorism would soon be defeated by Pakistani nation’s resolve to eliminate terrorism and extremism from the country. The people of Pakistan are extremely brave and they would never waver or be deterred insofar as protecting the strategic interest of their homeland is concerned”, said Timizi with a sense of confidence and pride.
Tirmizi added that the security forces of Pakistan have successfully destroyed all the sanctuaries and infrastructure of the terrorists in the north-west and the operation Zarb-e-Azb is on the threshold of fully achieving its cherished goals. Tirmizi thanked the people and the US officials for their gesture of sympathy, solidarity, and support for the people of Pakistan. “Pakistan needs and deserves the international community’s support and understanding in its fight against terrorism, which is aimed at making not only Pakistan but the entire world a safer place. The international community must be together in this fight against terrorism as we belong to one human family”, added Tirmizi.
Dr Tariq Butt, Chair of Lahore Chapter of Chicago Sister City International said that Pakistani-Americans stand firmly with the people of Lahore at this challenging time. “We pray for their fast recovery from this terrible tragedy”, he added. The vigil was attended by scores of people from all walks of life. In addition to Pakistani and American community, significant number of US officials, including Mr. Jesse White, Secretary of State showed up at the event. Messages of the Governor Rauce Bruner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Attorney General Lisa Madigan were read by their special representatives. Dennis Jung, Lisa Kohnke, and Nettie Lasko represented Governor Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, respectively.
The participants at the vigil unanimously expressed their strong support for the people and Government of Pakistan in their fight against terrorism. They said that the terrorists, who have no faith and religion, are defaming Islam, which is a peaceful religion. “We condemn the Lahore terror attack and express sympathy and solidarity with the people of Pakistan”, said the participant.
President Barack Obama on Friday last week counselled India and Pakistan not to pursue aggressive military doctrines and nuclear arsenals as he wrapped up the fourth Nuclear Security Summit, his signature international effort to curtail the spread of nuclear weapons and source material.
During a press conference at the end of the summit that attracted leaders from all major powers, Obama sought to “see progress in Pakistan and India, that subcontinent, making sure that as they develop military doctrines, that they are not continually moving in the wrong direction.” He also expressed concern about “nuclear arsenals” expanding in some countries, “especially those with small tactical nuclear weapons that could be at greater risk of theft.”
The reference clearly was to Pakistan’s expanding nuclear arsenal with the addition of mini-nukes, but the US President also drew India into the picture with his reference to military doctrines, seen in some quarters as an allusion to New Delhi’s much-discussed but never implemented Cold Start Doctrine, a military manoeuvre that purportedly seeks to launch punitive armored strikes deep into Pakistan in a quick reaction response to egregious acts of terrorism by Pakistan inside India.
New Delhi has repeatedly said it has not implemented the Cold Start doctrine, and that Pakistan has historically been the aggressor with a military doctrine of terrorism and “death by thousand cuts” aimed at changing the status quo between the two countries. Still, there was a degree of surprise in Indian quarters that the US President’s lecture came despite the restraint exercised by the Modi government in what has been an extension of the UPA government’s Pakistan policy.
The Cold Start doctrine, a largely theoretical construct that has been debated in Indian strategic circles but not implemented, has rattled Pakistan to such an extent that it has developed and deployed battlefield nuclear weapons or tactical mini-nukes for use against an invading armored corps, even if it means nuking its own territory.
President Obama and other leaders have expressed fears that these mini-nukes dispersed to field commanders could be easy picking for terrorist groups that all too frequently infiltrate Pakistani military establishments, as evident in several attacks on military cantonments and garrisons. The concern was widely discussed by world leaders and their aides at the summit, both in the main session and on the margins.
Fearing a public dressing down, the Pakistani leadership bailed out from attending the Nuclear Security Summit, citing the Lahore terrorist attack as an excuse, thus forcing Obama to publicly voice the international concern.
Pakistan has repeatedly maintained that its nuclear weapons are safe and well-protected, but the assertion carries little credibility in the international community that has seen its blueprints and technology in the hands of countries such as Libya and Iran, and witnessed its nuclear scientists supping with al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
There is an increasing anger among the majority of the people in the country towards the American establishment, the mainstream American politicians and both the political parties. The rise and growing popularity of unconventional politicians with varied ideologies and outlook to the future of the United States in both the Republican and the Democratic Parties may be explained, to some extent, due to this growing frustration among the middle class and the poor in the country.
Income inequality is one of the major global issues talked about today. It is the bane of the working class’s existence. It’s more evident in the United States today than ever before. In the US, income inequality increased the most among all the developed nations – the richest 1% growing by 275%, while wages of the poor grew by only 20% in 30 years. The Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, states that the total net worth of those on the list in 1982, the first year the list was compiled, was $93 billion. In 2014, that number was $2.3 trillion, up 2,400%. At the same time, median household income in the United States rose only about 180%.
The American middle class has been shrinking relative to upper- and lower-income groups, both of which represent bigger shares of the population than at any time since at least 1971, a new Pew Research Center report finds. The increased income inequality since the 1980s is due to a decreasing real minimum wage, which means, the real wages were growing slower than inflation, contributing to increase in the inequality.
Shawn Donnan of the Financial Times says, “We’re seeing a real divergence in American society. What’s interesting about these numbers that have come out from the Pew Research Center and that we’ve built our series around is that, really, this is the broadest measure in terms of income of the American middle class out there.”
In inflation-adjusted terms, the real value of the minimum wage is lower today than it was at its late-1960s peak. This decline in the real value of the minimum wage, coupled with the decline in unionization and the rise of automation, accounted for much of the growth in income inequality in the 1980s.
While there is a push to increase the minimum wages, there is also a demand to increasing income taxes on top earners, and in turn giving those funds to those on the bottom. Both income inequality and the minimum wage have become hot-button political issues in recent years, particularly since the rise of the Fight for $15 campaign. Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders talk about income inequality as a major economic problem and advocate for raising the minimum wage as one possible solution for the issue.
It sounds like simple math, and has an allure for many politicians and American families alike, but a new Brookings research suggests that this proposal would actually do little to reduce inequality.
This growing inequality has immense consequences for the nation’s future. As the children of the rich are getting better services, and in turn, a higher likelihood of social and cognitive development, which means that they are more likely to take up the high paying executive positions than the others, whose parents are perhaps not so lucky. Unequal starting points only mean that the finishing points will be unequal as well. The exact cause of income inequality is up for debate.
Kim Weeden, director of the Center for the Study of Inequality at Cornell University, says while raising the minimum wage will unlikely decrease the levels of income inequality, it would make a huge difference for those struggling to make ends meet.
However, there are those in the Republican Party and others, who think that increasing the minimum wages will not help in diminishing income inequality. According to Heritage Foundation expert James Sherk, labor economists have found no correlation between higher minimum wages and lower poverty. Raising the minimum wage simply would not reduce poverty.
Sherk says, raising the minimum wage will not affect many poor families. Higher minimum wages cost some workers their jobs. Raising the minimum wage makes these entry-level jobs harder to find. That makes it harder for less skilled workers to gain the skills necessary to get ahead. And finally, the raising wages will disqualify millions from receiving federal grants that are eligible to them now. As workers’ incomes rise they qualify for less and less aid—effectively an additional tax on their income.
Another suggestion put forth is to tax the rich more. It’s a popular idea on the 2016 campaign trail, but a new study says that won’t do much to dent inequality in America. Many of America’s uber rich, including billionaires Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon, have said they would be willing to pay more in tax.
Bernie Sanders has proposed a “billionaire surtax” of 10% that he says would only impact the nation’s 530 billionaires. He also wants to increase the inheritance tax — what people pay when they transfer land or money to their kids — from 40% to a top rate of 55%. Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton have all proposed eliminating the “carried interest loophole” that allows many hedge fund managers to tax their investment income at a lower tax rate (20% versus 39.6%).
A new paper from Brookings Economics Studies found that raising the top income tax rate to 50 percent would mean an additional $6,464 in taxes owed for households in the 95-99th percentiles of income and an additional $110,968 for households in the top 1 percent. Extremely wealthy households in the very top 0.1 percent could expect to experience an average income tax increase of $568,617. As per the analysis, increasing the top marginal tax rates for those in the 95th percentile and up had a “trivial effect on overall income inequality.” only lowering the gap modestly.
Researchers looked at what would happen if all the extra money raised from the tax hike on the rich were given to America’s poorest. Lower-income families would receive about $2,650 a year, they found. That kind of redistribution would lessen inequality a little bit more, but the country would still remain far more unequal than it was in the 1970s.
The reality is that that tax hikes for top earners could raise critical revenue for the federal government, and redistribution policies would still provide substantial benefits to low-income households, if not economic mobility as a whole.
The need to close the gap between the rich and the poor and according the majority poor, lower middle class and the middle class their right to thrive is a basic necessity. They need to be able to meet their daily needs and offering them resources to grow and become productive citizens rather than become a burden on the nation, means, investing in the present by raising the minimum the income, redistributing the wealth of the nation to invest in the products and services that will enhance the quality of the lives every citizen.
“It is expected that the Indian Prime Minister is accorded the respect befitting a head of state. However, conferring of the highest civilian award on Mr. Modi by those who claim to be the custodians of the two Holy Mosques is a slap in the face of survivors of the Gujarat pogroms of 2002. It is also a demonstration of indifference to the increased attacks and threats against the religious minorities and Dalits in India,” said Umar Malick, President of IAMC.
Modi and the Saudi monarchy have much in common. As Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi presided over one of the worst episodes of sectarian violence in independent India, when over 2,000 people were massacred by mobs instigated by the Hindu-supremacist groups. The horrific killings were accompanied by rape and pillage, resulting in the displacement of over 150,000 Muslims from their homes, many of whom are still struggling to pick up the pieces of their lives. Modi continues to have a case pending against him in the Gujarat High Court and a tainted Special Investigation Team failed to initiate prosecution of Mr. Modi. The handful of convictions in the cases related to the pogroms in Gujarat have happened as a result of tireless and courageous work by activists and whistleblowers, whom the Modi government has harassed and intimidated.
Since coming to power, the Modi administration has worked steadily to erode religious freedom and India’s long-cherished traditions of tolerance among its diverse populace. Ranging from attacks on churches and mob violence against Muslims and Dalits, to felicitating the killer of Mahatma Gandhi, Mr. Modi’s administration and its supporters have relentlessly pursued a divisive agenda, that is antithetical to the country’s Constitution and its egalitarian ideals. The demonization of intellectuals, the vigilantism encouraged by the state, and the weakening of institutions are all indications of a besieged Indian democracy.
Saudi forces are conducting indiscriminate airstrikes in Yemen that are widely acknowledged to have caused huge loss of civilian lives, creating an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. Incidentally, the monarchy had conferred the same award given to Mr. Modi, on Mr. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt.
“Coming from the Saudi monarchy, which is known for its repressive domestic policies and human rights violations, the award itself is of dubious value. It diminishes, rather than enhances the office of the Prime Minister of India,” added Malick. Indian-American Muslim Council is the largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the United States with chapters across the nation. For more information, please visit our website at: http://www.iamc.com
Indian Americans joined hands with the larger community in New York to raise funds for Washington State Senator Pramila Jayapal (37th District in Seattle, Washington) who is running for the seat being vacated by long term Congressman Jim McDermott in Washington state’s 7th Congressional District. The event was hosted by socialite Claire White in Manhattan. There was a good presence of Indian Americans for the fundraiser.
Jayapal moved from India to the United States as student when she was sixteen. Jayapal founded Hate Free Zone after the September 11 attacks in 2001 as an advocacy group for Arab, Muslim, and South Asian Americans targeted in the wake of the attacks. The group went on to become a political force in the state of Washington, registering new American citizens to vote and lobbying lawmakers on immigration reform and related issues. It changed its name to OneAmerica in 2008.Jayapal stepped down from leadership in the group in May 2012. A year later, she was recognized by the White House as a “Champion of Change” for her work on behalf of the immigrant community.
Jayapal, a resident of Columbia City, Wash., near Seattle, was able to get her feet wet in politics with the Senate, but feels her voice is better served on a national level. “Many of the challenges working-class and middle-class Americans face, require a national solution,” the Chennai native said. “I believe our system of government is rigged to favor big corporations and the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.”
Included in her accomplishments were passing two bills, helping fund a new Southeast Economic Opportunity Center that will bring higher education to the Rainier Valley for the first time, putting $5.25 million in pre-apprenticeship support for women and people of color, and fighting against payday lending. Additionally, she has fought for gun law reform, sponsoring two bills on the matter, and pushed a measure to increase minimum wage to $12 an hour.
Despite all her successes and efforts, the Democrat has faced a number of challenges in the Republican-dominated state Senate. “As a member of the minority (party), you are constantly being creative and strategic about how to get things done. Relationships and power are relative to your position in the minority,” she explained.
“I’m both the only woman of color and the first ever South Asian American member of the Legislature. That makes a big difference,” she added. “My background as an activist and a woman of color means I bring with me the perspective that race touches almost every single issue. There are, sadly, not nearly enough elected officials at any level of American government willing to acknowledge and respond to this simple truth.”
“I had long believed, as many advocates do, that it was only after a process of organizing and activism on the outside that we could demand change from our elected officials on the inside,” she told India-West, adding that the process proved frustrating as seat holders – Democrats and Republicans alike – were fearful of confronting uncomfortable social issues. I came to recognize that we don’t get a more representative government unless we run for office and create it from the inside,” Jayapal added.
The Indian American earned her bachelor’s in English language and literature/letters at Georgetown University and her M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She moved to Seattle in 1991 and began working for an international public health nonprofit, PATH. Additionally, while working for an organization she founded called OneAmerica, she got to know the people of the district and understand their values – which she shares, also as a member of the community.
Among Jayapal’s challengers in the Democratic primary are state Rep. Brady Walkinshaw, King County councilman Joe McDermott, and Donovan Rivers Jayapal’s primary is on August 2nd. The fundraiser event in New York was supported by community veteran leader Dr. Thomas Abraham, Attorney Appen Menon, SaberCloud principal Saji George and Comedian Dan Nainan.
WASHINGTON: An Indian-origin journalist with a CBS, a major US television network, was heckled by Donald Trump’s supporters and arrested by police during a protest at the Republican presidential frontrunner’s campaign rally here, media reports said.
CBS News reporter Sopan Deb was detained by police while covering the protest that broke out last night following the cancellation of Trump’s rally in Chicago. Deb was covering the clash between protesters and the Republican front-runner’s supporters when he was detained, the news organisation said.
“Deb was filming video of a man whose face was bloody and laying on the ground near police at the time of his arrest,” according to a ‘CBS This Morning’ report.
Deb alleged that he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed without notice or warning, the CBS news reported. Illinois State Police charged Deb with resisting arrest though the network reported that neither his video, nor that of a nearby film crew, showed any sign of resistance.
“I have never seen anything like what I am witnessing in my life,” Deb tweeted after the incident. Deb, who has been covering Trump’s campaign ever since he announced his presidential run last June, said “A Trump supporter just asked me at Reno event if I was taking pictures for ISIS. When I looked shocked, he said, ‘yeah, I am talking to you’.”
The president of CBS News is standing by one of the network’s journalists who was arrested outside a Donald Trump rally that was canceled amid violence between Trump supporters and protesters.
David Rhodes tweeted that journalist Sopan Deb, who was covering the rally at the University of Illinois’ Chicago campus on Friday, was handcuffed and charged with resisting arrest. “On tape you see he did not resist, identified himself as working press,” Rhodes said in his tweet.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to questions. Trump cancelled his campaign rally here citing security concerns after hundreds of people gathered at the arena to protest against his ‘politics of hatred’ and scuffled with his supporters in the largest-ever demonstration against the Republican presidential front-runner.
Of late journalists have been at receiving end at the Trump campaign. Foreign journalists have been made totally out of bound while the domestic media are put inside an enclosure at all his rallies and are not allowed to move out of that.
In the last few weeks, several journalists have been scuffled by security agents and Trump’s supporters. The developments forced the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) to issue a rare statement.
“Broadly speaking, the WHCA unequivocally condemns any act of violence or intimidation against any journalist covering the 2016 campaign, whether perpetrated by a candidate’s supporters, staff or security officers. We expect that all contenders for the nation’s highest office agree that this would be unacceptable,” WHCA president Carol Lee said in a statement early this week.
“We have been increasingly concerned with some of the rhetoric aimed at reporters covering the presidential race and urge all candidates seeking the White House to conduct their campaigns in a manner that respects the robust back-and-forth between politicians and the press that is critical to a thriving democracy,” said Lee, White House correspondent of The Wall Street Journal.
Neil Makhija, a young Indian-American is running for Pennsylvania state Assembly from District 122, and as a son-of-the-soil born and raised in Carbon County, he hopes to build a grassroots campaign. Neil Makhija, 29, is a first-generation American, a Harvard Law School graduate and former aide to U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, and to Vice President Joe Biden.
“Neil is a stellar candidate in his own right, but he’s also from an incredibly competitive district that Democrats can win,” according to Manan Trivedi, an Iraq War veteran who has tried twice to win a seat in the U.S. Congress. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party has identified Makhija’s hometown region as a top pickup opportunity in 2016, Trivedi notes.
The 122nd district, just north of Allentown in the Lehigh Valley, was held for decades by the former Democratic Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Keith McCall. When Speaker McCall retired, the GOP won the seat in the Republican wave of 2010. “The county still is Democratic and 2016 is the right time to take back this seat,” Trivedi says.
On his election website neilforPA.com, Makhija says his parents witnessed the power of the American Dream in just one generation. “My father worked in a thread factory in India for under a dollar a day, and was determined to provide his children with a better way of life,” His parents left India and moved to a small town in Pennsylvania thirty five years ago, the place where he was born and brought up.
Makhija says he learnt the values of hard work, empathy, and resilience from his parents, and growing up worked small jobs and rose up the ladder – from scooping ice cream at Leiby’s Restaurant and washing bikes at Pocono Whitewater, to working for the Office of Vice President Joe Biden and in the United States Senate.
He attended Harvard on a scholarship endowed by a Carbon County coal magnate. “That gift – a reminder of our region’s role powering America’s Industrial Revolution – inspired me to use my education to fight for a new vision of economic prosperity in Carbon County,” he says, and he is now ready to give back.
His priorities he says are to invests in the people and harness 21st-century innovation, fight for the middle class, and for world-class education for children, helping seniors, as well as for protecting the environment.
Athens, Ga. – Divided political parties rarely win presidential elections, according to a study by political science researchers at the University of Georgia and their co-authors. If the same holds true this year, the Republican Party could be in trouble this presidential general election.
The study, which examined national party division in past presidential elections, found that both national party division and divisive state primaries have significant influence on general election outcomes.
In this election cycle, the nominee of a divided Republican Party could lose more than 3 percent of the general election vote, compared to what he would have gained if the party were more united.
“History shows that when one party is divided and the other party is united, the divided party almost always loses the presidential election,” said Paul-Henri Gurian, an associate professor of political science at UGA. “Consider, for example, the elections from 1964 through 1984; in each case the divided party lost.” The study measures party division during the primaries and indicates how much the more divided party loses in the general election.
The study found that divisive state primaries can lead to a 1 to 2 percent decrease in general elections votes in that state. For example, Hillary Clinton received 71 percent of the Democratic vote in the Georgia primary, while Donald Trump received 39 percent of the Republican vote. According to the historical model, a Republican-nominated Trump would lose almost 1 percent of the Georgia vote in the general election because of the divided state primary.
National party division has an even greater and more widespread impact on the national results, often leading to decreases of more than 3 percent nationwide.
Looking again at the current presidential election cycle, Trump had received 39.5 percent of the total national Republican primary vote as of March 16, while Clinton had received 58.6 percent of the Democratic vote. If these proportions hold for the remainder of the nomination campaign (and if these two candidates win the nominations), then Trump would lose 4.5 percent of the vote in the general election, compared to what he would have received if the national Republican Party was not divided.
“In close elections, such as 2000, 2004 and 2012, 4-5 percent could change the outcome in terms of which party wins the presidency,” Gurian said.
The results of this study provide political analysts with a way to anticipate the impact of each primary and, more importantly, the impact of the total national primary vote on the general election results. Subtracting the percent of the Republican nominee’s total popular vote from that of the Democratic nominee and multiplying that by 0.237 indicates how much the Republican nominee is likely to lose in the November election, compared to what would otherwise be expected. The 4.5 percent figure calculated through March 16 can be updated as additional states hold their primaries. (The same can be done for each individual state primary by multiplying by 0.026.) The study was conducted by Paul-Henri Gurian and Audrey Haynes, together with Nathan Burroughs, Lonna Atkeson and Damon Cann.
Washington, DC: Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a three – nation tour to Belgium, United States and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 from the Indian capital.
According to Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup, the Prime Minister will reach Brussels, the capital of Belgium on Wednesday. Nandini Singla, Joint Secretary (Europe West) said, the Prime Minister will take part in a series of activities at Brussels apart from addressing Indian diaspora.
The Prime Minister will also take part in India-EU summit where he will take forward the ongoing consultations with the European Union, EU on finalization of Broad based Trade and Investment Agreement, BTIA. The Prime Minister is the first foreign dignitary who will be on the state visit to Belgium just a week after the deadly terror bombings which rocked Brussels.
In his second leg of the tour, the Prime Minister will attend the fourth Nuclear Security Summit at Washington DC on Thursday and Friday this week. He will present national progress report outlining the measures being taken by New Delhi for strengthening nuclear security and safety of nuclear technologies and devices. He is also likely to have bilateral meetings with heads of some countries.
The final stop over of his trip is to Saudi Arabia where 2.96 million Indians are residing. Modi will visit office of two Indian companies besides holding talks with Saudi leadership’s on trade and investment among other issues. Some agreements are expected to be signed in Brussels and Saudi Arabia during the Prime Minister’s Modi’s visit.
Sacramento, CA: Having served two four-year terms on the San Jose, Calif., City Council, Ash Kalra has filed his nomination to run for state Assembly in California’s 27th district. The Indian American candidate’s candidature will appear on the ballot for the June 7 primary. “This was an exciting moment for me,” Kalra said in an email statement, adding he was proud to have his father on hand for the filing. “We have come so far since I first announced my campaign and the momentum just continues to build.”
In addition to the news of Kalra running for Assembly, the politician also recently opened his new campaign headquarters on Monterey Highway in San Jose, which was attended by a number of local dignitaries including Sen. Jim Beall, Assembly member Kansen Chu and supervisors Dave Cortese and Cindy Chavez.
“Our grassroots effort is constantly growing and we need your help to deliver my message to San Jose voters,” Kalra said. The district has been represented the past six years – three terms – by Democrat Nora Campos, who cannot run again as she has reached the term limit.
Ash Kalra has called San Jose home for over 37 years. In that time, he has developed a passion for serving his neighbors and making sure that our government is solving problems – not creating them.
Ash made history by becoming the first Indian-American to be elected to the San Jose City Council, where he currently represents District 2. In his time as a Councilmember, he has fought against cuts to public safety including standing up in favor of restoring the SJPD burglary unit and Violent Crimes Enforcement Team, worked to provide incentives for companies to locate and grow in San Jose and has been a champion for more transit options including the BART to Silicon Valley extension. Ash has been one of the foremost advocates of clean energy and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels while preserving our open spaces and protecting our surrounding habitat. Ash has been a voice for public safety, better schools, improved public transportation and a healthier environment.
Since 1999, Ash has been a law professor at Lincoln Law School of San Jose. Previously, he also taught at San Jose State University and at inner city Washington, DC high schools.
Prior to serving on the City Council, Ash was an attorney for the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office for 11 years. Most of his time was spent in drug treatment court where clients were given the opportunity to complete a rehabilitation program and turn their lives around. In addition, Ash served on numerous non-profit boards, including Somos Mayfair, the Asian Law Alliance, the South Asian Bar Association, Fresh Lifelines for Youth and the Santa Clara County Bar Association. Ash also helped to found the Hayes Neighborhood Association in the neighborhood in which he grew up and still lives today. Ash Kalra earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Law Degree from Georgetown University.
Not long ago, a group of Indian-Americans had formed a political action committee to campaign for Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner and had assured that they would everything possible to help him win the party nomination and the elections in November this year.
They had formed a group called, ‘Indian-Americans for Trump 2016’, which was registered as a political action committee (PAC) on January 21st with the federal election commission, with the aim of garnering support of Indian-Americans to have Trump become the next US President. Dr. Sudhir Parikh, CEO of Pariskh Media, A.D. Amar, a business professor with Seton Hall University in New Jersey and a New York-based Attorney Anand Ahuja had initiated the group.
Anand Ahuja, Attorney and Counselor at Law and Vice President for Indian Americans for Trump 2016, had said that there is a “wrong media created perception that Trump is against Muslims and minorities. And as far as being against H1B visas – either you can increase H1B visas or you can say invest in India – you cannot have it both ways.”
However, Dr. Sudhir Parikh has released a short statement through news agencies, withdrawing his support for Trump and disassociate himself from the PAC: “I allowed myself to be identified with that group because some members of the group are friends of mine. I wish to clarify that I no longer belong to the group and I do not support the candidacy of Mr. Donald Trump.
“For over three decades I have supported both Democrat and Republican candidates based on their individual merits and their commitment to the interests of the Indian-American community and US-India relations. I remain committed to this course,” Parikh added.
The front runner in the Republican Primaries has been criticized, among others by leading Indian American political leaders. Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, had described Trump as a “madman”. Jindal had criticized his Republican Party colleague as a “non-serious, unstable, substance-free narcissist.” Other phrases Jindal had used to describe are: “egomaniac,” a “carnival act,” “shallow,” “insecure,” “weak” and of course, a “madman.” South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is a rising star in the Republican Party had described Trump’s character and qualities as “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.”
US President Barack Obama said that the real estate tycoon is exploiting people’s fear amid a stagnant and rapidly changing economy. “I think somebody like Mr Trump is taking advantage of that. That’s what he’s exploiting during the course of his campaign,” Obama told National Public Radio (NPR) in an interview. “When one combines the demographic change with all the economic stresses that people have been going through because of the financial crisis, because of technology, because of globalization, it means that there is going to be potential anger, frustration and fear,” said the president.
Traditionally Indian Americans have voted for the Democratic Party. In 2008, nearly 90 per cent of Indian Americans voted for President Barack Obama. According to Dr. Parikh, he feels that Indian Americans have far more in common with the Republicans than the Democrats as “Our family values are the same as what the Republican Party is talking about, against abortion and same sex relationships. We are the most affluent community in America, with higher per capita income than even the Jews… it makes sense to vote Republican.”
Winning Asian American votes is very critical to winning the presidency. Although, they are not as larger as the Hispanics or the Blacks, Asian/Indian Americans are an influential group in the national and statewide elections. No one can win the presidency with the White votes alone. In 1980, Ronald Reagan won 56 percent of white voters and won a landslide victory of 44 states. In 2012, Mitt Romney won 59 percent of whites and lost with 24 states. According to reports, in the 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama won 73 percent of the Asian American vote. The Democratic presidential vote share among Asian Americans has steadily increased from 36 percent in 1992, to 64 percent in the 2008 election to 73 percent in 2012.
Both the parties have been working hard to win the Asian American votes, except for that Trump has been critical of the Muslims, has spoken against H-1B Visa, which has helped mostly Asians to immigrate to this country. Trump said: “They are taking our jobs. China is taking our jobs. Japan is taking our jobs. India is taking our jobs. It is not going to happen anymore, folks!”
Sacramento, CA: Harmeet Dhillon, vice chair of the California Republican Party, is currently running unopposed to represent the state as committeewoman for the Republican National Committee. The RNC allots each state a chairman to the National Committee, along with one committee man and one committee woman. The state’s delegates will vote for the posts April 30, during the upcoming California Republican Party convention in Burlingame, Calif.
Linda Ackerman, who has held the post for eight years, earlier this month said she would not run again this year. Her term will end after the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, which begins July 18.
Indian American attorney Dhillon’s term as vice chair of the state party ends this year. She told India-West it was “a natural progression” for her to take on a role at the national level. The role entails determining the party’s policy for the next four years and deciding the party’s presidential candidate during the 2020 election cycle.
Dhillon has previously served as the GOP’s chairman in San Francisco County and has served as vice chair of the state party since 2013, the first Indian American to serve in that role. In a Feb. 22 statement announcing her candidacy, Dhillon said she has worked tirelessly to build a strong Republican Party in the state.
“I’ve fought hard for the party and for the future of California in just about every way a volunteer can – and as I have been doing since I was a teenager in the conservative movement,” she said.
“It’s time that California had a strong advocate in the RNC, to promote California’s interests at the national party level. For too long, California has been neglected by our national party,” said Dhillon.
Dhillon has won the endorsement of almost all members of the California State Senate and Assembly Republican Caucuses. She has also won the endorsement of the California Republican Party’s Board of Directors and a majority of county chairmen. She has assembled a team of volunteers who plan over the next six weeks to speak to every delegate in the state to pledge their support. Dhillon said she hopes for a unanimous vote.
The 2016 presidential election cycle poses some interesting challenges for the Republican Party, Dhillon told India-West, noting that billionaire contender Donald Trump has brought more interest and a greater number of people to the polls.
“Trump as the leading candidate is not in keeping with the image of our party. There is a lot of hand-wringing going on, because he’s ‘not one of us,’” said Dhillon. “But a lot of Republicans equally feel that the party has not done its job” in keeping the Obama administration in check, she said.
The veteran politician — who has run unsuccessfully for the state Assembly and Senate — said obliquely that she differs from Trump’s ideology, leaning more towards the late Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan’s style of conservative policy. “I will support the nominee of the party,” she added, noting that she is not supporting anyone at this juncture.
California will more than likely determine the party’s nominee, said Dhillon, noting there was no chance that Republican contenders Texas Senator Ted Cruz or Ohio Governor John Kasich would drop out of the race before the national convention. Kasich has stated his support for a brokered convention, even if one candidate does have the necessary number of delegates to get the party’s nomination.
If Trump continues to amass delegates at his current rate, no one will have the required number of delegates — 1,237 — to win the nomination outright. After the Mar. 15 primaries in Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Missouri and North Carolina, Trump had amassed 673 delegates, while Cruz had 411 and Kasich 143.
A total of 885 delegates still remain un-allotted. Trump would have to win 564 more delegates to get the party’s nomination outright, a feat which Dhillon predicts is mathematically impossible.
Washington, DC: The foreign trips of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet colleagues cost the Indian exchequer Rs. 567 crore in the last financial year (2015-16), an increase of more than 80% from the previous year, budget documents show. This is besides the over Rs. 500 crore his bureaucrats spend on their travel each year on an average.
The total tour expenses of the PM and his ministers went up from Rs 269 crore as estimated in the budget at the beginning of the 2015-16 fiscal to Rs 567 crore, as per the revised estimates towards the end of the year. In addition, the total tour expenditure of bureaucrats was over Rs 1,500 crore in the three years up to 2014-15.
The UPA-2 Cabinet and its PM spent almost Rs 1,500 crore on travel between 2009-10 and 2013-14. In comparison, the travel bill of the NDA government in three years (between 2014-15 and 2016-17) is estimated at Rs 1,140 crore.
The PM, however, has pledged to slash his expenditure on foreign trips by over 54% in the next financial year which will restore it to the level of UPA’s expenditure towards the end of its term in 2014.The travel bill of the Cabinet and the PM includes expenditure on travel by ministers, ministers of state and ex-PMs and the aircraft used by VVIPs — the PM, President and Vice-President.
Though Modi flaunts a leaner Cabinet, with 64 members compared to UPA’s 75 members, the salary bill of his ministers went up by more than 25% last year compared to 2013-14, the UPA’s last year in office. The allowances of his ministers also shot up to Rs 10.20 crore, which shows an increase of 8% over the expenditure made by theUPA Cabinet.
The cabinet secretariat, which assists the PM, has added a strength of at least 300 since 2015. The strength of the cabinet secretariat as on March 1, 2015 was 900 which increased to 1,201 in 2016, according to the budget.
The travel bills of successive governments have not been impacted by the downturn in the economy since 2008-09. Every year, the finance ministry comes out with a press note announcing a 10% cut in non-plan expenditure that imposes restriction on first class travel by bureaucrats and a cut on foreign delegations of Union ministers besides restrictions on conferences in five-star hotels. Interestingly, the curb on first class travel by senior bureaucrats is lifted in the second half of the fiscal every year.
HOUSTON, TX – March 14, 2016 – Houston’s global community, including the crème de la crème of the bayou city’s business, political and society circles, gatheredWednesday evening (March 9) for Asia Society Texas Center’s Tiger Ball 2016, celebrating contemporary Korea. A record crowd of more than 700 guests strolled into the grand Chevron Gala Pavilion, named for the event’s presenting corporate sponsor. Reception hosts, Kathy and Glen Gondo, welcomed the throng of guests into the grand tent with tantalizing sushi, provided by Sushic, the Sushi Company. While Taiko drummers with Memorial Jumbo Group performed, guests flowed from a magnificent tent into the world-class Yoshio Taniguchi-designed building, where volunteers modeling Jasmine Shinhyo Park’s stunning traditional gowns greeted them as they entered the Fayez Sarofim Grand Hall to enjoy the Yeesookyung exhibition. Then, it was on to a lavish dinner catered by City Kitchen. Patrons finished the evening with dancing and an auction in which they bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences including throwing out the first pitch at a Houston Astros game to sparkling diamond earrings and luxurious travel and dining packages.
Gala Co-Chairs, Lou Ann and Alexander C. Chae and Susan and Michael K. Jhin, and guests honored Asia Society Texas Center’s Board Chairman Edward “Eddie” R. Allen III and wife Chinhui Juhn. Asia Society’s Executive Director Bonna Kol and Joni Baird of Chevron presented the honorees, Eddie and Chinhui, with the Tiger Ball 2016 award for their continued support of Asia Society.
Among the supporters in attendance were Anne and Albert Chao, Y. Ping Sun and David Leebron, Andrea and Bill White, Isla and Thomas Reckling, Claudia and Roberto Contreras, Lily and Charles Foster, Margeret Alkek Williams, Joanne Herring, Phoebe Tudor, and Asia Society’s grand patron Nancy C. Allen.
The $1.2 million raised by Tiger Ball 2016 benefits exhibitions and programs, which promotes mutual understanding between the U.S. and Asia and strengthens the partnerships of all of Houston’s diverse communities.
Next year, Tiger Ball 2017 celebrates the magnificence of India, honoring long-time supporters Sushila and Durga Agrawal, who were also in attendance last night. To inquire about 2017 sponsorships, please contact Sadhavi Chauhan at Schauhan@AsiaSociety.org.
With 12 locations throughout the world, Asia Society is the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States. Asia Society Texas Center executes the global mission with a local focus, enriching and engaging the vast diversity of Houston through innovative, relevant programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education, and community outreach.
Washington, DC: Attorney Jay Chaudhuri won the March 15 Democratic primary election for the 16th district state Senate seat in North Carolina to advance to the general election Nov. 8, beating Ellis Hankins with a two-third margin. Chaudhuri received 19,844 votes, or 63.14 percent, while Hankins got 11,584 votes, or 36.86 percent.
Chaudhuri, 46, a lawyer with ties to state government, will face the sole Republican candidate, Eric Weaver, in November, in a district that historically elects Democrats. “I’m honored that the voters have chosen me to be the Democratic nominee for the election in November,” Chaudhuri said. “We’re going to fight hard to continue Josh Stein’s tradition of being a champion for progressive values, and I look forward to bringing everyone together to work toward providing a world-class education for all our students and building an economy that works for all North Carolinians.”
The Senate seat for the district, which encompasses much of western Raleigh and Cary, has been vacant since Sen. Josh Stein decided to run for attorney general. Chaudhuri resigned as general counsel to North Carolina Treasurer Janet Cowell May 1, 2015, and later announced his candidacy for the state Senate June 2, 2015.
The Indian American candidate said that education is the overriding issue in his campaign. The Republican-dominated General Assembly in North Carolina, he charged, has “not made its focus on investing in public education. Teachers are leaving (North Carolina) for other states,” he had told India-West, adding that he views public education funding as “investing dollars in economic development.”
Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., and a resident of Cameron Village in Raleigh, with his wife, Sejal Mehta, a former New York prosecutor, and their two children, Chaudhuri has an extensive background in state government.
In addition to serving as general counsel and a policy adviser to Cowell, he was also Cooper’s special counsel and legislative counsel when Cooper was state Senate Majority Leader. Before that, Chaudhuri clerked for now Chief Judge Linda McGee of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and was Jacob K. Javits Fellow for former U.S. Sen. Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin.
Chaudhuri’s parents, Debi and Mithu Chaudhuri, left India 50 years ago and settled in Fayetteville, N.C., where his father worked at the Veteran Administration Hospital.
Chaudhuri graduated from Davidson College in Charlotte, N.C., the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in New York and the North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Chaudhuri said in a press release last June that, while serving as general counsel to Cowell, he helped recover more than $100 million for state pension and unclaimed property funds and led efforts to establish the first ever Innovation Fund, a $230 million fund to support and invest in businesses with significant operations in North Carolina.
The Democratic primary for Stein’s seat was one of the more expensive legislative races with both candidates raising six figures. The race heated up when Chaudhuri sent campaign mailers publicizing some of Hankins’ donations to Republicans in the 1990s. Hankins, 62, former executive director of the N.C. League of Municipalities, responded with a “voter alert” confirming that he made the donations at the request of a former employee to improve relationships with Republicans. He criticized his opponent, saying they had a gentleman’s agreement to run a clean campaign.
Washington, DC: Niraj Antani, R-Ohio, fighting to retain his Ohio State Assembly seat, won the GOP primary after running unopposed on March 15. Antani, who recently was named the second most influential Republican under the age of 30, announced he was running for re-election in December. “I think I’ve been able to be effective for my community,” the Indian American legislator told the media in the January report. “The legislature has been able to cut taxes, prevent overall increased spending and increase education spending.”
A graduate of Ohio State University, receiving a bachelor’s in political science, as well as a juris doctorate degree from the University of Dayton School of Law, Antani was previously the communications director for the Ohio State University College Republicans during the 2012 presidential election, as well as the chair for the Young Americans for Romney in Ohio.
Antani was named to Forbes Magazine’s list of the top “30 Under 30” people in the United States for Law and Politics in 2015. In addition, he was named to the “Top 30 Conservatives Under Age 30 in the United States” list by Red Alert Politics. And in 2013, the Montgomery County Republican Party named him the “Republican Man of the Year.”
The young GOP candidate will be campaigning against Patrick Merris, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. “I was grateful that I was unopposed in the Republican primary and was glad to have received nearly 15,000 votes in the primary,” Antani was quoted to have said. “I look forward to the campaign in the fall, so I can continue my work to expand the American Dream to all those who work for it.”
He represents the 42nd District, which covers most of southern Montgomery County. At age 24, he is the youngest currently serving member of the House. In addition, he is the second Indian-American state elected official in Ohio history, and the first Indian-American Republican. During the Romney campaign in 2012, Antani worked for the Ohio State Director & Senior Adviser to the campaign. In 2010, he worked for U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Washington, DC. In Ohio, Antani worked for then State Representative – now State Senator – Peggy Lehner in 2009, as well as U.S. Congressman Mike Turner in his Dayton office in 2007.
A strong conservative, Antani is a member of the NRA and volunteers for Dayton Right to Life. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Miamisburg, serves on the executive board of the non-profit Dayton International Festival, Inc., and he chairs the Ohio Republican Party Asian Pacific American Advisory Council. Antani has appeared on Fox News, PBS NewsHour with Judy Woodruff, C-SPAN, CNBC, and Chuck Todd’s radio show. In addition, he has appeared in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, and Newsmax.
Antani said a lot of people have criticized him for his age, but he sees it as an advantage. “I believe our generation should have a voice. The legislature in Columbus should look like who they serve, they should not all just be one age demographic,” he said. “A lot of people who told me to wait to run, they told me I was too young, too inexperienced. I did not believe that. Candidates should be chosen on their merit, on who is going to be the best candidate.”
Washington, DC: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join the ranks of prominent global leaders at Madame Tussauds in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok next month, the world famous wax museum announced March 16th.
Describing him as a “hugely important figure in world politics,” the museum said the Indian prime minister had given the museum’s team of artists and experts a sitting at his residence in New Delhi earlier this year.
“Madame Tussauds has crafted figures of very distinguished dignitaries from around the world — how could I regard myself worthy of being alongside them? But when I was informed that your decision had emanated from public opinion and public sentiment, I was comforted,” Modi said in a statement to the museum.
“During my sitting, I observed the team carefully and was deeply impressed by its dedication, professionalism and skill. I have visited Madame Tussauds three or four times and had the pleasure of getting myself photographed standing next to the figures of various dignitaries,” he said.
The wax figures at each of the museum’s locations around Europe and Asia will be dressed in Modi’s “signature kurta” in cream with a jacket and he will be featured in a traditional pose “making a namaste gesture.”
“Prime Minister Modi is a hugely important figure in world politics, a position supported by his place in the top 10 of Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year List 2015’,” said museum spokesperson Kieran Lancini.
“His massive social media presence — he is currently the second most followed politician on twitter after President Obama — also confirms the intense interest the public have in him, a fact supported by the requests our guests have made for us to create his figure.
“We are delighted to be including the prime minister’s figure in our attractions in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok,” he said. Each figure took a team of Madame Tussauds’ artists four months and cost around 150,000 pounds to create.
“Guests will be able to stand shoulder to shoulder and measure up to one of the most powerful men in the world – and even grab a selfie when the figures arrive in their locations,” the museum said. The launch in London and all other centers is expected around late April and it is yet to be confirmed if Modi would be personally unveiling himself in wax at any of the four locations.
A new branch of Madame Tussauds is also set to open in New Delhi as part of the India-UK Year of Culture in 2017, announced during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the UK last November.
Washington, DC: The Indian National Overseas Congress I(INOC) accorded a warm reception to former External Affairs Minister of India and Senior Congress Leader Shri Salman Khurshid in Washington DC on March 19th.
INOC(I) President, General Secretary and member met Salman Khurshid and briefed him of the activities of the Organization and also spoke to him on the issues and concerns of the Diaspora in the USA. Salman Khurshid was on a visit to address the Prestigious George Washington University and took time off to attend the meeting with INOC(I).
President INOC(I) – Lavika Bhagat Singh spoke on the several initiatives that she and Chairman Shudh Parkash Singh undertook – especially the Chalo Punjab campaign that was successful and she hoped that this initiative could be again taken up during the forthcoming Punjab Elections. She also spoke on the past events on literature and culture that she had hosted on the Capital Hill and were attended by the Congress leaders like Dr. Karan Singh and Shashi Taroor. She hoped that INOC(I) can host an event in the near future to help build stronger economic cooperation between USA and India. She was hopeful that the event will involve successful and renowned economists in this initiative that she is planning.
Rajender Dichpally briefed Salman Khurshid on the successful elections to INOC(I) conducted for the first time ever. He said we are grateful to our true leader Shudh Parkash Singh for his decision to hold elections democratically. Rajender also spoke on the activities of various chapters like Kerala, Punjab and Telangana that are helping spread the Congress ideology in the USA.
He hoped that the Indian National Congress will work closer with INOC(I) in helping spread the message of Pluralism and Nationalism among the Diaspora and hoped to see more meaningful visits of Congress Leaders to the USA like the present visit of Shri Salman Khurshid. There were other prominent economists, entrepreneurs and thinkers who attended the meeting between INOC(I) and Shri Salman Khurshid.
Attached Photo: Shri Salman Khurshid *Former External Affairs Minister of India) with Smt.Lavika Bhagat Singh (President – Indian National Overseas Congress(I)) and Rajender Dichpally (National General Secretary – Indian National Overseas Congress(I))
Washington, DC: Raja Krishnamoorthi , who won the Democratic Party primary on March 15, 2016 is all set to join the 11th Congress in the Nation’s Capital from the 8th Congressional District in the state of Illinois, that includes the Chicago suburbs of Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg and Palatine.
Krishnamoorthi won the Democratic primary, defeating his two opponents, Michael Noland and Deborah Bullwinkel. Krishnamoorthi believes he has a very good chance to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, and is now focused on winning the general election in November. “So far, the dynamic has been favorable, but we can’t take anything for granted,” Krishnamoorthi said. “We have to make sure we get our message out.”
Krishnamoorthi is currently president of Sivananthan Labs, where he works on leading research teams developing semiconductor technologies, improved military technologies, solar cells and biosensors to detect weapons of mass destruction. He was formerly the Illinois Deputy Treasurer and served as the policy director for Barack Obama’s successful U.S. Senate campaign in 2004.
Raja Krishnamoorth
Krishnamoorthi noted that he has received endorsements from many politicians, including Democratic Representatives Jared Polis ’96 of Colorado and Derek Kilmer ’96 of Washington, local community leaders and advocacy groups in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Sunil Bhave, a member of the District 59 School Board, explained that Krishnamoorthi is a very genuine person who is able to get along with people who have different opinions, which is a very rare quality that is needed in Congress. “Within a minute of talking to him, you just want to shake his hand and give him a hug,” Bhave said. “He listens to what people have to say.”
Born in New Delhi, India, Krishnamoorthi moved to the United States when he was three-months-old so that his father could complete a graduate degree in industrial engineering. He grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., and moved to Peoria, Ill., where his father was a faculty member at Bradley University. There, he graduated from Richwoods High School.
He explained that he decided to apply to the University because of the strong engineering school, which was where he intended to major. He also said that the liberal arts component and the presence of the Wilson School was key, because it would enable him to take humanities and science classes at the same time. “Princeton’s structure accommodated all of those interests at the same time,” he said. “I could not find that anywhere else.”
Krishnamoorthi graduated summa cum laude from the University. Krishnamoorthi received a degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a certificate from the Wilson School. His independent project dealt with natural gas powered engines and his senior thesis for the Wilson School dealt with foreign directed investment in India, due to his interest in economic development.
He explained that he transferred from Electrical Engineering to Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering because of his interest in the large number of practical applications, such as combustion engines and solar cells. “I was able to take courses where the professors and the teaching assistants were available to mentor and shepherd me through some very difficult coursework,” Krishnamoorthi added. “They allowed me to excel.”
After graduating, Krishnamoorthi spent two years as a strategy consultant and dealt with how a business should grow, whether through increasing revenue or cutting costs. He had always wanted to go to law school because of his interest in government and public policy. “There’s nothing like law school that prepares you for that,” Krishnamoorthi said. “You really learn about the bones of our legal system and the Constitution, and how the federal government operates.”
He then graduated from Harvard Law School in 2000, clerked for Judge Joan Gottschall at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for a year. He assisted Judge Gottschall in deciding cases, and dealt with procedural motions arising in the cases. “It’s a real workout in terms of researching and writing and learning to express yourself persuasively,” he said.
Krishnamoorthi then joined law firm Kirkland and Ellis in Chicago, Ill., as an attorney. He dealt with many different types of law, including contract law, securities law, white-collar criminal prosecutions and bankruptcy litigation. In addition, he did some pro-bono work and was particularly proud of helping a man who had been persecuted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Krishnamoorthi was then appointed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to be the Special Attorney General with the Public Integrity Unit. He took this position after a former colleague at Kirkland and Ellis became the head of the Public Integrity Unit and asked Krishnamoorthi to come and join him.
Krishnamoorthi’s first foray into politics occurred in 1999, when he worked on Barack Obama’s Democratic primary campaign for the 1st Congressional District of Illinois. Obama lost, but asked Krishnamoorthi to become policy director for his Senate campaign in 2004. As a policy director, he educated Obama on various issues and formulated policy that would set him apart from his competitors. He also helped Obama prepare for debates.
In 2007, Krishnamoorthi left Kirkland and Ellis to become the Deputy Treasurer of Illinois. He was appointed by the Treasurer, who was formerly the banker of Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign. Krishnamoorthi focused on writing the policies aimed at promoting economic development, and was impressed by the amount of money managed by the state.
His first foray into elected office came in 2010, when Krishnamoorthi sought the Democratic nomination for Illinois State Comptroller, who maintains the state’s accounts and authorizes checks and payments. He noted that he possessed a unique set of skills that would help him in this position.
“One the one hand, I was an attorney who had investigated ethics abuses,” he said. “On the other hand, I had some financial training as the Deputy Treasurer.” Krishnamoorthi lost to David Miller in the Democratic primary by just over a percentage point. He said that he was able to meet great people during his bid, which encouraged him to try again for elected office. From his first run, he learned that he needed to raise more money to get his message across.
In 2010, Krishnamoorthi joined Sivananthan Laboratories as the president after meeting Dr. Sivalingam Sivananthan, the founder of Sivananthan Labs, when Krishnamoorthi was running for Comptroller.
In 2011, Krishnamoorthi decided to run for the House of Representatives in the 8th District of Illinois. He noted that he jumped into the race because he wanted to defeat then Rep. Joe Walsh, a Tea Party Republican. “He was then the Donald Trump of the U.S. Congress,” Krishnamoorthi said. “He was a horrible guy who played on people’s fears and tried to demagogue on the issues.”
Krishnamoorthi said that his second attempt at elected office was a positive experience because the discussions he had with his opponents were civil and ideas-focused. However, he lost the Democratic nomination to Tammy Duckworth, who went on to become the Representative for the 8th District. Krishnamoorthi then became an advisor to Rep. Duckworth. Last year, Rep. Duckworth announced that she would step down from the House of Representatives to run for the U.S. Senate. Krishnamoorthi subsequently declared his candidacy for the 8th District in 2015, and won the Mar. 15 Democratic primary.
“South Asians turned out in higher numbers than normal this time,” Krishnamoorthi said, hoping that would be the “new normal” in the future. During an event organized by the South Asian community, Raja Krishnamoorthi in his stirring eloquence spelled out his vision –when elected – to usher a new day in the United States Congress with pressing legislative agenda that seeks to strengthen working families, making college affordable, bolstering small businesses, reforming immigration system, improving America’s infrastructure. More importantly Raja Krishnamoorthi assured that he would passionately pursue critical agenda for Americans in bringing about economic equality, protecting Social Security, Medicare and fiercely advocating policies to help working families and raising minimum wage.
Keerthi Kumar Ravoori, Event Convener in his welcome remarks said that we as Indian Americans stand on the precipice of a shining hope and brighter promise with Raja Krishnamoorthi nearing to enter the portals of the U.S. Congress with comprehensive legislative goals. Keerthi Ravoori characterized Raja Krishnamoorthi as a ‘legislative genius’ who would passionately pursue meaningful legislative agenda by hitting the ground running when elected.
Dr. Vijay Prabhakar, Event Co-Chair in his remarks vociferously emphasized that the candidacy of Raja Krishnamoorthi represents a chance of a life time for the current and the future generations. He stridently challenged every Asian American to rise up and stand shoulder to shoulder to help Raja cross the finish line victoriously so that all Americans can see this eminent political personality as a shining inspiration for the entire nation.
His campaign has mainly revolved around keeping people in the middle class and strengthening the middle class and he has advocated for a set of policies to achieve this. Krishnamoorthi wants to raise the minimum wage, pass paid maternity leave, reduce student debt burdens and focus on building a clean-energy economy.
Krishnamoorthi noted that many of his policies have bipartisan support, and he wants to work to find common ground. He explained that there are many Tea Party Congressmen who support expanding solar energy. “Some folks believe that solar energy has become a liberty and independence issue in the Southwest and Florida, because they can cut the cord with their utilities,” he said. “It has the promise of combatting climate change and creating jobs.”
Some other races that would affect Indian-Americans’ political standing nationally and at state levels include California state Attorney General Kamala Harris’ run for the U.S. Senate; incumbent California Democratic Rep. Ami Bera, running for his third term from District 7; Maryland state Assemblyman and former Majority Leader Kumar Barve, the first Indian-American to win a state assembly seat back in 1990, still seeking his party’s nomination in his bid for the U.S. Congress from District 8; civil rights advocate and Washington state Assemblywoman Pramila Jayapal’s run for the Senate from District 7; attorney Neil Makhija, chosen by the Democratic Party to run for the Pennsylvania state House from District 122; and three-term Vermont state Rep. Kesha Ram’s bid for Lt. Governor, among others.
WASHINGTON, D.C: There have been studies that have found that America gains much by attracting talented, educated and resourceful workforce from among the world through its popular H1-B Work Visa, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump stoked another controversy by vowing to abolish the visa program, popular among Indian techies. IT professionals from India and major Indian IT companies are major beneficiary of H-1B, a non-immigrant visa in the US which allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations.
Donald Trump has said the H-1B visa programme he uses to employ highly-skilled foreign workers at his own businesses should end as it is “very unfair” for American workers and has been taking away their jobs. The last Republican presidential debate in Miami began with all the four White House aspirants slamming the H-1B visa system — popular among Indian techies, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio even naming Tata and India as part of his anti- H-1B rhetoric.
“I know the H-1B very well. And it’s something that I frankly use and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it. We shouldn’t have it. Very, very bad for workers. It’s very important to say, well, I’m a businessman and I have to do what I have to do,” Trump said while responding to a question on foreign workers, in particular H-1B visas. “When it’s sitting there waiting for you, but it’s very bad. It’s very bad for business, it’s very bad for our workers and it’s unfair for our workers. We should end it,” he said.
Trump’s website calls for eliminating the H-1B class of visas that allow companies to import high-skilled workers from countries like India. “We do need highly skilled, and one of the biggest problems we have is people go to the best colleges,” Trump said.
However, Trump had recently said in political rally, “They’ll go to Harvard, they’ll go to Stanford, they’ll go to Wharton, as soon as they’re finished they’ll get shoved out. They want to stay in this country,” he said. “They want to stay here desperately, they’re not able to stay here. For that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in this country,” Trump said in response to a question.
“I’m changing. I’m changing. We need highly skilled people in this country, and if we can’t do it, we’ll get them in. But, and we do need in Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have,” Trump, 69, said during the Republican presidential debate in Detroit. Responding to a question on his views on immigration in particular highly skilled people, Trump said America needs highly skilled professionals.
“So you abandoning the position on your website…?” he was asked. “I’m changing it, and I’m softening the position, because we have to have talented people in this country,” Trump said.
However, within an hour of his statement, which was interpreted differently by immigration experts, Trump clarified his position. “The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay,” Trump said.
“I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements,” he said in his statement.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio immediately slammed Trump for his policy change. “Tonight, Donald Trump finally took an actual position,” Rubio said in a statement provided by his campaign. “But as soon as the debate was over, his handlers made him reverse himself. The Republican nominee cannot be somebody who is totally clueless on so many issues, including his signature issue,” he said.
Muslims and Sikhs in Maryland have joined the camp of Donald Trump claiming that the Republican presidential frontrunner is not actually against their communities. Members of the two groups – “Sikh Americans for Trump” and “Muslim Americans for Trump” – whose members are mostly South Asians, held its first meeting in a Maryland suburb that was addressed by a representative from the Trump campaign. According to media reports, the organizers of the meeting argued that the view of Trump about minority community has been “twisted” and “taken out of context” by the mainstream media. They also said that the billionaire real estate magnet would create more jobs in the country which would benefit the minorities.
“He (Trump) is not at all against the Sikhs or the Muslim community. What he says is given spin. The mainstream media gives a spin because they are scared of him. He is not the status quo. He is not taking anybody’s money,” Jasdip Singh, who helped organize the “Sikh Americans for Trump” in Maryland, was quoted as saying in a news agency report widely published in Indian newspapers.
A prominent member of the Sikh community, Singh is chairman of the Maryland governor’s Commission on South Asian Affairs and chairman of the Board of Sikh Associations of Baltimore. He said when Trump talks about Muslims, he does not talk about all Muslims or American Muslims. “He spoke in the context of the refugee crisis that was happening in Syria. We (Sikhs) agree with him. Muslim Americans agree with him that we should not bring people into this country before we can vet them. And this was a temporary measures proposed by him,” Singh said.
Trump is not against the minorities, he said, adding that he believes that his presidency will be good for India. Sajid Tarar, a Pakistani-American, who helped organize the Muslim Americans for Trump, said that of all the presidential candidates, Trump is the only one who has achievements to show.
“We believe, he has the ability and capacity to change America. He has built a huge empire. He is self-funding the campaign. There is no special interest behind him,” Tarar said. “There is a war going on against Trump. Every message and speech of his has been twisted,” he said referring to the Trump’s call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country.
Kesha Ram, 29, an young Indian American, is seeking to win a statewide election in Vermont to be this north eastern state’s next Lieutenant Governor. Having served four two-year terms as a state representative in the Legislature, Ram is now shifting her focus to the post of lieutenant governor.
“When I first ran for the legislature, it was the start of the great recession,” Ram said of her first campaign when she was just 21 and ending her college career. “We were lucky if we could shape our future. It felt important to be a voice for our experience.” During her four terms and eight years in the state House, Ram has dedicated herself to improving civic engagement opportunities for residents of Vermont, as well as helping vulnerable populations get access to much-needed services.
Inspired by then Senator Barack Obama whom she introduced in 2006, at a rally when he came to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ram now she feels she accomplished enough in the legislature since 2008, and that it’s time to move on. But it’s a crowded field with at least three Democrats and a Republican vying in the Aug. 9 primaries.
But this time to the Lieutenant Governor’s office, a part-time post with a just a couple of ceremonial duties. She however, plans to change that. Vermont is one of 11 states that uses an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party’s primary.
Vermont’s current Lieutenant Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, is running for governor in a state that has elected presidential candidate and avowed Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders to the U.S. Senate for many years now. Ram, vying for the seat being vacated by Phil Scott, R-Vt., who is running for governor in 2016, is up against fellow Democrats Garrett Graff, Brandon Riker and Sen. David Zuckerman. Former Sen. Randy Brock is the only declared Republican running, while Dr. Louis Meyers has declared his candidacy as an independent. The primary election for the lieutenant governor seat in Vermont is set for Aug. 2; the general election is Nov. 8.
“I feel I’ve accomplished quite a bit in my time in the state legislature,” said Ram, the daughter of a white mother and Indian father, and great-great granddaughter of renowned civil engineer Sir Ganga Ram.
Born to a father who immigrated to the U.S. from India and mother born-and-raised in Illinois, Ram grew up in the Los Angeles area, where her parents met while they attended UCLA. “My father had a passion for opening a small business,” Ram said. Her parents started an Irish pub, McGinty’s Irish Pub, and the hard work it took her father to get that going was instilled early on in Ram. She chose to direct that passion and energy into political work.
Even while she was attending the University of Vermont, which she chose because she felt a “strong sense of community” during a visit prior to committing to the school, she had developed her political voice. The young Indian American served as the university’s student body president and was still enrolled as a senior when she ran for, and won, a spot as state representative eight years ago.
“As lieutenant governor, I’m able to create an opportunity agenda for the entire state,” Ram said, adding that the office is open part-time but she is devoted to working the position full-time, even when not in session. “(The position) relies on relationships and brings people together for a common goal. I have proven I can do this during my time in the legislature.”
She counts among those accomplishments expanding incentives for first-time home buyers; protecting victims of sexual abuse, leading the move to pass human trafficking laws, revenge porn laws, and stalking laws; as well as getting Vermont to recognize the Native American Abenaki tribe so that it qualifies to apply for benefits.
“I am seen as a consensus lawmaker,” Ram says. And the youth she wanted to represent then now face newer problems, which she claims she could address better from her new perch as Lt. Governor.
“The reason I got into politics was because our generation was struggling in the height of the recession, where we hardly had a place on our parents’ couch,” she said. “Now our young people are facing problems as first time-homebuyers, meeting student debts etc. There are very few people who can speak for them.” Work for the past eight years on making higher education affordable, dealing with debt, evidently was not enough, she concedes.
“The position is what you make of it,” Ram counters. “I see myself as a ‘Connector-in Chief’” –bringing people together.” Vermont, unlike many other states, requires the governor and Lieutenant Governor to run on separate tickets and not the same slate. It may end up having different party leaders occupying those offices. She believes her consensus building skills will be important.
In a bid to gain advantage in the Democratic presidential primary, Bernie Sanders’s campaign has distributed a video last week showing Hillary Clinton on television in India in 2012 saying there are “pluses and minuses” to outsourcing U.S. jobs. Appearing on Indian station NDTV during her tenure as secretary of state, Clinton was asked during a town hall-style public affairs program for her thoughts on outsourcing from the United States to India.
“Well, you know, it’s been going on for many years now,” Clinton said on the program, “and it’s part of our economic relationship with India, and I think there are advantages with it that have certainly benefited many parts of our country, and there are disadvantages that go to the need to, you know, improve the job skills of our own people and create a better economic environment, so it’s, like anything, it’s, you know, got pluses and minuses.”
The two Democratic campaigns offer very different interpretations of her comments and their broader significance. Sanders’s camp is prepared to argue that Clinton’s words, spoken abroad, show an insensitivity to the plight of U.S. workers, including those in trade-battered Michigan, which has shed far more than its share of manufacturing jobs.
Clinton’s team, meanwhile, says that there’s really nothing to see here: that what Clinton said is consistent with her view that trade can be a mixed bag and the president needs to work to maximize its advantages for the United States.
Sanders’s campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said he’s convinced Clinton’s comments will not play well in Michigan “when so many communities like Detroit and Flint have been hurt so badly by outsourcing. Secretary Clinton should explain to the people of Michigan how they have benefited from outsourcing of their manufacturing jobs,” Weaver said.
Clinton’s aides argue that during the campaign she has demonstrated a much deeper commitment than Sanders to rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing sector. “Hillary Clinton is the only candidate in this race with a comprehensive agenda to create jobs, revitalize manufacturing communities and break down barriers for small businesses to start and grow,” said Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson. “Rather than attacks on the past, Senator Sanders should tell Michigan voters how he will create manufacturing jobs and grow our economy.”
Sanders said, he has consistently opposed “disastrous” trade deals, starting with the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s, that Clinton supported during her tenures as first lady, a senator from New York and secretary of state. Sanders has also been critical of the length of time it took for Clinton to reach her current opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership, a pending pact championed by President Obama that Sanders opposed from the outset.
WASHINGTON — President Obama is reportedly vetting Sri Srinivasan, 49, federal appellate judge who has enjoyed substantial support from Republicans in the past, as potential nominee for a Supreme Court vacancy that has set off a brutal election-year fight.
Jane L. Kelly and Merrick B. Garland, both federal appellate judges, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal trial judge, are among others, reportedly being vetted by President Obama for the vacancy in the highest Court in the country. Reports state that they are undergoing background checks by the F.B.I. The White House has not given any indication in this regard.
“President Obama is vetting Merrick B. Garland and Sri Srinivasan, federal appellate judges who have enjoyed substantial support from Republicans in the past, as potential nominees for a Supreme Court vacancy that has set off a brutal election-year fight,” The New York Times reported March 5.
Taken together, the names help flesh out a list of potential nominees for an appointment that could reshape the court and the country. A replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon who died on Feb. 13, could hold the deciding vote on matters of abortion rights, guns, the environment, campaign finance and a wide range of other issues.
Srinivasan is currently the U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which many call as a stepping stone to the Supreme Court. He is not only considered a favorite of Obama, who called him a trailblazer, but also his nomination was confirmed by a record 97-0 vote.
Srinivasan was sworn in as judge Sept. 26, 2013, making him the first Indian American to be on the bench of the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit. Retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor has called Srinivasan “fair, faultless and fabulous.” He received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering U.S. National Security in 2003, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence in 2005.
Amidst protests from Republicans, President Obama has said he has an obligation under the Constitution, which says he “shall” nominate Supreme Court justices, to fill the vacancy. Public opinion polls indicate that large majorities of Americans believe that the Senate should hold confirmation hearings.
New York, NY: A coalition of groups representing women in politics is pushing for Jenifer Rajkumar to replace former New York State Assemblyman Sheldon Silver in a special election. Rajkumar, an attorney and district leader in the 65th Assembly district, previously sought a city council seat. Sheldon Silver, 71, lost his seat recently when he was convicted on all seven felony counts of corruption, including extortion, money laundering and theft of honest services.
Rajkumar is one of several Democrats seeking to replace Silver in his lower Manhattan Assembly district. The former speaker stepped down from the top post in January following his arrest, but retained his seat in the back of the Assembly chamber. Rajkumar is optimistic despite the Democratic County Committee in the 65th Assembly District overwhelmingly endorsing someone else for the Special Election.
Seven Democrats are in the running to fill the vacant seat. Democratic District Leader Alice Cancel has been endorsed by the Democratic County Committee of the 65th District, where Rajkumar trailed 3rd in the vote count. Others include Working Families Party candidate Yuh-Line Niou, chief of staff to Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim, who has been endorsed by the chairman of the state Assembly’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus; District Leader Paul Newell; and a local community board chairwoman Gigi Li.
Rajkumar practices civil rights law, with a specialty in employment discrimination, worker’s rights, class actions, and whistleblower lawsuits. She was part of the litigation team in Velez v. Novartis, on behalf of a class of 5,600 women in their disparate pay and pregnancy discrimination claims. The U.N. named this one of the top ten cases in the world advancing women’s equality, and it resulted in the largest ever jury award in an employment discrimination case.
Rajkumar has helped represent whistleblowers taking a stand against corporate greed and corruption in multiple qui tam actions under the Federal False Claims Act, where she has helped secure millions of dollars for her firm’s clients. She recently originated an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of NOW, Equal Rights Advocates, and other national women’s groups where her firm argued for equality for women in nontraditional fields such as construction, firefighting, and mining. Rajkumar graduated from Stanford Law School. She was named a “Rising Star” by City & State and received a “Young Woman of Achievement Award” from WIN in 2012.She was selected as a 40 Under 40 Rising Star by City & State, one of New York’s premier news soures for politics, in its annual 40 Under 40 Rising Stars list., Rising Star, City & State, 2012.
The young Indian American was selected from an extremely competitive pool for a 2012 WIN Young Woman of Achievement Award, awarded annually to five high achieving women below the age of 35 by national nonprofit that seeks to train the next generation of women leaders. Selectors included WIN Advisory Council Members who are women at the top of their fields in government, nonprofit, law, and politics. Presented award in Washington, DC at a ceremony attended by about 300 people., Young Women of Achievement Award, WIN (Women’s Information Network), 2012. She was declared a “Local Heroine’ by the Battery Park paper The Broadsheet.
The Indian-American has been an elected Democratic Leader since 2011 and has deep roots in the area, which she emphasized would carry her through. Rajkumar has been endorsed by the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club named after the well-known gay rights advocate. Last December, a coalition of national women’s groups endorsed Rajkumar, including the Women’s Campaign Fund. A few weeks ago, a coalition of Latino leaders in the Lower East Side endorsed her as well.
“In a nation now ranked 86th in the world in the number of women in elected office and dropping, it is essential that we support the political ascendancy of women like Jenifer Rajkumar,” said Siobhan “Sam” Bennett, the author and political advocate who is a former president and CEO of the Women’s Campaign Fund. “Beyond her obvious qualifications, as a young minority woman she embodies exactly what is needed to correct our nation’s long-term electoral course. I’m proud to support her current candidacy and to have been one of those to encourage her to run for office at the beginning of her bright political career.”
Former Deputy Mayor Ninfa Segarra also endorsed Rajkumar’s Assembly bid, calling her an “ideal candidate.” “She has the ability to unite the many different communities in the district and provide a strong voice fighting for the district’s needs. Jenifer has the skill sets and temperament to succeed in New York State government,” Segarra said.
If elected, Rajkumar would be joining a Legislature that has seen an increasing number of women holding seats, with female representation hitting a new high of 55 members this year. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to call a special election for Silver’s seat for April 19, the same day as the presidential primary in New York.
Washington, DC: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, resigned on Sunday in order to endorse presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Gabbard — who was the first Hindu and first American Samoan to be elected to Congress, as well as the youngest person ever elected to the Hawaii legislature, at age 21 — commended the leftist Vermont senator for his foreign policy, and his opposition to the hawkish policies of fellow presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“After much thought and consideration, I’ve decided I cannot remain neutral and sit on the sidelines any longer,” she wrote in an email to fellow DNC officers obtained by Politico.
“There is a clear contrast between our two candidates with regard to my strong belief that we must end the interventionist, regime change policies that have cost us so much,” Gabbard said.
“This is not just another ‘issue.’ This is THE issue, and it’s deeply personal to me,” Gabbard continued. “This is why I’ve decided to resign as Vice Chair of the DNC so that I can support Bernie Sanders in his efforts to earn the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential race.”
Gabbard, who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, has condemned U.S. policy in Syria. In late 2015, she introduced a bipartisan bill that called for “an immediate end to the illegal, counter-productive war to overthrow” Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Washington, DC: March 7, 201: The coming of age of the Indian American community is evident all over with the tiny less than 1% of the US population leading in several areas of American life. With the record number of Indian Americans holding high jobs in the Obama administration, many more are even trying to take an active role in the politics of the country by trying to get elected to public offices across the nation. They are the most affluent and best educated of any immigrant group in the country, according to Pew. They include doctors, engineers, tech entrepreneurs and educators, and form a rich donor base. However, Indian-Americans are more spread out than other ethnic groups, and Indian-American candidates in expensive races often have to go out of state to raise funds.
With only one sitting US Congressman of Indian origin in the US Congress, many more are now vying to enter the US Congress. Kamala Harris in California is expected to win the US Senate race in November. With veteran House of Delegates member Kumar Barve running for Congress in Maryland, and Rep. Ami Bera currently ensconced representing a congressional district in Northern California, if the stars align themselves fortuitously, the Indian American community could have many more members elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016.
The Indian American presence on the political stage was delayed until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which opened up the quotas preventing Indians from migrating to the United States and sharply increased the presence of Indians in America. Dalip Singh Saund was the first Indian American member of the House of Representatives, a Sikh who converted his PhD in math to a successful farming career in California, garnering support for a brief Congressional career. But the Indian American presence in Congress since then has been limited, the only blip being former Congressman—and the former governor of Louisiana—Bobby Jindal and the rising star in the Republican Party, Nikki Haley, the governor of North Carolina.
They lean strongly toward Democrats, yet two Republican governors, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina, are of Indian descent. Harris will have to seek contributions to run in a state with some of the costliest media markets in the country. Asian-Americans could form a crucial part of her campaign.
Indian Americans are also aligning with presidential candidates of their choices across the nation. “By mid-March, we will have a clear Democratic nominee,” Indian American political activist Saif Khan, a volunteer for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign, told the media. “After ‘Super Tuesday,’ we will see a significant lead in delegates and the delegate allocation will show who the clear front runner is,” he said. Khan, an Iraq war veteran, is joining “Operation Rolling Victory,” a campaign initiative in which former war veterans come out to support Clinton at various rallies throughout the country. “When it comes to political contributions, that aspect of her identity will become important,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, associate dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of California, Riverside.
People from New York and New Jersey have got busy this election year to give some time from work to party candidates. While it was difficult to get an exact count of how many Indian-American volunteers are working from the Tri-state area for the Democratic campaign, some young political activists, put the figure of leading volunteers in leadership roles close to 100. There are many others giving some of their time and energy to campaigns.
Sampat Shivangi, founder of the Indian American Forum for Political Education, has expressed disappointment over former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s decision to drop out of the race, following the Republican primary Feb. 20 in South Carolina. Bush had fared dismally throughout the battle, trailing far behind Republican contenders Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah, a long-time supporter of the Bush family, also expressed dispaoointment: “I am very disappointed that Governor Bush has decided to get out of the race. I have great admiration for him. He is a fantastic human being.” Zachariah, also a long-time Republican Party leader, said he was “perplexed” as to how to move forward. “This is a new game. I have no idea what happens next.” “The extreme right wing of the Republican Party has hijacked the party. Trump is preying upon the angriest of people and dividing the electorate,” said Zachariah.
Calling Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump as the “best hope for America”, some Indian-Americans in the New York Tristate area have formed a Political Action Committee (PAC) to support and raise funds for him. Headed by Dr. AD Amar, a business professor with Seton Hall University in New Jersey, the ‘Indian-Americans for Trump 2016’ was registered as a PAC with the Federal Election Commission last month. Its sole goal is “to garner actively the support of all Americans, but particularly Indian-Americans, to have Donald J. Trump become the next President of the USA,” the PAC said in a press release.
Ash Kalra, a member of the San Jose City Council, is vying to become the first Indian-American elected to the California legislature. “The longer the Indian-American community has been in this country, the more it has matured,” Kalra said. “And part of that maturity is becoming more politically active.”
Last year, technology lawyer Ro Khanna, a Democrat, sought a seat in Congress, while former U.S. Treasury Department official Neel Kashkari, a Republican, ran for governor. Though both challenged popular incumbents and lost, their efforts are emblematic of the rise in Indian-American political engagement.
The election results could have major consequences for India and the Indian Americans. The average Indian American may be more interested in a US president who keeps the “golden door” open for immigrants, students and temporary hi-tech workers. They would also be reassured if the White House has a person who upholds traditional liberal democratic views on religious minorities and multiculturalism as a whole.
The populists in both parties, whether Trump or Sanders, have been the most vocal against migrants. Trump has targeted Muslims and Mexicans, Sanders H-1B visa workers. But their rhetoric would worry migratory birds the most. India, however, gets only a passing mention by even the most extreme candidates. Ultimately, says Twining, “the fact that India, unlike China, will not be an election issue should be reassuring to New Delhi.”
Says Sanjay Puri, head of the US-India Political Action Committee, “Indian-Americans tend to be more Democrats than Republicans and it has not changed much this election cycle, especially with Clinton running as she has long-standing relationships with the Indian-American community.” But, he notes, no candidate is allergic to Indians. “Each candidate has a support base in the Indian-American community.”
Washington, DC: March 7, 2015: Of the many choices in endorsing candidates for the March 15 primary, the Chicago Tribune editorial board wrote that the decision for Congress in the 8th District of Illinois “isn’t close at all” and that the “Tribune endorses [Raja] Krishnamoorthi” for the seat to represent the voters of the northwest Chicago suburbs.
“Krishnamoorthi’s amalgam of business and government experience makes him the best candidate, hands down,” the Chicago Tribune editorial board stated. “A Harvard Law School grad who lives in Schaumburg, he’s been a deputy state treasurer and an assistant attorney general. He’s president of two high-tech firms focused on military security and renewable energy. Those overlapping experiences give him a valuable perspective on how government policy affects businesses and workers.”
The Chicago Tribune endorsement makes it a clean sweep of Chicago-area newspaper endorsements for the progressive Democrat Krishnamoorthi following the earlier endorsements from the Chicago Sun-Times and the Daily Herald, the largest suburban newspaper in the Chicago area.
Raja Krishnamoorth
“We were impressed with Krishnamoorthi’s command of specifics about the tax code and the Affordable Care Act — and even more impressed when he emailed us after our meeting to correct himself on a minor point,” the Chicago Tribune editorial board wrote. “We like that he’s already scoped out opportunities to join in bipartisan initiatives on criminal justice reform and alternative energy. We agree with his maxim that government must do everything ‘faster, cheaper, smarter.’”
Raja Krishnamoorthi, the former deputy state treasurer of Illinois, an Indian American Democrat, who had lost to Rep. Tammy Duckworth in the Democratic primary for Congress in 2012, has announced his bid to join the fray to take the seat one more time. The 41-year-old Indian American has been campaigning to succeed Duckworth in Congress as the representative for the 8th District in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Duckworth has declared her candidacy to the US Senate from the state of Lincoln.
The United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 881, has endorsed Raja Krishnamoorthi. In their endorsement, Ronald Powell, President, Local 881 and UFCW International Vice President said, “Local 881 United Food and Commercial Workers are proud to give Raja Krishnamoorthi our endorsement. Raja is the only candidate in the 8th District race with a working families agenda that offers a significant increase in the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work and guaranteed paid sick leave and maternity leave for workers.”
In the race to replace Tammy Duckworth in Congress, Raja Krishnamoorthi has opened up a double-digit lead. A live poll of 400 likely Democratic voters taken February 9-11 by GBA Strategies asked 8th District voters in the northwest Chicago suburbs which candidate they would vote for if the election were held today.
Krishnamoorthi had the support of 41 percent of voters with State Sen. Mike Noland at 27 percent and Villa Park President Deb Bullwinkel with 5 percent. Undecided voters accounted for 26 percent of the poll. The margin of error was +/- 4.9 percentage points.
Raja said, “I’m encouraged that voters are responding to our message of protecting Social Security and Medicare, fighting for sane gun laws and standing up for policies to help struggling working families.” A capable fundraiser who raised about $1.3 million for his 2012 run, he said in a press release that he wants to continue Duckworth’s advocacy for working families, with a focus on helping more people to succeed in the new economy. I will work hard to provide education and job opportunities so more families can achieve the economic security they need.
According to Krishnamoorthi, “The one issue that continues to resonate with voters is the economic insecurity of the middle class.” There is growing importance, he added, to gain access to jobs that pay a living wage and access to the right kind of jobs in the 21st Century. He said he knows he needs to raise at least as much money as he did in 2012 to win in the March 2016 Democratic primary in what could be a crowded field.
A resident of Schaumburg, Ill., where he lives with his wife, Priya, a doctor at a local hospital, and their sons Vijay, 9, and Vikram, 5, who attend public schools in school District 54, Krishnamoorthi is president of Sivananthan Labs and Episolar, small businesses selling products in the national security and renewable energy sectors.
In 2006, he was appointed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan as a Special Assistant Attorney General in her public integrity unit and he served as a member of the Illinois Housing Development Authority. When he ran in 2016 against Duckworth, who had the support of many in the Democratic leadership, Krishnamoorthi lost by a 66.6% to 33.4% margin.
Co-founder of InSPIRE, a nonprofit providing training to Illinois students and veterans in solar technology, he is a former vice chair of the Illinois Innovation Council, a group supporting economic growth and job creation in Illinois.
Krishnamoorthi pointed out that when he served as deputy treasurer of Illinois, where he helped revamp the state’s unclaimed property system by using technology to increase the amount of property returned to taxpayers while cutting the program’s costs. Raised in Peoria, Ill., he has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton University and a law degree from Harvard Law School. Krishnamoorthi clerked for a federal judge in Chicago, became a partner in an Illinois law firm and was an issues director for Barack Obamaâ’s successful United States Senate campaign in 2004.
“We need people in Congress who understand the opportunities provided by the new economy and how to make sure more Americans are prepared to seize them,” the Indian American candidate said in a press release. “That requires practical, pragmatic ideas and far less partisanship and politics. I want to help provide this leadership and ensure that the same opportunities that my family had to escape tough economic times exist for other working families today and into the future,” he said.
“I am excited to have the support of the hardworking men and women of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 881,” Raja said. “UFCW, Local 881 represents more than 34,000 members employed in retail food, drug stores and grocery stores. Winning another labor union endorsement shows that my campaign’s message of helping more Americans find good jobs and help grow and strengthen the middle class is resonating with voters throughout the northwest Chicago suburbs.”
California’s 17th Congressional district seat remains hotly-contested between Honda and Khanna. The two squared off in the 2014 election cycle in which Honda prevailed by less than 5,000 over the Indian American Stanford professor.
The endorsement for Honda at the state’s Democratic Convention, held Feb. 26 through Feb. 28 in San Jose, Calif., comes just a month after the delegates were unable to endorse a candidate at the Jan. 28 pre-endorsement conference.
The campaign of Honda’s Democratic challenger, Indian American Ro Khanna, however, was encouraged by the developments simply because Honda had to go to the convention to get the endorsement. “The entire (endorsement process) is rigged to protect the incumbent,” Khanna campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan told the media. The endorsement process has three rounds for the party to give its endorsement, with incumbents not getting endorsed if more than 20 percent, 30 percent or 50 percent oppose each round, respectively.
Honda did not receive 80 percent support in the first round, setting up the pre-endorsement conference in which he failed to secure the 70 percent needed. The fallout from that led to the February convention in which he needed 50 percent of the delegates’ support. “It’s embarrassing for Honda that it even got to this point,” Sevugan said, adding that the majority of the delegates voting are appointed by Honda or his allies.
Despite receiving the endorsement, Honda continues to lose support of many dignitaries, who are siding with Khanna in his campaign efforts. Among those shifting gears in 2016 are California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and the Laborers International Union of North American Pacific Southwest Region.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen and Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone have endorsed Democratic challenger Ro Khanna to represent the 17th Congressional District — a triple blow to Rep. Mike Honda.
None of the three prominent local Democrats endorsed either candidate last year during their first showdown that ended with Honda, D-San Jose, beating Khanna by 3.6 percentage points. And none, at least in their initial statements, hinted that the House Ethics Committee’s ongoing probe of blurred lines between Honda’s office and campaign influenced their endorsements.
The state’s 17th Congressional district includes much of California’s Silicon Valley cities such as Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Santa Clara, as well as north San Jose, Milpitas, Fremont and Newark. Many Indian American Silicon Valley luminaries have thrown their support behind Khanna. The primary election is scheduled for June 7 with the general election on Nov. 8.
Sacramento, CA: Rep. Ami Bera, D-Sacramento, who is seeking reelection to US Congress and California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat, have received endorsements from the California Democratic Party, during the state convention on February 27th.
Bera, who has been in an ongoing battle with Sikh Americans and labor groups in his district – CD-7 – handily won his endorsement, gaining nearly 90 percent of the vote. Fifty people voted for the sole Indian American in Congress, while six voted against him. Bera – who is seeking his third term in office – is running unopposed in the primary election June 7. He will face Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones – a Republican – in the general election Nov. 8.
“I’m proud that local Sacramento County Democrats voted to award me the state party’s endorsement,” Bera said after the vote. “I came to Washington to fix Congress, and to help the working parents, business owners, seniors, and many others in my district get ahead and, today, these fine people recognized this. They know that I went to DC to fix a broken Congress, something I will never stop working to do,” said the physician, who formerly served as the chief medical officer for Sacramento County.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, told party delegates before the endorsement vote was taken that Bera’s position on TPA was different from her position, but that his vote on the issue should not be the sole basis for his re-election. “He is a valued member of the Congress. He has a great base of support at the grassroots level and I think he will win,” said Pelosi.
Kamala Harris also handily won her endorsement from the California Democratic Party, winning more than 78 percent of the vote. Harris is battling Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Orange County, and Republican contender Duf Sundheim, an attorney who formerly served as the state’s Republican Party chairman. California’s open primary allows the top two vote getters from either party to go on to the general election.
In her speech before the endorsement vote, Harris – who served as San Francisco’s District Attorney before ascending to the post of Attorney General in 2012 – chronicled her youth growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, as the daughter of two civil rights activists. She spoke about the hateful rhetoric spewing out of the Republican Party and vowed to protect the fundamental rights of all U.S. residents. “For far too many, liberty and justice for all is a promise we have failed to keep,” said Harris.
After the vote, Harris’s campaign sent out a statement late Feb. 27. “I’m incredibly honored to have the endorsement of the California Democratic Party in the U.S. Senate race, and I’m so proud of the support our campaign has received from every corner of our state,” she said. “We know there is more that unites us than divides us, and I’m grateful to the Californians who joined together to send that message this weekend,” said Harris.
Congressman Ami Bera, running for reelection in the state of California has come under attacks by his own party men, this time, surprisingly by a group led by an Indian American, “Sacramento Democrats For Truth.” Led by Amar Shergill, a former Bera supporter an Indian-American, the new group has launched an attack on Rep. Ami Bera, D-California, on grounds he has “refused” to provide documentation about his overseas trips and that donors to his campaign had overseas interests.
Bera’s support among local Democrats in his district suffered a blow when local unions refused to endorse him for his vote in favor of President Obama’s Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact. Bera is now relying on getting enough support at the state party convention Feb. 26-28, to get re-nominated for his third term race. He is unopposed.
California’s District 7 is almost equally divided along party lines and has a significant uncommitted voter base, has proved a tough seat and Bera has won with small margins. Republicans have targeted the district for takeover.
Ami Bera won reelection over a year ago with a razor thin margin. Now with strong opposition from both Democrats, Labor Unions and Republicans, his reelection bid in the November 2016 election has come to be recognized as even harder. The National Republican Congressional Committee’s (NRCC) ad has tried to distort Bera’s record of finding bipartisan solutions and protecting and strengthening Medicare and defending against efforts to privatize Social Security.
“Congressman Ose’s DC Republican backers are just repeating the same tired old lies,” said Bera spokesperson Allison Teixeira. “They are resorting to more misleading attacks to try to distract voters from Ose’s partisan record of voting with his political party nearly 95 percent of the time while helping enrich himself and his Wall Street friends, and voting to privatize Social Security.”
According to Rep. Bera’s website, Bera has a clear record of finding bipartisan solutions to our nation’s challenges as a leader of the Problem Solvers’ No Labels coalition, and is one of the most moderate members of Congress. He is also an ardent defender of Social Security and Medicare, recently announcing the support of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) and the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) because he has been “a leader in the fight to preserve and protect Social Security and Medicare,” and has “a proven record of fighting plans that would end the Medicare guarantee for our seniors.”
In a press release, the Sacramento Democrats For Truth said that despite requests from some party delegates, Bera “has refused to provide documents describing payments for his overseas trips, with whom he meets and his political contributors with more than $1 million in assets overseas.” The group said they had gone through Bera’s campaign finance filings, and remain “troubled by contributions from those that appear to be closely connected to foreign investment funds and foreign nations.”
Bera calls the accusations unfounded and that all regulations relating to foreign trips had been complied with and quarterly filings with the Federal Elections Commission were public. Even Shergill conceded that Bera would get the state party endorsement this coming weekend. “At the state convention, it’s very likely the party establishment will rescue his endorsement and he will get it even though he is rejected by his local Democrats,” Shergill said.
Shergill’s list of 9 contributors to Bera, virtually all of them venture capitalists, showed none of them had given money to SuperPACs with overseas interests. Rather, they had contributed the maximum allowed, $2,700 to Bera and given large amounts to Democratic Party or Democratic candidate SuperPACs.
“All of the Congressman’s contributions are publicly available and disclosed on a quarterly basis, and as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee he complies with all travel disclosure rules,” Congressman Bera’s campaign manager Jerid Kurtz said. “It’s unfortunate that the same detractors that worked against the Congressman since 2014 are continuing to lob baseless accusations,” Kurtz added.
Indian American politician Swati Dandekar, who was nominated as executive director to Asian Development Bank (ADB) with ambassadorial rank by US President Barack Obama in November last year, began her Congressional hearings by Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on February 11, 2016. If confirmed by the US Senate, Dandekar will replace Robert M. Orr who held the position since 2010.
Obama announced his intention to nominate Dandekar to the top position in Asian Development Bank (ADB) along with eight other key administration posts. “I am confident that these experienced and hardworking individuals will help us tackle the important challenges facing America, and I am grateful for their service. I look forward to working with them,” Obama said.
Dandekar, a Nagpur and Bombay University alumni, is a former Iowa state legislator and a member of the Iowa Utilities Board, according to her White House biography. She was the first Indian-American citizen to win a state legislature seat in the United States. Dandekar was a Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives in the 2014 elections in the 1st Congressional District of Iowa, but lost in the primaries.
Dandekar, the nominee for U.S. Executive Director for the Asian Development Bank with Rank of Ambassador U.S., in a prepared statement before the Senate Committee, stated, “I am honored to have been nominated by President Obama to be the next United States Executive Director with the rank of Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank.”
Recalling her immigration to this land of opportunities, Danekar, who came to the United States as an immigrant in 1973 after she I married her husband of 43 years, Arvind Dandekar , who is is President of Fastek International, a software development company, said, “During my nine years in the Iowa House and Senate, from 2003 until 2011, I had the chance to work at the state level. I am excited by the potential opportunity to work internationally as the U.S. Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).”
Stating that as a legislator, she has always worked with both sides of the aisle to develop consensus positions that were acceptable to all interested parties. Over the years, she gained insight in to state finances and budgets, and she also has had extensive experience serving on a variety of boards in Iowa, such as the Linn-Mar School Board, Vision Iowa Board, Iowa Values Fund, Iowa Power Fund, and Iowa Utilities Board. “These experiences have provided me with a firsthand look at the transformative power of appropriate use of development funds. My extensive background in managing projects and cultivating partnerships will help me to carry out the responsibilities of the U.S. Executive Director at the ADB, which is dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia Pacific region through sustainable and inclusive economic growth, investments in human capital, and good governance,” she said.
“If confirmed, my first priority will be to advance U.S. policy interests at the ADB. Additionally, I will work to ensure that the U.S. Commerce Department and other entities that publicize opportunities for U.S. businesses to compete for business overseas include information on how to compete for contracts from the ADB,” Dandekar said.
She also credited her upbringing in India to provide her with an excellent understanding of the Asian culture, pointing to her ability to speak in English and Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi, as well as having working knowledge in Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali languages. “My language skills and cultural awareness will position me well to address challenges facing the ADB and communicate how ADB is fueling positive economic development and stability throughout the region,” she said. Dandekar said, “I look forward to representing the United States at ADB and ensuring that our country’s priority initiatives are advanced.”
Nikki Haley, the popular Governor of South Carolina has dismissed rumors of her running for Vice President of the United States in the upcoming presidential elections. Amid reports that she was emerging as a “fantastic choice” to be the Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate, Indian American Governor has ruled out any such possibility, saying her “plate is full.” She said she is quite “content” with her responsibilities as the governor of South Carolina and the mother of two kids.
When asked about the latest media reports that Rubio-Haley would be a dream Republican ticket, Haley told Fox News in an interview: “Not at all. I have said my plate is full. I am not only a mom, my daughter is going to college next year, and my son is in middle school. I got a state that I love. We have not finished all the work we want to finish here.
“So I am totally content and happy in South Carolina. What I do want to see is that America gets a great president,” the 44-year-old said in a joint appearance with Rubio on Fox News in South Carolina.
“I think we can do that with Marco Rubio,” she said, responding to questions of her potential campaign as the vice presidential mate of Rubio, which is being reported by some major media outlets.
Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina said that he is “all for” Haley being picked for vice president. Haley is articulate and a strong leader who went “through the fire” during a tragic 2015 in the state, he said. “She would be a fantastic choice and one that I think the country would be quite responsive to,” Scott said.
However, The Washington Post offered a word of caution. “A Rubio-Haley ticket might be many things. But a panacea for the GOP’s sundry political and demographic challenges? It certainly is not,” it said. But for The New York Observer, a Rubio-Haley ticket would be Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton’s worst nightmare.
“The sight of Florida Senator Marco Rubio standing side-by-side with South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley after her blockbuster endorsement of his candidacy for president days before the South Carolina GOP primary gave the appearance of a presidential ticket that would be a game changer for the 2016 campaign,” it said.
“Maybe a Hispanic-Asian ticket with one candidate who’s rediscovering his tea-party roots and another who’s made herself into the top union-hater in the country is the best they can do,” The New Yorker wrote.
Eight U.S. Senators and 26 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have raised “grave concerns about the increasing intolerance and violence experienced by members of…religious minority communities,” in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing threats to Christians in Chhattisgarh and vigilantism over beef that has led to the murder of four Muslims.
Applauding India’s commitment to pluralism and tolerance, and reminding the PM that he had promised to ensure complete religious freedom in the country, the lawmakers urged him to “turn these words into action by publicly condemning” such violence.
“Of particular concern is the treatment of India’s Christian, Muslim and Sikh communities,” the lawmakers –several of them consistently pro-India — have written to the PM. “Our strong support of this partnership encourages us to relay our grave concerns.” The lawmakers said they were also concerned about the lack of recognition of Sikhism as a distinct religion.
The Modi’s government’s drive against civil society organisations receiving foreign donations in India has been an irritant in bilateral relations for sometime now. The lawmakers’ letter on religious violence, specifically naming Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal that share the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) ideological universe with Mr. Modi, could be potentially embarrassing for the PM. Mr. Modi will be in the U.S. on March 31 and April 1, to attend the nuclear security summit being convened by President Barack Obama. The letter also comes against the backdrop of the Centre’s unprecedented steamrolling of political dissent in the country, which is increasingly a talking point in the U.S. capital.
“On June 17th, 2014, more than 50 village councils in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh adopted a resolution banning all “non-Hindu religious propaganda, prayers, and speeches” in their communities. The Christian minority community has been dramatically affected: the ban effectively has criminalised the practice of Christianity for an estimated 300 Christian families in the region one day after a mob, which included members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, seriously injured six Christians in the village of Sirciguda. Since the ban was implemented, Christians in the Bastar District reportedly have been subjected to physical assaults, denial of government services, extortion, threats of forced expulsion, denial of access to food and water, and pressure to convert to Hinduism,” the letter said.
“We also are concerned that the nearly country-wide beef ban is increasing tensions and encouraging vigilante violence against the Indian Muslim community. On Monday, November 2nd, a Hindu mob killed Mohammed Hasmat Ali, a married father of three, in Manipur, India, after he was accused of stealing a cow. Mr. Ali reportedly is the fourth Muslim murdered in just six weeks by Hindu mobs angered over allegations of cows being slaughtered or stolen. We understand that the September 28th murder of 52-year-old Mohammed Saif in Uttar Pradesh sparked a national outcry over rising intolerance toward religious minorities which culminated in hundreds of prominent academics, business leaders, and authors protesting.”
“We want to raise additional concerns about the lack of recognition of Sikhism as a distinct religion, which prevents members of the community from accessing social services and employment and educational preferences available to other religious communities. Sikh community members reportedly are harassed and pressured to reject religious practices and beliefs distinct to Sikhism. On October 14, security forces killed two Sikhs and injured scores of others in Punjab who were protesting peacefully against the desecration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Sikhism’s holy book,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Mr. Prime Minister, we applaud India as a pluralistic society with a long-standing commitment to inclusion and tolerance. We also applaud your statements about religious freedom and communal harmony, including your promise in February 2014 that your government would “ensure that there is complete freedom of faith…and not allow any religious group, belonging to the majority or the minority, to incite hatred against others.” We urge you to turn these words into action by publicly condemning the ban on non-Hindu faiths in the Bastar District of Chhattisgarh, and the violent assaults and other forms of harassment against religious minorities throughout India. We also urge you to take steps to control the activities of groups, such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and instruct Indian security forces to enforce the rule of law and protect religious minority communities from religiously-motivated harassment and violence.
Such steps would demonstrate your government’s commitment to fostering a stable and inclusive society and respecting international obligations on the rights of religious minorities, including religious freedom. We await your response,” the letter concluded.
Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), James Lankford (R-OK), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Tim Scott (R-SC) and Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MI), Joe Pitts (R-PA), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Mark Walker (R-NC), Doug Collins (R-GA), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Ted Poe (R-TX), Adam Schiff (D-CA), John Conyers, (D-MI) have signed the letter.
Kamala Harris, California Attorney General, wants to be a U.S. Senator, and she has already been campaigning for a seat for more than a year. Wednesday, February 24th, she formally and legally declared herself a candidate, filling out the official paperwork at the registrar’s office in Norwalk. The Democratic attorney general is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Barbara Boxer, who retires from her post at the end of her term in 2017.
“We got in early, we’ve been running hard, and this makes it official. So I’m very excited,” Harris said. Since announcing, Harris has been the frontrunner, leading in the polls. If Harris wins the seat, she would be the first Indian American to ever serve in the Senate and the second-ever African-American woman. She says her strategy is to truly connect with voters. “Sitting and talking with them and listening, most importantly, and then hopefully, this work will result in a successful bid for the United States Senate,” Harris said.
Harris says there are some key issues she’s focusing on, including education, the economy, the environment and equality. “That’s everything from what we need to do around continuing to fight for the rights for our LGBT brothers and sisters, to what we need to do around immigration reform, to what we need to do around protecting a woman’s right to choose what to do with her own body,” Harris said.
Luis Vizcaino, a campaign spokesman for Harris’ Democratic rival Rep. Loretta Sanchez, maintained that Sanchez is the most qualified for the seat. He released the following statement: “California needs an experienced and proven leader to tackle the full range of economic, educational and foreign relation challenges we face today. Our next U.S. Senator must have an extensive legislative and national security background and share the life experiences of working families – and that’s Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who last year was named one of the 25 most influential women in Congress by CQ Roll Call because she knows how to work with members from both sides of the aisle. She is the most qualified candidate for the job of U.S. Senator.”
Republican candidate lawyer Duf Sundheim says he disagrees with Harris’ stances but welcomes her into the race. His campaign released the following statement: “I welcome Ms. Harris into the race. Elections are about choices. The contrast between our candidacy and Ms. Harris’ could not be clearer.”
When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, her name surfaced as a potential nominee, but Harris made it clear she did not want to be considered for that position. “I’m not putting my name in for consideration. I do not wish to be considered. I am running for the United States Senate,” Harris told reporters at a recent campaign stop.
Harris is viewed as a rising Democratic star. She campaigned for Obama in both his presidential bids, and he returned the favor by holding a fundraiser for Harris during her successful 2010 campaign to become California’s first female and first minority attorney general. California’s June 7 primary will send the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, to the general election in November.
Born of an Indian mother — Shyamala Gopalan, who emigrated from Chennai in the ‘60s — and Jamaican American father, Stanford University economics professor Donald Harris, she is the first ever Asian American and African American to be elected to this top position in California.
So far, only three Indian Americans have been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives — Dalip Singh Saund, Bobby Jindal and Ami Bera, who was re-elected for his second term last November.
NEW YORK, NY: The Muslim Democratic Club of New York (MDCNY), on February 16, 2016, voted to endorse United States Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Presidential Primary. Sanders received unanimous support in a vote held at the club’s membership meeting on Tuesday evening.
“MDCNY is proud to make its first ever endorsement in a national race by supporting Bernie Sanders. His honesty, integrity, and progressive agenda are in line with the principles of our club,” said MDCNY President Murad Awawdeh. “For too long, anti-Muslim rhetoric in this election has attempted to push our communities to the margins. Our voice and vote will be felt as we activate our members throughout New York to mobilize our communities to vote for Sanders in the April primary. We also plan to volunteer remotely to provide support in the earlier primary states.”
MDCNY Secretary Mohammad Khan remarked “the Sanders campaign offers a refreshing break from the establishment politics that favor the wealthy and well-connected. For communities like ours, which have long been marginalized, we need someone with a transformative vision for change.”
After a virtual tie in Iowa and a decisive win in New Hampshire, the Sanders campaign is picking up increasing momentum going into the remaining primary elections.
The Muslim Democratic Club of New York is a city-wide organization dedicated to increasing the civic empowerment of Muslim New Yorkers and advancing progressive policies in the Democratic Party.NY
The recent dispute between FBI and Apple pits three important principles against one another. On the one hand, it’s about the right of the U.S. government to investigate thoroughly the most deadly terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11, in order to prevent the nation and the world from future terrorists attacks. The dispute has raised questions about the need and importance of maintaining the privacy of every individual. It is also about the right of the most valuable (and iconic) American company to go about its business without the government undercutting the key promise it makes consumers — that their most private communications are kept safely under lock and key.
A federal judge’s order to help the FBI hack into the encrypted iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook, who in December, together with his wife, killed 14 of his co-workers at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California, has been rejected by Apple. The couple carried out the attack on behalf of ISIS, although there is no evidence they did so at the direction of the group. The US Justice Department has been on the offensive, criticizing Apple for refusing to help unlock a phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who died after the terror attack that killed 14 people in December.
The dispute between FBI and Apple has set the stage for what promises to be one of the great commercial battles of the next years, between the U.S. government and the tech companies that are the most important engine of the booming American economy. Big tech companies argue that if it is known Apple has given the U.S. government such an access, then consumers around the world will be leery of using Apple and Google and other U.S. technology products. Thus, it could result in many tens of billions of dollars being lost and, therefore the business is at stake.
The FBI has argued for years that it faces a “going dark” problem, that its investigations of everything from child pornographers to terrorists are hampered, or even completely undercut, by the fact that so much Internet communication is now encrypted to a level that the U.S. government can’t break. As a result, the FBI wants a “backdoor” into the encrypted communications platforms engineered by American tech companies.
Federal prosecutors in a motion las week have asked a judge to compel Apple to cooperate, saying CEO Tim Cook had made it clear the company wouldn’t willingly comply with an earlier order to help unlock the phone used by Farook. “Rather than assist the effort to fully investigate a deadly terrorist attack … Apple has responded by publicly repudiating that order,” prosecutors wrote in the filing in federal court in Riverside, Calif. Apple’s resistance is “based on its concern for its business model and public brand marketing strategy,” prosecutors wrote. Apple “is not above the law.”
The motion offers a sharply worded response to Cook’s public message earlier this week, where he refused to “hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers.” Cook said that providing prosecutors with software to unlock the terrorist’s iPhone would provide a “back door” to its devices. Prosecutors said Cook’s statements have been misleading and if the company complied, the government would still need a warrant to access a device and Apple would keep custody of the software.
Apple says, helping the FBI to decrypt Farook’s iPhone would give the government access to all other similar iPhones and would also lead to an unfortunate precedent in which the government could eventually access encrypted communications on any American tech platform. Google has publicly supported Apple’s position. The revelations by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden in 2013 about just how much U.S. tech companies had been playing footsie with the U.S. government had an effect on the firms’ bottom lines around the globe. A 2014 paper by the New America think tank estimatedthat the Snowden revelations cost U.S. tech companies billions of dollars.
Since Snowden went public, companies such as Apple and Google — two of the world’s most valuable companies — have incorporated much greater encryption into their products and have also been at pains to show that they will not go along with U.S. government demands to access their encrypted products.
According to reports, no evidence has emerged that Farook and his wife had any formal connection to a terrorist organization, and the plot involved only the couple and the alleged connivance of Marquez. What might be found on Farook’s iPhone therefore is more than likely simply only some additional details to buttress the overall account of what we know already. It’s unclear what help, if any, the contents of Farook’s phone might provide investigators. Nearly seven weeks of potential messages, texts, photos and data are missing — from Oct. 19, when Farook last uploaded his phone to iCloud, to Dec. 2, when he carried out a shooting rampage at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. No evidence has surfaced so far to indicate Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were in contact with terrorists, or had received outside support, before the attack.
On one side of the debate inside the US administration were White House advisors who favored using quiet pressure to persuade Cook and other tech executives to cooperate. That approach has borne fruit, they say. Over the last year, tech companies have shut down social media accounts used by Islamic State, handed over subpoenaed material that suspects had loaded on “cloud” servers, and given other crucial help. But members of President Obama’s national security team wanted more. Together with state and federal prosecutors around the country, they viewed tech companies as making money while protecting terrorists, kidnappers, pornographers and others who use encryption to hide illegal schemes.
“In the court of public opinion, a dead terrorist whose phone might have connections to more terrorists is pretty attractive from the standpoint of prosecution, but the legal question is not made easier because of that,” Ryan Calo, an assistant law professor at the University of Washington in Seattle and an expert on privacy law, has been quoted to have said. No court has ruled on whether a tech company could be forced to find a way around its own security features, Calo said.
Balanced against that is what the tech companies lose if they are seen to be doing the bidding of the FBI — tens of billions of dollars and also the strong possibility of losing market share to other non-American tech companies, particularly software and cloud computing firms, around the world.
Although the fight between American tech companies and the FBI hunting terrorists is undeniably important, to some degree it may also be increasingly moot. ISIS’ key social media-encrypted platform is Telegram, which is engineered by a Berlin-based tech company that can simply ignore the rulings of American federal judges as well as legislation passed by the U.S. Congress.
Apple and its supporters say the dispute isn’t over the unknown contents of one phone, but about the government trying to establish a precedent that it can force a company to hack its customers’ devices. That could open floodgates for requests from local, state and federal prosecutors, they warn, and cripple customers’ confidence in Apple products, especially in lucrative overseas markets where distrust of government surveillance is higher. Apple’s advocates fear that giving in to the FBI now ultimately would help criminal hackers and authoritarian governments, which might use the software to trace secret communications of political opponents and human rights activists.
Charlotte, SC: South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio in his bid to be the nominee of the Republican Party in the upcoming presidential elections. “If we elect Marco Rubio, every day will be a great day in America,” she said alongside the Florida senator during a rally in suburban Columbia.
Polls suggest Trump continues to hold a big lead in South Carolina and in upcoming states, as Cruz works to rally the Republican Party’s most conservative wing and Rubio tries to consolidate mainstream Republicans behind his candidacy. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich continue to battle for a spot at the table, while retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson struggles for relevancy.
A highly coveted endorsement from popular Nikki Haley — one Jeb Bush himself had described as “the most powerful, meaningful one in the state” earlier this week — has gone to Rubio. Haley’s endorsement was a major setback for Bush, who said her decision left him “disappointed.”
Nikki Haley, the popular Indian American governor, who is being speculated as a possible US vice presidential candidate, said she was tasked with identifying the best candidate as she surveyed the crowded GOP field.
In her endorsement, Haley said: “I wanted somebody that was going to go and show my parents that the best decision they ever made for their children was coming to America. We say that every day is a great day in South Carolina. Ladies and gentlemen, if we elect Marco Rubio, every day will be a great day in America!” Haley said.
“You know that I always say I am the proud daughter of Indian parents. That reminded us every day how blessed we were to live in this country,” she said in her brief remarks. Haley said she wants a president who is going to have the backs of military veterans and those in active duty.
“I want a president that knows that when we fight wars, we win wars. I want a president that understands we have to stop the federal mandates that have been pushed on the states like Obamacare and the EPA,” she said. In endorsing Rubio, Haley said: “I wanted somebody with fight, somebody with passion, somebody with conviction to do the right thing, but also somebody humble enough to remember you work for all the people.”
“But I want a president who understands that they have to go back to Washington, D.C., and bring a conscience back to our Republicans. Our Republicans need to remember what we are about, which is about balanced budgets, cutting debt, building reserves and making sure that they understand that this guy, he is all about term limits in D.C., and that is what we want to see in a president,” Haley said. “We were excited when we got the word that this was a real possibility,” Rubio said after securing Haley’s endorsement.
“For us and for me, I have said this before, and I would say, despite the endorsement, I would say this: She represents everything I want the Republican Party to be about — fiscal responsibility and a limited federal government. All the things that our government should be about and all the things our party should be about, she embodies,” Rubio said.
Haley is viewed as an asset in a Republican Party that has struggled to appeal to non-white voters. She made a high-profile speech at the National Press Club in September, and in January was picked by congressional leaders to give the Republican response to President Obama’s final State of the Union speech. Her decision to endorse Rubio follows her earlier criticism of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
“Every time someone criticizes him, he goes and makes a political attack back,” Haley said in September. “That is not who we are as Republicans. That’s not what we do. That not what I want my South Carolinians to do.” Haley has also urged her fellow Republicans to celebrate the contributions of legal immigrants, a pointed departure from Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. Haley said, electing Rubio would “show my parents the best decision they made for their children was coming to America.”
(Washington, DC: February 19, 2016) Kamala Harris, the first ever person of Indian Origin to win a state wide election in the state of California, and now considered a favorite to win the US Senate race in the same state, has doused speculation that she may be on President Obama’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees, saying during a campaign event at a San Jose union hall that while she is flattered to have her name mentioned, she has no interest in the job at this time.
Harris’ name as a possible Supreme Court nominee arose shortly after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday. Harris addressed the speculation almost immediately when she appeared before the union members, insisting she “was not putting my name out there.” It was her first public event since Scalia’s death.
While presenting the Attorney General’s annual California Data Breach Report at Stanford University, Harris said, “I’m not interested,” she politely told an inquiring television news reporter. As the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, Harris is an appealing prospect for those pushing for more diversity on the Supreme Court. But it would have been extremely difficult for a liberal politician from California to survive what is expected to be a bruising confirmation process in the Republican-led Senate.
Harris, 51, said her focus is on her current job and her campaign to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. “I’m not putting my name in for consideration. I do not wish to be considered. I am running for the United States Senate,” Harris emphatically told reporters after the union rally.
According to reports, Harris didn’t say who she wants the president to nominate, but suggested it should be someone with “practical life experience.” She also would favor a nominee who would protect abortion rights, and marriage equality for same-sex couples, she said.
“Maybe I’m biased, but I’d like to see someone who’s actually seen the impact of the court and the rulings of the court. Someone who’s thinking of it not just in a way that is theoretical, but … how these laws and these rulings affect real people,” she said.
Karris, a progressive, has always been in the forefront of Civil Rights, Equality and Openness. Harris used herself as an example, saying that she never would have been elected were it not for the not for the educational opportunities she received because of the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that found segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional. Harris said that ruling allowed her to be a member of the second class that integrated Berkeley public schools in the 1960s.
California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris
She criticized the current Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling that struck down a key part of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965, ending federal oversight of election laws in Southern states. Harris said the court “gutted it” and she vowed, if elected to the Senate, to work to reinstate those voter protections that civil rights advocates credit for with transforming the South by ensuring blacks could vote. The attorney general also criticized members of the Senate Republican leadership who vowed to block any Supreme Court nominee put forth by the Democratic president.
“I think the Republicans have been outrageous on this issue. Outrageous,” Harris said. “This president is going to be in office through January of next year. We, as Americans, deserve to have a fully-staffed United States Supreme Court. There are very important issues before the Supreme Court right now.”
California’s primary is set for June 7. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election. Leading in the polls and with two victories in statewide elections under her belt, Harris is the front-runner in the Senate race. Her top Democratic rival is Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Orange. Their Republican challengers include Tom Del Beccaro and George “Duf” Sundheim, both Bay Area attorneys who were former chairmen of the California Republican Party.
Former Obama White House advisor David Axelrod mentioned the possibility of a Harris nomination on a weekend news show, and Harris’ name has popped up on hypothetical lists from the New York Times, Associated Press, USA Today, the National Law Journal and the wonky but well-regarded SCOTUSblog.
“Kamala Harris would be an unusual choice — most recent appointments have been federal court of appeals judges — but a plausible one,” said Erwin Chemerinksy, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law. “However, there are so many plausible names. I doubt anyone has inside information so it is just all speculation.”
She is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., and earned her law degree at UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. Harris as a veteran prosecutor and astute, ambitious political leader. Harris also has been a strong Obama supporter since he was a U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois.
For more than a decade, she worked as a prosecutor in Alameda County and San Francisco, and tried cases involving charges of drunk driving, sex crimes, assault and homicide. Her transition to electoral politics began in 2003 during her successful campaign to unseat San Francisco Dist. Atty. Terence Hallinan. Harris was elected attorney general in 2010, narrowly beating L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, a Republican. She was reelected in 2014 by a wide margin.
Her parents divorced when Harris was a toddler and her late mother, who was a breast cancer researcher at UC Berkeley, raised Harris and her sister, Maya, to be proud African American women during a tumultuous time in the United States. Harris was a student in the second class to integrate Berkeley’s public schools in the late 1960s. Her sister has served as advisor to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Harris’ national profile got a boost when Obama gave her a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention in 2012. The headlines continued in 2013 when Obama apologized publicly for having described her as “the best-looking” attorney general in the country.
For all her demographic and political strengths, Harris does not come from the judicial realm. She has staked out liberal positions on issues that would raise the ire of Republican Senate leaders who already have warned Obama to leave the nomination to the next president.
Throughout her political career, Harris has articulated clear positions on many controversial, divisive issues that could come before the nation’s high court. Harris favors the protection of abortion rights, an end to the federal ban on medical marijuana and a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally. She backs major changes in the criminal justice system, in part to address racial disparities, including shorter sentences for low-level drug crimes and a shift in government funding from prisons to crime prevention.
As attorney general, Harris has taken actions conservatives would no doubt take issue with during a Senate confirmation hearing, should one ever occur: She refused to defend Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that outlawed same-sex marriage in California until the U.S. Supreme Court found it unconstitutional. Harris defended a state law that required members of public employee unions to help pay for collective bargaining. A case challenging those requirements — Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Assn. — is pending in the Supreme Court and could yield a 4-4 decision in Scalia’s absence. Harris, who has been supported politically by the California Teachers Assn., appealed a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge’s ruling in the case of Vergara vs. California, which threw out the state’s tenure process for grade school teachers. Harris criticized a federal appeals court for rejecting Obama’s executive actions on immigration, a case that is also pending before the Supreme Court.
Harris has brushed aside the speculation, although questions about the issue will follow her during her ongoing campaign for U.S. Senate ahead of California’s June 7 primary. “While the attorney general is honored to be mentioned in these conversations, she’s committed to her current job and continuing her fight for California families in the U.S. Senate,” campaign spokesman Nathan Click said Monday. Harris declared: “I am running for Senate.”
The Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans was once the largest of all the groups in the US Congress. However, recently, the numbers have been dwindling. Efforts by several Indian American community leaders have been on for months now. During a meeting organized by the representatives of several Indian-American organizations on February 5, 2016,
Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., a first-term Congresswoman from New York joined the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans.
Rice, who represents Long Island in New York pledged to help raise the dwindling number of lawmakers on the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans. The meeting hosted by the Indian American Voters Forum, was held at the Long Island, N.Y. at the home of Virander Bhalla, chairman of IAVF. It was meant to kick-start a renewed effort to increase the membership of the India Caucus. “While the Indo-U.S. relations have blossomed under President Obama, the India Caucus has a vital role to play in taking this relationship to the next level,” Rice is quoted saying in a press release.
Rep. Grace Meng, D- N.Y., who was present at the event also pledged to work towards enhancing the membership on the Caucus. “The U.S and India share and unbreakable bond and the work of the Caucus on India and Indian Americans continues to strengthen this special relationship, and highlight the important role that the Indian-American community plays in every sector of our society,” Meng was quoted to have said. “It is critical for the Caucus to continue this important work and as a member, I look forward to doing so,” she added. Both lawmakers were presented with plaques by India’s Consul General in New York Dnyaneshwar Mulay.
Bhalla said this was not the first time IAVF had furthered the goals of the caucus. “In 2009, Riti Bhalla, a television host and member of the Indian American Voters Forum successfully connected with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to get her to join the Senate India Caucus,” Bhalla recalled. Dr. Ajay Lodha, president-elect of AAPI, and Dr. Vaijinath Chakote, president of the Queens & Long Island chapter of AAPI, appealed to other community leaders to join IAVF’s initiative. Dozens of community leaders representing the Association of Indian Americans, the Nargis Dutt Foundation, the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, the Long Island Indian Association and the Rajasthan Association, attended the event.
Former Indian American Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is endorsing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for president. Rubio campaign adviser Todd Harris confirmed the endorsement Feb. 5. It was the second from a former GOP presidential candidate for Rubio last week.
Rubio is trying to seize on a better-than-expected third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses as he sprints across New Hampshire ahead of this week’s first-in-the-nation primary. Rubio was addressing an audience of more than 700 before the confirmation that Jindal had offered his support. Jindal was a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination from last June until November.
In other news from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, AP reports that when Jindal exited the governor’s office, he left behind a string of IOUs for his economic development deals, at least $155 million of which could come due during the next four years of Governor John Bel Edwards’ term.
The former governor made commitments for incentive payments and construction projects tied to various business deals, without providing money to cover those long-term costs. Instead, Edwards inherited a budget awash in gaps and depleted savings accounts — on top of the obligations to which his predecessor committed the state.
Governors regularly make commitments to companies beyond their terms, leaving their successors to pick up the remaining tab. But Jindal’s obligations come as Edwards, a Democrat who took office earlier this month, grapples with the state’s deepest financial crisis in nearly 30 years.
In the upcoming 2016-17 budget year, the Edwards administration will owe an estimated $50 million to companies from Jindal’s economic development deals, about $11 million from the state construction budget and another $39 million in direct cash from the general fund.
That doesn’t count spending from any tax break programs through which companies in Louisiana can lessen what they owe the state. “Obviously, there have been commitments made that take a huge chunk of general fund dollars to satisfy,” said Edwards’ chief financial adviser, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne. “We’re going to satisfy contractual obligations that we have to.”
Jindal invested a strong focus on drawing business to Louisiana, and he announced a string of projects over his eight years in office. The Republican counted among his biggest achievements $62 billion in economic development wins estimated to create tens of thousands of jobs.
Those deals are estimated to cost more than $344 million in incentive and construction payments for Jindal’s successors, with commitments that run until 2030, according to data provided to The Associated Press shortly before Jindal left office.
RALEIGH, N.C. – Indian-American candidate for North Carolina State Senate Jay Chaudhuri has been endorsed by the North Carolina AFL-CIO, the Teamsters, the Triangle Labor Council, the Raleigh Police Protective Association and the Raleigh Professional Fire Fighters Association. The groups emphasized Chaudhuri’s career devoted to fighting for North Carolina workers.
“Throughout his career with State Treasurer Janet Cowell and Attorney General Roy Cooper, Jay Chaudhuri has stood up for the issues that matter to our members,” said Triangle Labor Council President Michael Gravinese. “We endorse Jay because as State Senator, he’ll be a champion for workers and working families throughout the state.”
“I’m honored that these groups representing hard-working North Carolina union members, firefighters and police officers have chosen to support me,” said Chaudhuri. “We rely on these workers and public servants to do their jobs every day, and as State Senator, I’ll work hard to build a better economy for them and for everyone in the state.”
The Primary is slated for March 15th. If Chaudhuri wins the primary from the heavily Democratic District 16, he would be as good as elected before the November general elections, making him the first Indian-American state Senator in North Carolina.
He is fighting a tough battle against his rival Ellis Hankins who was the head of North Carolina League of Municipalities for 17 years. The District 16 seat opened up when incumbent Josh Stein declared his run for state Attorney General. To date Chaudhuri has raised almost $290,000 from 571 contributors. “This is a very competitive Democratic primary,” he acknowledged.
Chaudhuri said he hoped the latest endorsements would increase the grassroots machinery he has working on his campaign including some 40 volunteers who have helped make some 62,067 calls and door knocks to voters. Hankins said he had “lots of volunteers” engaged in putting up neighborhood signs, and preparing for monitoring early voting sights and carrying out polling etc.
District 16 includes parts of Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville and western Wake County. Morrisville has a rising number of Indian-Americans and Chaudhuri hopes they will come out to swell his numbers on primary day. Chaudhuri said the labor groups’ endorsement recognized his career fighting for working families. “I have a track record of getting things done including taking on multibillion dollar companies to protect children on the Internet, and helping recover more than $100 million from life insurance companies,” he said.
In addition to the AFL-CIO, Teamsters Local 391, the Triangle Labor Council, the Raleigh Police Protective Association and the Raleigh Professional Fire Fighters Association, Chaudhuri has been endorsed by nine current and past elected officials: State Treasurer Janet Cowell, Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane, State Representative Gale Adcock, Wake County Commissioner John Burns, Wake County Commissioner Sig Hutchinson, former Raleigh City Council Member Rodger Koopman, former Raleigh City Council Member Randy Stagner, Morrisville Town Council Member Steve Rao, and former Morrisville Mayor Margaret Broadwell.
Chaudhuri has a Masters in international affairs from Columbia University and a law degree from North Carolina Central University. He was a legislative aide to Democratic U.S. Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin. From 2001 to 2009, he was special counsel to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, where he is credited with developing major policy initiatives such as drafting the statewide strategy to combat methamphetamine; spearheading the AG’s Campus Safety Task Force after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2006; being involved in the national multi-state investigation of MySpace and Facebook, helping negotiate an agreement between 49 state attorneys general and MySpace to create a task-force on online safety tools.
From 2009 to mid-2015, Chaudhuri was general counsel and senior policy advisor to State Treasurer Janet Cowell, where he managed all corporate governance and legal matters for the department which handled the $90 billion pension fund among other things. “When I announced my candidacy in May, I laid out my plan to meet, listen to and discuss issues with voters across the district so we can work together to move North Carolina forward,” said Chaudhuri. “We now have a strong grassroots-oriented staff to help us do exactly that.”
With increased stereotyping and hatred towards Muslims around the world, President Obama advocated religious tolerance and unity. During his first ever visit to a mosque in the United States on February 3, President Barack Obama joined Muslim Americans from around the nation at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Maryland, and said: “We’re one American family. And when any part of our family starts to feel separate or second-class or targeted, it tears at the very fabric of our nation.”
Obama noted that violence against the Muslim American and Sikh American communities has surged in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks last November – in which extremists affiliated with the Islamic State killed 183 people – and the San Bernardino shootings in December, when a Muslim American couple killed 14 people at a rehabilitation center for handicapped people.
“I know that in Muslim communities across our country, this is a time of concern and, frankly, a time of some fear. Like all Americans, you’re worried about the threat of terrorism,” said the president, who removed his shoes before entering the mosque, in deference to Islamic custom. “But on top of that, as Muslim Americans, you also have another concern – that your entire community so often is targeted or blamed for the violent acts of the very few,” he said.
“I’ve had people write to me and say, ‘I feel like I’m a second-class citizen.’ I’ve had mothers write and say, ‘my heart cries every night,’ thinking about how her daughter might be treated at school. A girl from Ohio, 13 years old, told me, ‘I’m scared.’ A girl from Texas signed her letter ‘a confused 14-year-old trying to find her place in the world,’” said Obama.
“These are children just like mine. And the notion that they would be filled with doubt and questioning their places in this great country of ours at a time when they’ve got enough to worry about — it’s hard being a teenager already — that’s not who we are.”
Obama stated that hate crimes must be reported and punished. He encouraged the community to speak out against hateful rhetoric and violence against any faith, and to reject religious extremism.
The president rejected the notion that America is ‘at war with Islam’, stating: “We can’t be at war with any other religion, because the world’s religions are a part of the very fabric of the United States, our national character. And we can’t suggest that Islam itself is at the root of the problem. That betrays our values. It alienates Muslim Americans.”
Muhammed Ahmed Chaudhry, CEO of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, and a volunteer with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, joined Obama on his visit to the Baltimore mosque. Chaudhry is reported to have told the media that after the visit that he had been invited to the White House for dinner with the president last year and had encouraged him to visit a mosque.
Chaudhry said it was heartwarming to see the president remove his shoes before entering the mosque. “It showed respect and true leadership,” he said. The visit to the mosque was a great symbolic way for the president to highlight the Muslim American community’s positive contributions to the U.S.
According to reports, half of Americans say the next president should be careful not to criticize Islam as a whole when speaking about Islamic extremists, while four-in-ten want the next president to speak bluntly about Islamic extremists even if the statements are critical of Islam as a whole. A new Pew Research Center survey finds that blunt talk is preferred by two-thirds of Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican Party (65%), while seven-in-ten Democrats and independents who lean Democratic express the opposite view, saying the next president should speak carefully about Islamic extremism so as not to criticize Islam as a whole.
While many Americans are concerned about Islamic extremism, the new survey shows that most people think the problem with violence committed in the name of religion is people rather than with religion per se. Indeed, fully two-thirds of Americans say the bigger problem is that some violent people use religion to justify their actions (68%). Only about a fifth (22%) say the bigger problem is that the teachings of some religions promote violence.
Obama’s call for tolerance and unity have been criticized by some. Trump chided Obama for the mosque visit. “He can go to lots of places. I don’t know, maybe he feels comfortable there,” Trump told Fox News. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio also lashed out against Obama’s mosque visit, criticizing the president for “pitting people against each other.”
“He’s basically saying that America is discriminating against Muslims,” said Rubio during a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, acknowledging that there was discrimination, but radical Islam is a bigger threat.
In fact, Obama’s words, in fact, bore a close resemblance to President George W. Bush’s remarks after 9/11, when he called Islam a religion of peace and criticized discrimination and attacks against American Muslims. Why were those 2001 comments by a Republican president welcomed, while Obama’s very similar comments today were not? Part of it is surely partisanship. But Americans have also become less and less accepting of Islam. When PRRI asked the same question in 2011, for example, just 47 percent of Americans agreed that Islam was incompatible with American values, and 48 percent disagreed.
“Three weeks after 9/11, an ABC News poll found that Americans had a more favorable view of Islam than unfavorable, 47 percent to 39 percent,” notes Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution. “But a decade later, the picture changed dramatically. A poll I conducted in April 2011 showed that 61 percent of Americans expressed unfavorable views of Islam, while only 33 percent expressed favorable views.”
“The president’s first visit to an American mosque is a significant step in the right direction and will hopefully encourage our nation’s political and religious leaders to join him in pushing back against rising Islamophobia,” said Council on American Islamic Relations Maryland outreach manager Zainab Chaudry, who was invited to the president’s visit to the mosque.
“We welcome President Obama’s historic visit and applaud his remarks both rejecting anti-Muslim rhetoric and reminding our fellow Americans about Islam’s long history in our nation and about constitutional protections guaranteeing religious freedom,” said CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad.
The historic 45-minute speech at a large, suburban Baltimore mosque was attended by some of the country’s most prominent Muslims. In what appeared to be a counter to the rise in Islamophobia, Obama celebrated the long history of Muslim achievement in American life from sports to architecture and described Muslims as Cub Scouts, soldiers and parents, pointing out the mother of the pre-med college student who introduced him at the podium.
Obama’s visit is likely to be compared with a landmark speech to the Islamic world early in his presidency. At Cairo University, Obama in 2009 called for a “new beginning” between the Islamic world and the United States, noting shared interests on issues such as extremism but also acknowledging mistakes made over centuries by all societies in the name of culture and faith.
Congressman Ami Bera, D-California, the only Indian-American on Capitol Hill is facing an roadblock from within the Democratic Party with the local activists not giving the District 7 representative, the majority needed for an unqualified endorsement.
Bera’s votes on issues such as Syria refugees and trade are coming under intense examination as local Democrats debate withholding endorsement from him in his re-election race against Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, a Republican. This Jan. 31 shortfall in support came on the heels of a rejection from his hometown activists at the Elk Grove-South County Democratic Club, opposed him as a choice for the Democratic ticket.
The Congressman who represents District 7, met activists at a regional endorsement party in Sacramento Jan. 31, where he secured only 61 percent of the vote instead of the 70 percent which would have put him over the top for being the nominee. Thirty nine percent opposed him.
Bera is campaigning for his third term in Congress to represent CD-7, a district comprised of portions of Sacramento, Elk Grove and Folsom. His chief opponent is Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, a Republican.
The backlash against Bera has come primarily from labor groups, who oppose the congressman’s vote supporting the Trans Pacific Authority bill, which gives the president “fast-track” latitude to create trade treaties with other countries without Congressional oversight. A total of 160 Democrats in the House voted against TPA in June 2015. The measure passed 218 to 208.
Many members of the Sikh American community in Sacramento also opposed Bera during the 2014 election cycle for his failure to recognize the 1984 anti-Sikh riots – after Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination – as “genocide.”
Community activists have also opposed Bera for his vote supporting HR 4038, which would prevent any refugee from Syria or Iraq from entering the U.S. until the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence certify that they are not dangerous.
Alex Gilliland, Bera’s communications director in Washington, D.C., explained to India-West that if Bera had received 70 percent or more of the vote, he would have automatically received the endorsement. “While he did not get 70 percent of the vote, he got over 50 percent so he moves forward in the endorsement process and is confident he’ll get the party’s endorsement on Feb. 28,” she said. Gilliland also said that Bera has not yet announced his position on the Trans Pacific Partnership; he is waiting for a key report which will be released in May, she said.
“Congressman Bera voted to remove labels from foreign meat, to ban state protections on genetically-modified food, and to condemn President Obama,” said Amar Shergill, a local attorney and delegate, in a press statement. “It is a sad truth that when Congressman Bera is under pressure, he votes with Republicans to benefit multinational corporations at the expense of local families. “We are very concerned that he is under the influence of those that care more about overseas investments than American jobs,” added Shergill.
Robert Longer, a California Democrat and union political director, has been a supporter of U.S. Rep. Ami Bera since Bera’s first election campaign. He’s walked door-to-door with Bera to drum up votes, and he hosted a fundraiser for Bera at his Elk Grove home. But disillusion began to set in in June, when the second-term Democratic congressman broke with his party to vote for a trade bill fiercely opposed by labor unions.
“It kind of opened up the door to a lot of scrutiny and looking at his record, which maybe some folks didn’t really do before that,” said Longer, the legislative-political director for Communications Workers of America Local 9421. “Once folks did, myself included, we saw a lot of things that we didn’t like.”
Bera, whose last two term victories have been won on extremely slim margins in one of the costliest races in the country, is now looking to get his endorsement at the state Democratic Party Convention scheduled for Feb. 28. Since he was elected four years ago, Bera has been a target for Republicans trying to gain a seat in a district that is about evenly split between the two parties. Republicans are gleeful about this setback.
Dissatisfaction with Bera’s vote for the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade deal with Asian countries led by President Obama, has upset labor groups; and his stand on limiting refugees from Iraq and Syria has put him on the wrong side of many Democrats.
Bera will step up his efforts aiming to get the okay at the state party convention where regional clubs and other local groups are not invited and voting is conducted through delegates and proxies.
Responding to the loss of support from within Democratic ranks, Bera had said during a visit to India late December that “My job is to serve my district and to address the issues that matter to residents. Washington is broken and I firmly believe that we must work together, across the aisle, to get things done and I will continue to do that.” If he wins the nomination, Bera will be running against Republican Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones.
NASHUA, N.H. — The absence of a clear political triumph in Iowa put both Democratic candidates in unexpected positions coming into New Hampshire. Hillary Clinton is digging in for a tough fight against Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in next week’s primary in New Hampshire, according to her advisers. Clinton is trying to spark political momentum and fund-raising energy after only a razor-thin victory in the Iowa caucuses. Things have come a long for the former First Lady, who once was considered a sure winner, goes to New Hampshire trailing behind her rival by at least 20 points, and especially after a razor thin victory in Iowa.
The Clinton campaign had considered shifting its focus to Nevada and South Carolina, which hold nominating contests later in February. But Clinton, with the strong support of former President Bill Clinton, decided she would help herself more by closing the gap in New Hampshire, where polls show Sanders with a double-digit lead. The Clintons even hope she might pull off an upset win here, as she did in 2008, given their long history of campaigning in the state. “This is going to be a great week of campaigning,” Clinton said.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
For the Clintons, the New Hampshire primary holds an emotional attachment. It is the state that made Bill Clinton the “Comeback Kid” after he overcame scandal to place second here in 1992. Hillary Clinton said she “found my own voice” in New Hampshire in 2008 with a surprise victory here after finishing third in Iowa.
Some analysts say, the uncertain outcome in Iowa dealt a jolting psychological blow to the Clinton campaign, leaving volunteers, donors and aides confused throughout the night, and then crestfallen. Hillary Clinton urged the voters who gave her a surprise win in 2008 to get behind her again. “New Hampshire, come with me this week,” she told the crowd in Nashua just before The Associated Press called the Iowa race. A woman shouted, “We are!”
According to reports, Sanders and his team are said to be making plans to spend more than $1 million on television commercials in an attempt to solidify his advantage. He also drew about $3 million in donations in the 24 hours after his caucus speech Monday night, his campaign said; with $28 million on hand, compared with Mrs. Clinton’s $38 million, Sanders advisers expressed confidence that he would not stumble like other insurgent presidential candidates of the past.
Sanders had hoped to unnerve Clinton by eking out a win in Iowa, and instead found himself trying to spin gold out of his “virtual tie” with her in the caucuses. Yet he and his advisers welcomed the sudden prospect of increased competition from Clinton here because it played into the expectations game as the Sanders campaign would like to play it.
Bernie Sanders
The Clinton campaign has already sought to dismiss any potential victory by Sanders here as irrelevant, given the state’s history of rewarding candidates from New England. “I know I am in a contest with your neighbor,” Mrs. Clinton saidTuesday night in Hampton, N.H. “We are in his backyard.”
Sanders has vowed to campaign hard across New Hampshire and said that as in Iowa, his campaign would focus on getting supporters to the polls on election night. “Secretary Clinton won here in 2008,” he told a group of reporters in Keene after a rally. “Secretary Clinton has a very formidable political organization and, as you know, has virtually the entire political establishment on her side. So, you know, we are taking nothing for granted.”
The 2016 presidential nomination process officially got underway tonight, and Ted Cruz was the big winner. In first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa, Hawkeye State voters chose Cruz over the other leading GOP candidates, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio. Charles Krauthammer said that the Iowa caucus was a major inflection point on the Republican presidential campaign, as it punctured the aura of invincibility surrounding Donald Trump. “Had Trump won, it would have reinforced the sense of inevitability, the momentum he had,” Krauthammer explained. “This is the first time he’s encountered defeat.”
The days after the Iowa Caucus, where the front runner Trump lost to Ted Cruz and Rubio came a very close third, the Republican presidential contenders were attacking a young freshman Cuban-American senator who came away from the Iowa caucuses with a strong result that has given him momentum ahead of the New Hampshire primary on February 9. Yet they were not referring to Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, who cruised to victory on Monday, but Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, who came third.
Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – were at the No. 2 and 3 spots in the GOP nomination race nationally, albeit with a sizable gap behind the frontrunner Donald Trump. While Rubio poses a threat to Cruz and Trump, whom he almost beat in Iowa, he poses a bigger immediate obstacle to other right-of-centre establishment Republicans who are banking on a strong performance in New Hampshire to catapult their struggling campaigns into the top tier.
On the campaign stump, the 44-year old son of Cuban immigrants whose life epitomises the American dream sells himself as a “generational choice” who can beat either Hillary Clinton, 68, or Bernie Sanders, 74, in the general election.
Cruz and Rubio are Cuban Americans. Rubio’s grandfather remained in the U.S. despite a removal order and his parents arrived separately in the 1950s. Cruz’s father came to the U.S. and then moved to Canada, where Cruz was born; his mother was an American citizen. The attacks against Rubio has gtrown stronger ever since his surprise good performance in Iowa.
“This isn’t a student council election, everybody. This is an election for president of the United States. Let’s get the boy in the bubble out of the bubble,” snarked Chris Christie. He was referring to Rubio’s tendency to be rather scripted in his appearances — one New Hampshire reporter compared him to “a computer algorithm designed to cover talking points.”
Christie, pressing further — and when does Chris Christie not? — has also been saying that the speech Rubio sticks to is the same one he’s been giving since 2010. It’s true that there’s always the part about his parents, the striving Cuban immigrants. And you do get the feeling you’re supposed to vote for him because his dad and mom believed in the American dream.
As a young man, Rubio himself was not particularly hard working. In fact, in his memoir he admits he could be “insufferably demanding.” But he did sympathize with his parents’ struggles, and when his father, a bartender, went on strike in 1984, young Marco became “a committed union activist.”
According to reports, Rubio was a slow starter, education-wise, but he eventually graduated from law school, saddled with a load of student debt. This is, as he always points out, a familiar American story. The next part, where he instantly runs for office and acquires a billionaire benefactor who helps him out by underwriting low-stress jobs for Rubio and his wife, is slightly less average.
On the issues, Rubio says he has a new generation’s answers to the nation’s economic problems. The answers are mainly about reducing business taxes and regulations, but he says it in a much more youthful way. He’s anti-choice, even for victims of rape and incest. Lately, he’s taken to pointing to instances when he supported legislation that did include an exception. This is true. As long as a bill makes it harder for women to have access to abortion rights, he’s there.
He becomes one of the famous bipartisan “Gang of Eight” pushing for immigration reform. Rubio is a valuable partner for the Gang, and he makes them pay with repeated concessions, including a very strong provision for additional border security. Finally, the path-to-citizenship bill passes the Senate 68 to 32. “We are a compassionate people,” he says on the Senate floor.
In the competition with the other super-conservative Cuban-American contender, Ted Cruz, Rubio is regarded as more likable. This is not a heavy lift. He is also competing with Cruz for the affection of Christian conservatives, and while Rubio has always mentioned God in his political speeches, lately he’s been ramping things up. One of his ads in Iowa was about “the free gift of salvation offered to us by Jesus Christ.”
The immigrant presidential contenders are fighting to win the Hispanic voters in the nation, which is very crucial to win the general election. Their efforts to paint the other as not tough enough on immigration showed how far to the right the discussion on immigration has shifted, to a point that the Gang of Eight immigration reform plan Rubio once supported is completely off the table, said Stella Rouse, director of the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland. “That’s not even part of the Republican discussion of what can be accomplished,” Rouse said.
Cruz called the bipartisan Gang of Eight bill, passed by the Senate in 2013 and that included a series of steps over the years that led to applying for citizenship, a “massive amnesty plan.” “He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border. I was fighting to secure the border,” Cruz said.
Cruz’s campaign chairman told a group of GOP Hispanics that Cruz wants to be the champion of legal immigration. He also told them that Cruz supports “attrition through enforcement” for people not legally in the country, a phrase that the group interpreted as self deportation. “I have never supported legalization and I do not intend to support legalization,” Cruz said in the debate. Princeton University political scientist Ali Valenzuela said Rubio is in a better position than Cruz to take a moderate stance on immigration – as well as other issues – that might appeal to Latino voters in the general election. Rubio talked about immigration in a way that sounded “sincere” and “heartfelt” like he knew what he was talking about,” Valenzuela said.
“Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN,” Rubio said in the debate. “My family are immigrants. My wife’s family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good the bad and the ugly,” he said.
The Republican establishment is thrilled: A moderate-sounding Gen X senator from a swing state! And one so good at spin he managed to give a victory speech in Iowa after he came in third. No wonder all the other candidates are jealous.
Washington State Senator Pramila Jayapal has declared her intention to run for the U.S. Congress on January 21st. In her announcement, she declared that she wants to be the voice of masses left behind by the concentration of wealth in the hands of 1 percent.
Describing herself as a “bold, progressive fighter,” Jayapal announced she is running for the Democratic primary scheduled for March 26. She hopes to replace long time Congressman Jim McDermott who is vacating the District 7 seat that leans Democratic.
Jayapal faces off against at least two other Democratic aspirants who have declared so far: King County Council Chair Joe McDermott and State Rep. Brady Walkinshaw. The news outlet Seattlepi.com reported Walkinshaw already has some $300,000 in his campaign coffers and has bagged some key endorsements from leaders in the LGBT community and among environmentalists, as well as some long-time party activists.
Jayapal was elected to the state Senate in 2014, from the 37th Legislative District where she has lived for 20 years and which is one of the most racially and economically diverse districts in the state. But the U.S. Senate District 7 is an amalgam including some prosperous areas and Jayapal has her work cut out for her.
“I am a fighter not for the one percent, but for working men and women; not for austerity, but social security; not for deportations and breaking up families, but building stronger middle class families; not for prisons, but public education, college debt relief and criminal justice reform,” asserts Jayapal on her campaign website.
She is the second left-of-center politico thrown up by the Indian-American community in Washington state, the first being Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant, an avowed Socialist whom Jayapal has strongly supported in the past two years.
Jayapal notes in her speech that she stood up for Arabs, Muslims and Sikhs after 9/11 “when few people would.” She attacked Republican frontrunner in the presidential primaries, Donald Trump for “whipping up hate and fear across the country, resulting in a rise in anti-Muslim violence.” She called for protecting Planned Parenthood.
“I’ve been on picket lines and at negotiating tables with numerous labor unions for more than a decade. And I’ve helped bring movements together—labor and community, gay, women and immigrant,—so that we can expand ourselves and see our intersections,” said Jayapal.
Sounding very much like Sawant, Jayapal said, “I’m running for Congress because our system is rigged for corporations and the wealthy, but we can fight back.” Jayapal said. Her core issues are raising the minimum wage, expanding Social Security and Medicare, and ensuring debt-free college for young people across America. “I’m ready to take on the powerful, while organizing inside, outside and in-between the two,” she said.
Jayapal came to the U.S. at the age of 16, sent by her parents to study at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “My parents took all the money they had, which was about $5,000 at the time, and used it to send me here to this country because they believed that this was the place I would get the best education and have the brightest future,” she said. After graduating, she worked on Wall Street as a financial analyst, also getting an MBA from Northwestern University. After a few years she quit the private sector to work on social justice issues advocating for women and immigrants and civil and human rights.
She is credited with leading one of the largest voter registration efforts in Washington state, which is said to have got more than 23,000 new Americans to register. Jayapal pushed for setting up the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs in Seattle and was co-chair of the Seattle Police Chief Search panel.
She is the founder of OneAmerica, (previously called Hate Free Zone), Washington state’s largest immigrant advocacy organization, and lobbied hard for the passage of President Obama’s 2014 Dream Act that enabled children of illegal immigrants to find a path to legal status.
In May 2013, she was recognized by President Obama as a White House “Champion of Change.” She lives in Columbia City with her son and husband, and has another grown stepson who lives in Colorado.
In India, the Hindu nationalist government “generally failed to curb a rise in anti-Muslim violence and intimidation, at times appearing to encourage or take advantage of religious divisions for political gain,” the U.S.-based Freedom House said in its annual report.
Across South and Southeast Asia, religious extremism gave rise to increased tensions and violence last year, the Freedom House said in its annual report. Released on January 27, the report features Asia as a region where “religious nationalism [is] linked to political tensions” and highlights six countries — all in South and Southeast Asia.
“In a range of Asian countries, strained political institutions were paired with various forms of religious nationalism or extremism,” noted a statement accompanying the report. In Myanmar, anti-Muslim discrimination “remained a serious problem,” the report notes, adding that it is unclear whether the newly elected National League for Democracy government will be able to address the issue.
In Muslim-majority countries, meanwhile, secularists and other minorities bore the brunt of the oppression. The report highlights a series of attacks in Bangladesh on atheist bloggers, foreigners and Shiites carried out by Islamist radicals. In Malaysia, increased conservatism has led to the persecution of the LGBT community, and in Brunei “the government restricted minority religious displays and moved toward implementation of a harsh new criminal code based on sharia.”
Among the listed nations, only Sri Lanka is singled out as a country that has seen a de-escalation, with Buddhist nationalists losing influence following last year’s surprise change in leadership. The country in fact saw one of the largest gains on the report’s ratings, shooting up 14 points to 55 on an index ranking freedom from 0 to 100. The country also was bumped up from “not free” to “partly free” on the reports’ three-tiered ranking system.
Across Asia, just 41 percent of the countries surveyed fell into the “free” tier. “In many countries with authoritarian governments, the drop in revenues from falling commodity prices led dictators to redouble political repression at home and lash out at perceived foreign enemies,” said Arch Puddington, senior vice president for research, in a statement accompanying the report, which also highlighted Thailand as a nation where “the previous year’s dramatic setbacks for freedom … continued to fester.” The region also performed poorly in Transparency International’s annual Corruptions Perception Index, which was released Jan. 27.
On 168 countries surveyed, much of Asia received less than 50 on a 100-point scale of perceived corruption. Cambodia performed the worst in Southeast Asia, scoring just 21 points, followed by Myanmar at 22. Singapore and Hong Kong were the only Asian nations to receive scores higher than 70.
“Has Asia Pacific stalled in its efforts to fight corruption?” asked Srirak Plipat, regional director for Asia Pacific. “This year’s poor results demand that leaders revisit the genuineness of their efforts and propel the region forward with actionable measures.”
With the Republican Presidential Candidate leading the GOP polls across the nation, a group called “Indian-Americans for Trump 2016” registered with the Federal Election Commission as a political action committee, has been on January 21st. The group hopes to garner the support of Indian Americans to elect Donald Trump as the next president of the United States.
The group’s president, A.D. Amar, a business professor at Seton Hall University, told the media that discussions about the PAC first started in December. “I was surprised at the strength Trump had among the Indian professionals and Indian community,” he said. “I have never seen Indians so united behind a candidate.”
The group of Indian-Americans which believes New York billionaire Donald Trump is the answer to America’s perceived ills, both domestic and international, will work to muster funds and advocate for GOP support for the controversial Republican frontrunner to become the next President of the United States.
Among the numerous candidates in the field including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Senator Ted Cruz, cardiologist Ben Carson, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, this group of Indian-Americans believes Trump has his finger on the pulse of the American people and a proven record that makes him the best one to lead the country.
New York-based attorney Anand Ahuja will serve as vice president and Devendra “Dave” Makkar will be treasurer, according to a press release issued by the organization. New Jersey local news publisher Sudhir Parikh will be chair of the fundraising and advisory committee.
In the press release, the PAC said, “The officers of the Indian-Americans for Trump 2016 urge all Americans to join in the effort and support Donald Trump in his endeavor to make America great again by electing him the next President of the USA.”
Amar cited Trump’s stances on illegal immigration and the economy as key factors for the group’s support of him. He also said that the group’s members were drawn to the fact that Trump has said he will not be taking money from PACs or special-interest groups. “Trump is going to keep the lobbies out, and he is going to focus on the general population,” Amar said.
Trump has proclaimed he does not take money from PACs. Amar said the new PAC was established to raise funds to carry out a grassroots campaign. “We will be building chapters around the country starting with Washington, D.C., California, and New York City, to get support from Americans, particularly Indian-Americans.”
What attracts Amar and the other founders of the PAC to Trump is his policies and pronouncements on illegal immigration and the economy. “In my 44 years in America, amnesty has been given to illegals two or three times, and yet the number is growing,” Amar said. “Trump is right when he says ‘You go back, apply, and we will process you” and that is the right way.”
Amar believes the perceived difference between Trump’s style and his management will translate to a change after the election. “Our election process is kind of a revolution,” Amar said. “In a revolution, these kind of statements are not unexpected. In my observation, he is going to be a different person once he’s nominated.”
Washington, DC; January 24, 2016: With less than year of his presidency left, no one yet knows where the Obamas will head on January 20, 2017, when the next president is sworn in on Capitol Hill. The recent debate over where President Barack Obama will establish a library to house his official papers — a debate now settled in favor of Chicago — serves as a reminder that we’ll soon see the end of the administration and the launch of an Obama post-presidency.
The Obamas are attached to Chicago — the president launched his political career there as a community organizer and celebrated his landmark 2008 election win. Obama’s presidential library and foundation will also be based in the Windy City.
“All the strands of my life came together and I really became a man when I moved to Chicago,” Obama said last year when he made the announcement about the library site. “That’s where I met my wife. That’s where my children were born,” he explained. But so far, there is no clear sign that Chicago is the family’s next destination. “Chicago probably seems a bit too small for them now,” said Peter Slevin, a professor at Northwestern University in the Chicago suburbs and the author of “Michelle Obama: A Life.”
So what will life be like for Barack Obama after two terms at the White House? To judge by recent comments, Obama as an ex-president will end up reverting to his most successful political persona: an inspirational figure helping to guide America forward on painful, thorny issues of race and social justice.
Every time someone close to them shows interest in a lavish property in Palm Springs or Honolulu, the press speculates about a veiled investment for the First Couple. But so far, no dice. Nothing concrete has emerged.
The only hint given by the US president? He has said that family will be his priority. “They — and Michelle — have made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my cockamamie ideas, the running for office and things,” Obama told ABC in 2013, referring to his daughters.
In early 2017, Malia — the Obamas’ older daughter — will be at university. Sasha, now at the private Sidwell Friends school in Washington, will have more than half of her high school studies ahead of her.
Slevin says that like Clinton, Obama could settle down in the New York. “Their friends are expecting the Obamas to live in Washington and then surely move to New York,” he told AFP.
“New York has much to offer them at a time when they would like to be a bit more anonymous than it is possible to be in Chicago.”
Michelle Obama, a trained lawyer, has repeatedly rejected the idea that she would enter politics as Clinton did following her eight years as first lady. “There are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes and Michelle is not running for president,” Barack Obama said a few weeks ago.
Obama, who enjoys writing, is expected to focus on the traditional — and lucrative — art of writing his autobiography in his post-presidency. “Memoirs have always been an acceptable means of making money and cashing in on the presidency,” says historian Mark Updegrove, who is the director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas.
Well-paid speaking engagements — at home and abroad — should pour in. “The question is how much you want to commercialize having been the commander-in-chief,” adds Updegrove, the author of “Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House.”
Obama has said he hopes to work with minority youths in tough neighborhoods — where the dropout rate, unemployment and incarceration rates are higher than elsewhere — to give real meaning to the phrase “equal opportunity.”
While some former presidents of the White House have faded into the background, others have made a significant mark during their so-called second act. John Quincy Adams, who left office in 1829 after failing to win re-election, returned to Congress where he stayed until the end of his life, using his gift for soaring oratory to make the case against slavery.
William Howard Taft, who was president from 1909-1913, then became the chief justice of the US Supreme Court. Could Obama — a former president of the Harvard Law Review who will be 55 years old as he starts his post-White House life — be tempted by the high court?
“I think being a justice is a little bit too monastic for me,” he told The New Yorker in October 2014. “Particularly after having spent six years and what will be eight years in this bubble, I think I need to get outside a little bit more.”
The example of the two Democratic presidents before him — Carter and Clinton, who both launched foundations that are respected beyond America’s borders — could serve as a guide for Obama. Persistent rumors also suggest he could be interested in teaching courses at Columbia University in New York, where he studied in the early 1980s. “I love teaching. I miss the classroom and engaging with students,” he told The New Yorker.
Obama delivered one of the most important speeches of his career, a vintage performance that included emotional references to the President’s personal experiences and an explicit promise to keep working on the initiative after he leaves the White House in 2017.
“I grew up without a dad. I grew up lost sometimes and adrift, not having a sense of a clear path. And the only difference between me and a lot of other young men in this neighborhood and all across the country is that I grew up in an environment that was a little more forgiving,” Obama said. “This will remain a mission for me and for Michelle not just for the rest of my presidency, but for the rest of my life.”
Two protesters were removed Sunday, January 24th from a Donald Trump rally after holding up a banner that read “Stop Hate.” One of the protesters — Arish Singh, a Sikh-American man — responded to the incident on Sunday, tweeting, “I am not a Muslim. But you don’t have to be a Muslim to stand against anti-Muslim bigotry.” Singh and another man were escorted out of the rally in Muscatine, Iowa, as members of the audience chanted, “USA!”
The turbaned Sikh man was ousted out of Donald Trump’s campaign rally in US, after he interrupted the Republican presidential frontrunner’s speech by displaying a banner that read ‘Stop Hate’, the media reported.
The man, wearing a beard and bright red turban, tried to interrupt Trump’s speech when he was addressing a rally on Sunday in Muscatine High School, Iowa, a mid-western state of the US. The incident began as Trump was raging against “radical Islamic terror”, about the 9/11 terror attacks, and the San Bernardino shooting, a common theme in his speeches.
The Sikh protestor stood up and revealed a banner reading “Stop Hate”. Security officials soon escorted him out of the rally amidst chanting of “USA, USA, USA” by Trump’s supporters, reported abcnews.
“We have radical Islamic terror going on all over the place, all over the world, and we have a president that won’t say it,” Trump was quoted as saying at the rally. As the Sikh raised his banner, Trump waved his hand and said, “Bye. Bye. Goodbye.”
“He wasn’t wearing one of those hats, was he? And he never will, and that’s OK because we got to do something folks because it’s not working,” said Trump, pointing to the crowd and referring to the protestor.
In the last few months, before Trump takes the stage an announcement is read telling Trump’s supporters to “not harm a protestor” but instead to chant “Trump, Trump, Trump,” as an alert to security that a protestor has been spotted. The crowd roared Sunday after the protestor was escorted out and shouted “USA, USA, USA”.
Trump is campaigning in Iowa ahead of the next week’s crucial caucus. Latest polls showed that he has taken a lead over his nearest Republican rival Ted Cruz. Iowa Caucus on February 1 is considered crucial as it would set the trend for the rest of the presidential primaries over the next few months.
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton Jan. 7 courted Indian Americans and the larger group of Asian-American voters, telling members of the nation’s fastest growing racial minority that she disagrees with the “hateful rhetoric” of her Republican challengers.
“They forget a fundamental lesson about our great country,” she told several hundred people gathered in a hotel ballroom in suburban Los Angeles. “Being an open and tolerant society does not make us vulnerable. It’s at the core of our strength.”
Clinton’s campaign stop in the San Gabriel Valley, an enclave home to more than a half million Asian-Americans, marked the launch of her grassroots outreach to the growing pool of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, called “AAPI for Hillary.” Those voters have trended Democratic in recent presidential elections, though they are still considered up for political grabs. Their influence is considered critical in some swing states. California is not one of those, having voted for a Democrat for president every election since 1992.
Republicans suggested Clinton’s visit is more about raising campaign cash. “The reality is Democrats have long taken the AAPI community for granted, and Hillary Clinton will be no different,” said Ninio Fetalvo, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
Clinton made her appeal to Asian-American and Pacific Islander voters in a Southern California region where a number of cities are now majority Asian-American and store signs in Mandarin and Cantonese line the streets.
“Their party identity is not cast in stone,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, an Indian American professor of public policy and political science at the University of California, Riverside. “There’s still potential for persuasion there.”
In a half-hour speech, Clinton told constituents she would be the one to fix the nation’s broken immigration system, improve access to higher education, and increase wages — all issues considered top priorities for the Asian American electorate. She vowed to reduce the visa backlog and help unauthorized immigrants with deep community ties that “deserve the chance to stay.”
“Ultimately this is more than an economic or political issue,” she said. “It’s a family issue.”
Nearly 4 million Asians voted in the 2012 presidential election, a 547,000 increase over 2008. According to exit polls, nearly three-quarters of Asian-American voters favored President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. They comprised about 3 percent of the total electorate.
The Asian-American community has been the subject of relatively little discussion in the Democratic and Republican primaries.
PTI adds: The group, called “AAPI Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) for Hillary,” was launched in Southern California in the presence of a large number of Asian American leaders, including Indian Americans.
At the launch, Clinton pledged to address the concerns of the community, including those related to immigration and visas.
In her speech, Clinton pledged to work to reduce the backlog for family visas to reunite immigrant families.
“Applicants from the Asia-Pacific region make up about 40 percent of the family visa backlog. Some from the Philippines have been waiting for a visa for 23 years. If you’re a U.S. citizen and your brother lives in India, it will take at least 12 years just to get him a visa,” the former secretary of state said.
“We have got to do more to help the millions of people who are eligible for citizenship take that last step. I will work to expand fee waivers so more people can get a break on the costs. I will increase access to language programs to help people boost their English proficiency.
“I don’t want anyone who could be a citizen now to miss out on that opportunity,” she said.She also explained the reasons for her early outreach to the community.
“That is essential because right now, it’s one of the fastest-growing communities in this country, but it’s a community that votes at a lower rate than others,” Clinton said.
America’s ties to the Asia-Pacific region have always been important, but in the 21st century they will be absolutely vital, she said.
“I was very proud when my husband’s administration launched the first-ever White House initiative on Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders,” she added.
The United States, she said, is a country built by the hard work of generations of immigrants and America is stronger because of its diversity and openness.
She also identified Donald Trump – the Republican presidential front runner – in her speech.
“I disagree with the Republican front-runner, Mr. Trump. See, I think America is great because generations of hardworking Americans have made us great. Our values and our ideals have made us great,” Clinton said.
“The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It’s not even close,” President Obama said last on January 12, 2016, while delivering his eighth and final State of the Union address to the nation on Tuesday night. The address was both a victory lap, celebrating the accomplishments of the last seven years, and a condemnation of what President Obama perceives to be alarmist rhetoric being used on the campaign trail over the last several months. He said those who argue the economy is crumbling and foreign enemies are gaining ground are “peddling fiction” and full of “hot air.”
There were plenty of policy proposals for the coming year to deal with issues like education, medicine, immigration, gun violence, gender equality, and the minimum wage. But delineating those proposals was not the point of the President’s.
He recognized “four big questions” regarding the economy, technology, security and democracy that the United States still faces and urged Americans to continue to address these concerns after his presidential term ends. Still, the president expressed confidence in his achievements and asserted that “the state of our union is strong.”
Obama strongly, although implicitly, condemned the campaign rhetoric of Republican presidential candidates, including Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. However, he also vowed to work to mitigate the political divisiveness of today’s culture. “It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. There’s no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office,” said the president.
After explaining his vision of the future—one that is inclusive of all races and religions and free of vitriolic politics—President Obama laid out a list of everyday Americans who he says convince him that such a future is possible, from soldiers to students to young immigrants.
“That’s the America I know. That’s the country we love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Optimistic that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word,” he said. “That’s what makes me so hopeful about our future. Because of you. I believe in you. That’s why I stand here confident that the State of our Union is strong.”
But there were lows, too. The most negative point occurred when President Obama conceded that al Qaeda and ISIL do pose “a direct threat” to US citizens. “[I]n today’s world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage,” he said. “They use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals inside our country; they undermine our allies.”
President’s address has drawn criticism from some. David French at the National Review argues that Obama’s reminders of the strength of the United States “inadvertently highlights one of his greatest failures.” He acknowledges that Obama’s statements that the U.S. has “the world’s strongest economy and the world’s strongest military” are true but explains that Obama is not the reason for these strengths. French says that Obama’s policies have actually led to increased threats from the Islamic State group, Libya and Iran.
President Obama emphasized the importance of unions in building a strong economy. “Middle-class families,” he declared, “are not going to feel more secure because we allowed attacks on collective bargaining to go unanswered.” Tuesday night’s address may not have been President Obama’s most hopeful, but it may be the most representative of his presidency—a presidency of peaks and valleys in which every success has been preceded and followed by a hard fought struggle. President Obama ended his speech by stating, “I stand here, as confident as I have ever been, that the state of our Union is strong.”
Raja Krishnamurthi’s Congressional bid appears to have gained momentum with the Indian American candidate for a seat from the state of Illinois after he has bagged endorsements from top U.S. lawmakers including the influential Nancy Pelosi. Krishanmoorthi, 42, is seeking to enter the House of Representatives from the eighth Congressional District of Illinois and has been endorsed by 16 members of Congress, including Pelosi and Congressman Jan Schakowsky. His immediate challenge is to get through the March 15 primary contest before the general election.
“Raja will bring to Congress a tireless work ethic and deep experience in the public and private sectors,” Pelosi, who is leader of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives, said. “These qualities will enable him to pursue our common goal of fighting for progressive causes and strengthening and growing our middle class,” she said in a recent statement. “I strongly endorse Raja Krishnamoorthi because he is a true progressive and the best candidate to represent the working families in Chicago’s Northwest suburbs,” Pelosi had said.
Attorney and entrepreneur, Raja has also been endorsed by David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Obama. In total, his campaign is supported by over 100 local and national leaders and organisations. Krishnamoorthi previously was the policy director and a senior advisor for Barack Obama’s 2004 US Senate campaign, and also served as an advisor to Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign.
He served as Deputy Treasurer of Illinois from 2007-2009 under Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, and in 2010 ran for the Democratic nomination for Illinois State Comptroller, losing to David E Miller by less than one per cent of the vote. Born in New Delhi on July 19, 1973, his parents immigrated to Buffalo, New York when he was three months old.
Krishnamurthi currently serves as president of Sivananthan Labs and Episolar, Inc, small businesses that develop and sell products in the national security and renewable energy industries. He is a co-founder of InSPIRE, a non-profit organisation that provides training to Illinois students and veterans in solar technology, and was formerly Vice-Chairman of the Illinois Innovation Council, which promotes innovative technologies that support economic growth and job creation.
Early this month, Krishnamoorthi earned endorsement of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) International. The 8th District covers the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, and its eastern boundary includes portions of O’Hare airport.
It’s not often you get to mention the Democratic and Republican front-runners for the 2016 presidential nominations, the sitting U.S. president, and the leader of the Catholic Church in the same sentence in a news article. Monday is an exception.
According to a new poll from Gallup, Americans have named Hillary Clinton, the presumptive 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, and President Barack Obama as their most admired woman and man in the world in 2015; Clinton polled at 13 percent, with Obama at 17 percent. What comes next, in terms of men, might come as a shock to some: Pope Francis and Donald Trump are tied for second at 5 percent.
This is the 20th time Clinton has finished first in the rankings, while Obama has received the honor for the eighth time.
The contrast between the Holy Father and the billionaire businessman couldn’t be more clear. Francis traveled the world in 2015, including a well-received visit to the United States, preaching a message of charity for the poor, peaceful coexistence with Muslims, and welcoming desperate refugees from places like Syria. Trump, on the other hand, rose to the forefront of American politics by calling some Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers while advocating for the closure of some mosques and for forbidding Muslims from entering the United States. It’s not clear how much the two men agree on social issues: Francis vocally opposes gay marriage and abortion, while Trump’s beliefs are difficult to discern.
In the women’s category, Clinton was followed by 2014 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai, with 5 percent. The women’s rights advocate was followed by Oprah Winfrey and first lady Michelle Obama, tied with 4 percent.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has been chosen by Republican leaders in Congress to give her party’s response to President Obama’s final State of the Union address, which he’s delivering to Congress on Tuesday, January 12th, 2016.
The prestigious invitation was the natural next step for a governor who earned national attention and applause for her handling of the aftermath of a mass shooting in her state this summer. For that, Haley topped the list for one of the most notable governors in 2015:
After an avowed white supremacist shot and killed nine black parishioners in a Charleston church this June, Haley handled her role as the state’s griever-in-chief with grace, choking up in an emotional speech soon after, and a few months later delivering a speech in Washington calling on the GOP to be more tolerant toward minorities.
But it was the way Haley forcefully put herself at the front of the charge to end displays of the Confederate flag on public property that won her the most praise. As presidential candidates appeared to hem and haw, Haley called for the state legislature to remove the flag from statehouse grounds — something it did shortly after. “I knew that it was giving a lot of people a pass to do what was right,” she told The Washington Post’s Abby Phillip.
Tuesday’s address is also a natural platform for Haley to try out for a job some in her party have considered her for: The GOP vice presidential nominee. For a few minutes Tuesday, she’ll be a voice for her party in a speech that is likely to have major electoral overtones. She’ll be drawing contrasts between Obama’s — and by extension, likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s — vision for America and the Republican vision, while attempting to make the case to the nation that Republicans should lead it instead.
This moment was a long time coming. Whispers of Haley’s national potential began the moment in 2010 that she came from relative obscurity to win a crowded primary — as an Indian American female state legislator who defeated three more-established white male politicians — and eventually become South Carolina’s first female and first minority governor.
Haley’s background already looked like a no-brainer to be a vice presidential short-lister for a party that badly wants to make inroads with women, minorities and younger voters: She is the daughter of Indian immigrants, and at age 43, she is the youngest current governor in the U.S., despite being in her second term.
Haley has got to tap into whatever poise and courage she summoned during the post-Charleston Confederate flag debate to help make Tuesday’s speech go smoothly. The eyes of the nation will once again be on her. And if she does well, they may be for the rest of the year.
A little more than two years after being nominated by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to become the next prosecutor of Bergen County, Indian American Gurbir Singh Grewal is scheduled to be appointed the acting prosecutor Jan. 4.
Grewal, who was nominated by Christie in September 2013, will take over for the departing John Molinelli who concluded his 14-year tenure Dec. 31, according to a NorthJersey.com report.
A resident of Glen Rock, N.J., Grewal will become the first Sikh American to serve as a county prosecutor, leaders of the Sikh community told NorthJersey.com.
The 42-year-old Grewal joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2010 and serves as the chief of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark. He had previously represented the government in a case in which the president of a New Jersey-based textile company was sentenced to a three-year prison term for defrauding investors of millions.
“He’s an extraordinary talent,” state Sen. Kevin O’Toole, whose district includes Bergen County, told NorthJersey.com. “He’s very thorough and very fair. He doesn’t have a political bone in his body.”
Prior to taking the office in Bergen County, acting Attorney General John Hoffman swore Grewal in as an assistant attorney general, senators told NorthJersey.com.
The New Jersey senators were somewhat concerned that Hoffman is an acting attorney general and now Grewal will be an acting prosecutor.
“We went through two years of no nomination and now at the very end of this session we get an acting prosecutor,” state Sen. Loretta Weinberg told NorthJersey.com. “We did not have the benefit of a gubernatorial nomination and a full hearing on a county prosecutor nor have we ever had the benefit of a full hearing for the attorney general who is appointing the acting prosecutor.”
No explanation was given as to why Molinelli was not reappointed for the position.
Going forward, Christie will have to re-nominate Grewal in the new legislative session, then Grewal must be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
At the time of his nomination, Christie in a statement said Grewal “has the right credentials and background to be the chief law enforcement officer for Bergen County. He also brings diversity to a highly diverse county.”
Grewal, who speaks Punjabi and Hindi, comes from one of the fastest growing segments of New Jersey’s population. The number of Indian Americans in the state increased 73 percent during the 2000s. In Bergen, that number grew by 40 percent to 24,973 by 2010 or 2.8 percent of Bergen County’s overall population.
Grewal is a graduate of Georgetown University and received a law degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at The College of William & Mary. The Indian American is past president of the South Asian Bar Association of New York and is a member of the New Jersey Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been voted as the seventh most popular leader in the world in a new poll topped by US President Barack Obama. Modi evoked a favorable view from 24 per cent of people polled throughout 65 countries around the world as opposed to 20 per cent unfavorable, giving him a score of +4 per cent in the WIN/Gallup survey for ORB International’s ‘International World Leader Index’.
Modi was however beaten by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was named the sixth most popular leader but had a higher unfavourable score than the Indian leader – 30 per cent. Obama grabbed the topmost spot with a score of +30 per cent with a whopping 59 per cent in his favour and 29 per cent unfavourable. “President Obama is significantly more admired around the world than anyone else,” the survey said. Obama is followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (+13 per cent) with British Prime Minister David Cameron completing the top three with a score of +10 per cent. Cameron scored a 37 per cent favourable rating while another 28 per cent viewed him unfavourably. People in South Asia were the most friendly to the British leader, with 53 per cent saying they viewed him favourably and just 12 per cent saying they viewed him unfavourably.
He was also popular in the rest of Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, where 44 per cent of people viewed Cameron favourably. The other leaders that made it to the top 10 include French President Francois Hollande (4th), Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (5th), Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (8th), Saudi Arabia King Salman.
The Maharashtra Congress today said the United Nations’ multi-dimensional poverty index developed in 2013 showed that 41% of people in Gujarat were poor. “Out of 41% of the poor, 18.5% live in severe poverty. How can a state where every fifth person lives in abject poverty and 41% in poverty claim to be a model for anyone,” Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Sachin Sawant said at a press conference. He said the study showed that besides 41% poor, another 17% are vulnerable to poverty in Gujarat.
The state is ranked 12th in terms of development needs and falls in the “less developed” category. It is not the most developed state in the country, but on the contrary, it is the 12th most developed state, according to the RBI, he said.
Similarly, a state that boasts of agriculture growth, has 25 per cent of its population suffering from hunger and its condition is even worse that Odisha, he said. Gujarat is ranked 13th (24.69% of its population facing hunger) out of 17 states, in terms of states with the highest percentage of population affected by hunger, while the national average of such population is 23.31%, he said.
Hitting out at BJP national treasurer Piyush Goyal, who yesterday said that Gujarat had not seen farmers’ suicides, Sawant, quoting documents submitted by the Gujarat government in the legislative assembly, said from 2008 to 2013, 122 farmers committed suicide due to inability to repay their loans, crop losses and other reasons.
Sawant said the national growth rate had reached 9.3% during the UPA regime and all states, including Gujarat, had benefited. “By speaking about Gujarat and criticising other states, Modi insults people of those states,” he said, adding that the MPCC would bring out a book highlighting Narendra Modi’s “lies”. “BJP should be called Bahut Jhooti Party,” he said.
ndian Americans Steve Rao and Satish Garimella were officially sworn in to the Morrisville, N.C., City Council earlier in December with the former also being elected as mayor pro tempore. Rao, who is perhaps the first Indian American elected to office in North Carolina’s Triangle region, had been considering a move to run for lieutenant governor, but decided to remain on for the duration of his council term that ends in 2017.
With a 4-to-3 private vote in favor of Rao, the City Council elected the Indian American sales executive to serve in Mayor Mark Stohlman’s stead should he be out of town or incapacitated. Later, in a public vote, the council confirmed Rao to the seat by 6-1. “I assure the council I will give it my all every day,” Rao said at the meeting, thanking Stohlman and the entire council for the appointment. Rao continued by praising the council for its work in getting many projects done.
Michael Schlink, who was also sworn in with Liz Johnson, spoke highly of Rao, who has never missed a council meeting in his time in office. “I think you’ve continued to bring officials and business leaders to the table to help residents in Morrisville,” he said at the meeting.
A sales executive for tech company Alphanumeric Systems, Rao has also helped found a number of India-focused groups including TiE and the N.C. Indian Political Action Committee, and is also a founding member of the Morrisville Innovation Foundation and the HOTTovation program to help entrepreneurs launch their business ideas.
A graduate of Emory University, earning his B.A. in political science and his J.D. from the West Virginia University College of Law, Rao was elected to office in 2011 and re-elected in 2013.
After edging out Vicki Scroggins-Johnson for the mayor pro tem seat, Rao still said he will need her help on the council. Garimella takes over for Kris Gardner, who did not run for re-election in November after claiming the then-empty seat a year ago.
The Indian American was sworn in by Stohlman on the Bhagavad Gita in lieu of the Bible, and was accompanied by his wife, son, parents and founder of the local Hindu Society of North Carolina Gangadhar Sharma.
“This is really a humbling experience for me, honestly,” said the Mumbai-born Garimella at the Dec. 8 council meeting. “I promise that I will give this honor my very best.” Gardner, who was praised for his work during his time as councilman, wished Garimella well as the Indian American takes over his seat. Garimella, who is a principal technical architect at AT&T, earned his bachelor’s degree in electronics from the University of Mumbai and his M.S. in computer science from the University of Tulsa.
Harish I. Patel, a Democratic Party candidate for State Representative in Illinois’ 40th Legislative District, discussed his progressive policy agenda for the communities of Avondale, Logan Square, Albany Park and Irving Park on December 16, 2015 with a room full of local Muslim community leaders.
Patel, who immigrated to Chicago from India when he was just 14 years old and says he is running to bring independent Democratic leadership to the communities of the 40th District, said too many elected officials, including his opponent, who are supposed to stand up against privatization and budget cuts, are often only interested in getting along with the power brokers. The incumbent state representative in his district cannot effectively represent his constituents, because his only priority is to represent his funders, Patel said.
“We need to stand up strongly against the right-wing, destructive agenda of Governor Rauner, which prioritizes corporate interests and resorts to corrupt politics. These anti-people practices have been hurting all of us adversely for a long time,” said Patel.
Patel said he is running this year because he cannot sit back and watch every organization he has worked with to bring resources and support to immigrant communities and young people be devastated by Gov. Rauner’s shortsighted cuts, while the current State Representative fails to effectively fight back. He added that people are in desperate need of real independent and progressive leadership to effectively address their concerns and to move the State of Illinois forward.
“It is another way to infuse new energy and new ideas into the conversation about the future of our State. It is an opportunity to expand the electorate so more voices like mine and yours are heard.”
As a State Representative, Patel insists he will put the needs and concerns of the diverse communities that make up the 40th District first and bring an independent voice to Springfield. He will rally for a fair income tax, in which wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes, fight back against devastating cuts to social services, support an equitable funding model for public schools, support democratically-elected school boards, and champion fully funding pensions for public employees.
Patel has a strong track record of working on progressive issues as a part of numerous eminent organizations across Chicago, including Southwest Youth Collaborative, Chicago Votes, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, and more. “This rich exposure to public life has prepared me to go to Springfield to bring people together, despite the gridlock, and to work for real solutions for the people of Illinois.”
Local leaders in attendance included Mehrdad Azemun, Seemi Choudry, Aiman Beg, Moin Haque, Asad Jafri, Sana Jafri, Hina Mahmood, Malik Mujahid, Sadiq Patel, Arif Patel, Abdelnasser Rashid, Rafiq Talaty, Sophia Zaman, and Ashfaq Syed. Check out www.harishipatel.com/vote to learn more about his campaign and to register to vote.
The United States remains the world’s preeminent exporter of arms, with more than 50 percent of the global weaponry market controlled by the United States as of 2014. Arms sales by the U.S. jumped 35 percent, or nearly $10 billion, to $36.2 billion in 2014, according to the Congressional Research Service report, which analyzed the global arms market between 2007 and 2014.
Trailing the U.S. in weapons receipts is Russia, with $10.2 billion in sales in 2014, followed by Sweden with $5.5 billion, France with $4.4 billion and China with $2.2 billion, reports The New York Times.
The top weapons buyer in 2014 was South Korea, a key American ally, which has been squaring off with an increasingly belligerent North Korea in recent years. Iraq was the second biggest weapons buyer, as the country seeks to build up its military capacity following the withdrawal of the bulk of American ground troops there. Brazil was the third biggest buyer, primarily of Swedish aircraft.
Looking back into the year 2015, among the many things that has transformed the world, if there was one thing that stands out is the closest bond between India and the United States. Under the leadership of U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ties between the two greatest democracies have evolved into strong and productive.
A “budding bromance” between India and the U.S. or “Modbama” as Foreign Policy called it, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama, took their ties to a new high in the year gone by. The year began with Modi, once a persona non grata in the U.S., staging what was called a “diplomatic coup” with an invitation to Obama to be the first U.S. president to be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day.
Beyond the symbolism, Obama’s “game changing” second visit to India in four years saw “Barack” warming up to Modi and sent what the U.S. called an “important message” to the world about their commitment to realise the full potential of India-U.S. relationship. The White House’s first National Security Strategy since 2010 reflected the changing relationship with Obama saying the U.S. was “primed to unlock the potential of its relationship with India” as part of its rebalance to Asia and the Pacific.
Nine months later, Modi returned the compliment with yet another hugely successful visit to the U.S. with a warm hug for Obama, a courtship with Silicon Valley and a love fest with the Indian diaspora. But even before Modi and Obama had their fifth bilateral meeting in New York, the two nations, at their first strategic and commercial dialogue, reached five key agreements.
Topping the list was a decision to step up their counter-terrorism efforts with Washington, for once, recognising the threat posed by South Asian terror groups, including Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba, responsible for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, and the D company. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar ended the year on another high note. “Gelling well” with his U.S. counterpart Ashton Carter, they agreed to further expand their growing defence partnership to make it what Carter called an “anchor of global security.”
As Carter welcomed India’s rise in the Asia-Pacific region, the two countries committed to identify additional projects for possible co-development and co-production of high technology items. Meanwhile, Obama called his “friend and partner” Modi a couple of times on a new hotline, first to win his support for the Paris climate deal and then to thank him for India’s positive role in reaching the historic accord.
At his year-end victory lap, Obama highlighted American leadership in bringing China, India and Brazil on board for the Paris climate deal among his successes of 2015 from thawing relations with Cuba to halting Iran’s nuclear program. The White House also acknowledged India’s “substantial sacrifice” in backing the sanctions against Iran that helped Washington seal the deal with Tehran.
“President Obama and Prime Minister Modi have a very, strong and productive relationship, not just on climate change but broadly,” Todd Stern, the U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change said last week. “It was a quite extraordinary fact that within the space of four months there were two head of the state visits, one first to the United States in September of 2014 and then Prime Minister Modi invited the President to India just four months later in January,” the official said.
Thereafter the two leaders have been close communications with each other. “They met on the margins of the UNGA in New York and they met on the first day of the Paris meeting,” Stern said. According to Stern the meeting was a very warm and positive, cordial and detailed.
“In fact, they talked so long that – they were both supposed to go – and did go finally, but they were a little bit late to the announcement of this big Mission Innovation idea on R&D that both – well, the United States, India, China, many other countries ultimately were part of,” the U.S. official said. “So I think, that the call later, sort of more towards the end, was a check-in call to see how we were doing and to urge us all on together toward a successful conclusion. And I think it was done in that spirit, not in the spirit that there was some specific thing that had to be done before the agreement could get completed,” Stern said.
At the end of the election cycle in November next year, whosoever American voters choose as the new tenant of the White House next November, one thing is clear: Relations between India and the U.S. are poised for a take-off given solid bipartisan support for this.
Sanjay Pradhan, an Indian-American World Bank official, has been tapped to lead an international initiative to promote government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens. Pradhan, who currently is Vice President for Change, Leadership and Innovation at the World Bank, would assume the new charge by mid-2016.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) was launched by eight Heads of State at the UN General Assembly in 2011, and in just four years, 69 countries have joined the partnership, along with hundreds of civil society groups and several multilateral organisations. “Sanjay will help ensure that OGP continues to succeed in its mission to promote government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens,” a statement said.
Pradhan, who holds a PhD and a Bachelors degree from Harvard University, will lead the OGP Support Unit, and will report to an international Steering Committee of 11 governments and 11 civil society leaders. “My long-standing passion for how open government can transform the lives of millions around the globe has led me directly to OGP,” Pradhan said.
“OGP represents a historic opportunity to advance the open government agenda through a unique platform built on peer learning and the collaboration between government and civil society around the world,” he said in a statement.
“In his former senior position at the World Bank, Pradhan has proven to be a thought leader and practitioner in open government since before the phrase was even coined,” said Alejandro Gonzalez, OGP Steering Committee Civil Society co-chair. “He is a trusted and experienced interlocutor with both governments and civil society around the world. Said to be widely respected figure in the development community, Pradhan brings a wealth of open government experience to the role,” he said.
Since 1986, he has held three Vice president positions at the World Bank Group (WBG) where he led the development of WBGs Governance and Anticorruption Strategy; helped launch Global Partnership for Social Accountability; and incubated ICT-mediated citizen feedback.
He also launched Open Contracting with Partners; and rolled out a flagship Collaborative Leadership for Development program to help leaders in government and civil society undertake collaborative actions. PTI LKJ AJRThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) was launched by eight Heads of State at the UN General Assembly in 2011, and in just four years, 69 countries have joined the partnership, along with hundreds of civil society groups and several multilateral organisations.
“Sanjay will help ensure that OGP continues to succeed in its mission to promote government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens,” a statement said. Pradhan, who holds a PhD and a Bachelors degree from Harvard University, will lead the OGP Support Unit, and will report to an international Steering Committee of 11 governments and 11 civil society leaders.
“My long-standing passion for how open government can transform the lives of millions around the globe has led me directly to OGP,” Pradhan said. “OGP represents a historic opportunity to advance the open government agenda through a unique platform built on peer learning and the collaboration between government and civil society around the world,” he said in a statement.
“In his former senior position at the World Bank, Pradhan has proven to be a thought leader and practitioner in open government since before the phrase was even coined,” said Alejandro Gonzalez, OGP Steering Committee Civil Society co-chair. “He is a trusted and experienced interlocutor with both governments and civil society around the world. Said to be widely respected figure in the development community, Pradhan brings a wealth of open government experience to the role,” he said.
Since 1986, he has held three Vice president positions at the World Bank Group (WBG) where he led the development of WBGs Governance and Anticorruption Strategy; helped launch Global Partnership for Social Accountability; and incubated ICT-mediated citizen feedback. He also launched Open Contracting with Partners; and rolled out a flagship Collaborative Leadership for Development program to help leaders in government and civil society undertake collaborative actions.
While his attempts to become the first Asian American President of the United States did not come to fruition, Bobby Jindal, whose current term as governor of the state Louisiana coming to a close, as the state’s constitution allows only for two terms as governor, preventing Jindal from running for a third term, Jindal said he will return to working with the think tank he had started several years ago, America Next, where he says he “will be outlining the blueprint for making this the American century.”
“The people of Louisiana are a strong, resilient people, and it has been an absolute honor to serve this state the past eight years,” Jindal said in a statement. In terms of his party allegiance, he says the GOP has “to be the party of growth, and we can never stop being the party that believes in opportunity. We cannot settle for the Left’s view of envy and division.”
The elections to choose his successor dragged on for weeks. When no one held the majority of the vote in the primary election Oct. 24, a runoff election was held Nov. 21 with Democrat John Bel Edwards named Jindal’s his successor after garnering 56.1 percent of the vote, edging out Republican candidate David Vitter, who collected 43.9 percent of the vote. Edwards, with the win, becomes the first Democrat to hold the governor seat since 2008.
In a statement, Jindal congratulated Edwards, saying, “Louisiana is in a stronger position today than it ever has been, and I am very optimistic about the future of this great state. … Over the next few weeks, (Jindal’s wife) Supriya and I are committed to work very closely with the governor-elect, his family and his staff to ensure a seamless transition for the next administration.” However, in his statement congratulating Edwards, Jindal took the high road. “Now is the time for everyone to put politics and partisanship aside and make sure our new governor is ready on day one,” he said.
Bobby Jindal, 44, made a number of statements attempting to thrust himself into the forefront of the GOP candidates, including pleading with people to stop referring to individuals as “Indian American or Irish American” and just call everyone American. He also released a book in late November, “American Will,” a history book that Jindal called a “call to arms,” demonstrating how individual choices can steer the course of a country at one of America’s “most consequential crossroads.”
The book provided history lessons with a GOP slant, including a view on President Barack Obama’s stance on gun control, the Louisiana Purchase, Joseph Kennedy’s tenure as U.S. ambassador to Britain during the time of WWII, as well as nuggets of his personal history.
His viewpoints and the book, however, didn’t generate enough of a buzz. And after support for his candidacy faded, relegating him to the undercard Republican presidential debates, Jindal decided Nov. 17 it was time to bow out of the race. In a blog post on his campaign site, Jindal said, “This is not my time, so I am suspending my campaign for president.”
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump got a taste of the disgust and anger of New Yorkers for his invective against Muslims last week when members of the City Council, led by Council’s Democratic speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito rallied against the Republican frontrunner on the steps of City Hall Dec. 9. The rally was also joined by a group of interfaith leaders.
Chanting “enough is enough” and “dump Trump,” council members took part in the rally condemning Trump’s comments in which he called a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States.
According to a POLITICO New York report, Mark-Viverito who has criticized Trump for his comments about Latinos, immigrants and women — warned about the danger of Trump’s inflammatory language, adding that bias attacks in the city would not be tolerated. “We will not let Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric go unchecked and unchallenged. There’s nothing left to say about Donald Trump, except that he is a disgusting, racist demagogue who has no business running for president, period.”
Mark-Viverito — who has criticized Trump in the past for his comments about Latinos, immigrants and women — warned about the danger of Trump’s inflammatory language, adding that bias attacks in the city would not be tolerated.
“What Donald Trump has called for — banning Muslims from entering our nation — is xenophobic, racist, Islamophobic, and his fear-mongering is fanning hate,” Mark-Viverito was quoted as saying. “We will not let Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric go unchecked and unchallenged. There’s nothing left to say about Donald Trump, except that he is a disgusting, racist demagogue who has no business running for president, period.”
Trump reacted to the rally as well. In an emailed statement responding to the rally, Trump told POLITICO New York that perhaps Mark-Viverito should focus on the “filthy conditions of New York city.” A few days before the rally and the charges against him, responded to criticism from Mayor Bill de Blasio by calling him the “worst mayor in the United States” and criticizing “the dirty streets, the homeless and crime.”
Imam Khalid Latif, the executive director for the Islamic Center at New York University, said the anti-Muslim sentiment fueled by Trump’s remarks is “arguably worse” than what Muslims experienced in the days and months after the Sept. 11attacks, according to the report.
“The disparaging comments Donald Trump had made over the course of his campaign against minorities of all kinds — including Muslims, Latinos, African Americans, those with special needs and others — are but symptoms of a deeper and ever-going bigotry that our nation must confront,” Latif was quoted as saying.
Rabbi Bob Kaplan of the Jewish Communities Relations Council said in a statement that when someone has a faith and when someone is a Muslim (to say)that they simply should not be allowed to come to our country, our world, our democracy, is simply unacceptable. “I am asking all of our fellow Americans to take the scales off of their eyes and recognize that hatred can only lead to war,” said the Rev. Que English of the Bronx Christian Fellowship, according to a Tasnim news agency release.
At one point, a heckler tried to defend Trump, but her shouts were drowned out by chants of “enough is enough,” CBS News was quoted as saying by Tasnim.
President Obama met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India to discuss their efforts to put in place a lasting framework to address global climate change. The two leaders discussed the urgent threat posed by climate change and reaffirmed their commitment to a successful agreement in Paris.
According to a White House Press Release, the two leaders agreed that the Paris agreement must drive serious and ambitious action by all nations to curb carbon pollution, while at the same time protecting the ability of countries such as India to pursue their priorities of development, growth, and poverty eradication.
The President and Prime Minister committed their teams to work closely to achieve these objectives. Additionally, the President welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s initiatives to increase renewable energy deployment in India, his leadership to form a solar alliance, and our partnership to launch Mission Innovation, a ground-breaking new initiative that will accelerate the pace at which we can develop and deploy affordable clean energy technology to populations around the world.
In addition to the climate agenda, the two leaders discussed additional steps to deepen their countries’ strategic partnership on bilateral, regional, and global issues.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Obama
Meanwhile, the White House heaped high praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he has a clear understanding of the India-U.S. relationship and a clear vision for where he wants to take his country. President Barack Obama “certainly does respect Prime Minister Modi and has appreciation for his skills and abilities as a politician,” the White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters here Wednesday when asked about the relationship between the two leaders.
“He also is somebody who is given the very difficult challenge of sitting atop the world’s largest democracy — that’s not easy work, and the President of the United States has special insight into how difficult it is.”
Obama has found “Modi to be somebody who is honest and direct,” he said. He is “somebody who has good command of the facts; somebody who has a clear understanding of the issues that confront his country and our relationship,” Earnest said. “He is also somebody that has a clear vision for where he wants to take his country. And that makes him not just an effective politician but an effective Prime Minister.”
Earnest noted that Obama “has had the opportunity to consult with Prime Minister Modi on a number of occasions. And I think that isn’t just a testament to their good working relationship — it actually is a testament to the important issues that are at stake between our two countries.”
“And the ability of the leaders of our two countries to work through those issues and to advance our shared interests is a good thing — it’s a good thing for the world, it’s also a good thing for the citizens of our two countries,” Earnest said.
Asked if Obama had invited Modi for a seventh meeting early next year at the White House, the spokesman said he was not “aware of any meetings that are on the agenda at this point, but I certainly wouldn’t rule out another visit by Prime Minister Modi before the end of next year.”
Indian Americans are known to be more leaning towards the Democratic Party than the Republican Party. Recently, a number of conservative-minded Indian-Americans have formed a group to mobilize their powerful community for supporting Republican candidates in their White House run, saying this is a “very important time in history.” The Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) has been modelled after groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will serve as the chairman of the newly-formed Republican Hindu Coalition, which officially launched November 17 in Washington, DC.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky; along with Reps. Ed Royce, chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee; and Pete Sessions, chairman of the House Rules Committee, attended the launch, which began with the traditional Hindu ceremony of lighting of lamps. Also in attendance were Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire; and Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin.
The RHC’s founder, Chicago-based businessman Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar, has promised to personally donate at least $2 million to Republicans running for office in 2016, and the coalition aims to give at least $10 million to GOP candidates this cycle. Kumar has been a generous donor to Republicans, sending $50,000 to Mitt Romney’s joint fundraising account in 2012 and more than $100,000 to the Republican Party and its candidates over the past five years.
“An organization like the RHC could dramatically change history,” Gingrich told the audience at the launch. The former House Speaker also spoke about the “dangers of Pakistan” and “radical jihadists” which he said were a common enemy for India and the U.S., adding he had grave concerns about the dangers of Pakistan. Kumar designed the RHC to mobilize Indian-Americans into an influential conservative force and to tighten business and strategic ties between India and the U.S.
“Shalli, thank you so much for what you’re doing,” McConnell told the businessman, saying how glad he was that India was moving away from socialism and toward free market principles. Turning to the audience, which included influential Indian-American businessmen, McConnell said of the GOP: “Believe me, it’s your natural home and we welcome you.”
Kumar, a Chicago-based industrialist, initiated the group to promote conservative principles like free markets and limited government with a focus on Indian- Americans. “This is a very important time in history. Kumar, chairman of AVG Advanced Technologies, is hoping to organise a congressional delegation in India after they formally launch the coalition next month.
He said while many Hindus are ideologically conservative-leaning, they have not yet mobilised to vote for Republicans. The US and India can draw closer on a number of issues, including getting the US to rely more on India for manufacturing than China, he said. The technology entrepreneur got the idea for the RHC when he saw how successful and influential the Republican Jewish Coalition has been with lawmakers in Washington and across America. “Having watched the Republican Jewish Coalition work to achieve its goals … I was inspired to found RHC,” Kumar said.
The country has suffered so much so dramatically in the last eight years and another four or eight years of the same direction, the US as we know it will come to an end,” Kumar was quoted as saying. “We are actually giving away our economic future to China, the world is a lot less secure today than it was seven years ago, and conservatives and Republicans have to win and take the White House. This is the time when Hindu-Americans should very actively get involved,” Kumar said.
Born in Punjab, Kumar migrated to the US in 1969. He was a supporter of the Democrat party until he met President Ronald Reagan in 1979, becoming a staunch Republican. A new Indian-American lobby on Tuesday convened a powerful group of Republicans — including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — in a Washington hotel as it pledged to raise millions in campaign cash for GOP candidates this cycle.
“Hindu Americans tend to be like other minorities when it comes to voting — they are Democrats or are neutral, or they just don’t vote,” said Kumar, chairman of AVG Advanced Technologies. Kumar said they have received a great deal of support from the Republican National Committee and high-ranking congressional Republicans. They are also hoping to organize a congressional delegation to travel to India after they formally launch the coalition next month.
Additionally, the RHC is hoping that in light of the 2014 election of the business-minded Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the U.S. and India can draw closer on a number of issues, including getting the U.S. to rely more on India for manufacturing than China. “We are actually giving away our economic future to China, the world is a lot less secure today than it was seven years ago, and conservatives and Republicans have to win and take the White House. This is the time when Hindu Americans should very actively get involved,” Kumar added in a media report.
Some issues Kumar feels will be resolved with a better U.S.-India relationship include fiscal discipline; the free enterprise system; limited government; a strong national defense; and a strong posture against terrorism globally.
Kumar, who was a Democrat until 1979, said it is imperative that a change is made in the White House. Hindu Americans are also prolific donors to political campaigns, but they contribute on an individual basis so efforts are scattered, said Kumar. “We currently have very little influence on policy-making. With the forming of the RHC, we will finally have a platform from which Hindu American voices can be heard,” he stated. The Coalition has not yet announced its support for any Republican presidential candidate, said Kumar.
The newly-launched coalition will first focus its attention on the Obama Administration’s recent decision to sell eight nuclear-capable F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, worth an estimated $600 million, Dr. Sampat Shivangi, co-founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition, is quoted to have said. Shivangi said the Coalition and its supporters are concerned about the proliferation of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and its impact on the safety of India and its citizens. Shivangi said he was initially hesitant about joining a “Hindu”-named coalition. “But Gingrich changed my mind,” he stated, noting that the Coalition is open to Republicans of all faiths who have an interest in the India-U.S. relationship.
‘A moment comes, but comes rarely in history, when we step out from the old to new, when an age ends, and when a soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance’. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru delivered these inspiring words in his speech, ‘Tryst of Destiny’ in1947. He is still remembered for his vision and commitment to bring India from out of oppression into freedom, modernity, and self-reliance.
As we have celebrated the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru on November 14th, 2015, we are in awe as we recollect his contribution, not only towards gaining India’s independence but also for laying a strong foundation of a pluralistic and forward looking India. Yet, half a century after his death, the current leadership of India is busy trying to downplay his legacy for political expediency, and to re-create a nation away from the democratic and secular tradition he has championed.
When India gained Independence, there were monumental challenges resulting from the partition and the ongoing violence between Hindus and Muslims. The urgent task facing the leadership at the time was the resettlement of 6
million refugees, and arresting the spread of further violence. Nehru put together a team of dedicated patriots such as Sardar Tarlok Singh, Sarojini Naidu and S.K. Ghosh to limit the violence, as well as rescue and recover
abandoned and abducted women and children.
When the British left, the Government, headed by Nehru, faced another important task: the national integration of 562 princely states. A newly created State department under the decisive leadership of Sardar Vallabhai
Patel along with Nehru ensured the integration of the country in a remarkably short period of time.
If we look back at history for a moment, we would admire how Nehru brought together exceptional people of different ideologies such as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, S.P. Mookerjee, John Mathai, C.H. Bhabha and Shanmukham Chetty to be reflective of India’s secular and multi-faceted character in the Constituent Assembly. The Congress party delivered on the promise that the constitution they were about to create would reflect the aspirations of the Indian people.
The constitution of India was amongst the largest in the world with 395 Articles and 9 Schedules. The preamble spells out the basic philosophy and the solemn resolve of the people of India to secure justice, liberty, equality and fraternity for all its citizens. What Nehru has accomplished through this document with significant help and support from Ambedkar also is part of his vision to empower marginalized sections of the society.
Nehru was committed to ensuring social justice and the welfare of the masses as far back as 1938 by setting up the National Planning Committee under the banner of the Congress Party for the very purpose of improving the quality of life of ordinary citizens. These efforts culminated in creating a permanent planning commission to establish a just social order to ensure the equitable distribution of income and wealth. Nehru’s actions in these matters paint him as a socialist, however, he strongly believed that planning was essential to the development needs of a poor country with scarce resources, which needed to be managed optimally.
He was also concerned about the unequal access to land which was a big problem in rural India. After independence, the issue was prioritized, and by 1949, different states had passed land reform legislations to abolish the ‘Zamindari’ system and empowering the rural peasantry while doing away with the institutionalized exploitation by the feudal lords.
Nehru was a strong proponent of self-reliance, clearly recognizing that underdevelopment was the result of a lack of technological progress. Consequently, a new Industrial policy was enacted to develop key industries. While Independent India was in its infancy, he identified the production of power and steel for self-sufficiency and planning. In collaboration with other countries, India built steel plants in Rourkela (Orissa), Bhilai (M.P.) and Durgapur (W. Bengal). Dam projects were undertaken in various places to produce hydro-electric power, including the
flagship Dam at Bhakra Nangal, Punjab. The first oil refinery was inaugurated in Noonmati, Assam in 1962 as another leap forward towards industrialization. Nehru called them ‘the temples of modern India’.
Nehru was determined to foster a ‘scientific temper’ as he provided leadership in establishing many new Engineering Institutes, the most important being the premier Indian Institute of Technology, 5 of which were started between 1957 and 1964. His farsightedness is also evident in granting deemed university status to the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, and setting up the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and the Defense Research and Development Organization, and laying the foundation stone for the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Nehru’s own words stated that these would become ‘visible symbols of building up the new India and of providing life and sustenance to our people’.
Soon after independence, India embarked upon a nuclear program aimed at developing its nuclear capacity for peaceful purposes. As we know by now, Dr. Homi Bhabha’s pioneering work in this regard is widely acclaimed in
enhancing India’s capabilities in this area. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian Space Program helped to establish the Indian Space Research Organization.
Nehru recognized the importance of education as a tool for empowerment and the establishment of the University Education Commission under the Chairmanship of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and Secondary Education Commission under the chairmanship of Dr. A. L. Mudaliar laid the foundation of education and higher education. The Indian Council of Cultural Relations was also established under Maulana Azad to promote policies pertaining to India’s external cultural relations.
Nehru also played a crucial role as a leader of the non-aligned world, shaping India’s foreign policy for the post-independence period. His charismatic personality, along with deep understanding of the country and the world enabled him to be an effective spokesman for the developing world and an advocate for liberation movements across the globe.
Undoubtedly, Nehru helped to build institutions that stood the test of time. The emerging nations during that period such as Yugoslavia, Egypt and Ghana failed in this regard, and results are quite evident for all of us to
see. Nehru’s vision and leadership were critical in shaping India as we know it today. According to ‘Journey of a Nation’, edited by Anand Sharma, Nehru laid the foundation of a self-reliant, productive and confident India, creating many of its Institutions leaving an indelible stamp on every aspect of the country.
Sadly, there are regressive forces at work now to undo the Nehruvian legacy and to take us back to the age when the soul of the nation was suppressed. Among reflective Indians, especially NRIs, it is time to realize that the ongoing Nehru bashing has been somewhat counterproductive. Nehru’s respect for democratic procedures and his inclusive vision will continue to remain relevant, without which a modern India might cease to exist! To revise a
famous quote to fit this narrative, ‘if India is to progress, Nehru is inescapable… we may ignore him at our own risk’.
Writer is a former Chief Technology Officer at the United Nations and Chairman of the Indian National Overseas Congress, USA.
Vini Samuel, an attorney by profession, was elected mayor of Montesano, Washington by landslide victory making her the first Indian American female mayor in the United States. Samuel received more than 67 percent of the vote, leading 762 to 366.
“It’s wonderful, it’s exciting and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude,” Samuel said on November 03, 2015. “This has always been about Montesano and coming together as one town and trying to get things done. I think the race went perfectly. We worked really hard and I appreciate the show of confidence. I think we ran a pretty solid, positive campaign. The goal was always about coming together and keeping the city of Montesano as the focus of the conversation,” she added.
Samuel, who was born in Quilon, Kerala, and raised in Juneau, Alaska, characterized the tiny town of Montesano as “a little piece of Americana.” Samuel attended Western Washington University, where she received a B.A. in history and English literature; she obtained her law degree from Seattle University.
Samuel, who has previously served on Montesano’s city council, said she was campaigning on the issue of transparency in city politics.
The tiny town of Montesano in northwest Washington State has approximately 2,300 registered voters.
All results on November 03, 2015 were preliminary results. Ballots mailed were still valid and ballot drop boxes throughout the county remained uncounted. The election will be certified on Nov. 24. However, Incumbent Ken Estes conceded the race soon after the initial tally of votes by the Grays Harbor County Auditor’s office.
“I’ve come to the realization this is not my time,” Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a onetime rising Republican star, said while declaring that he was withdrawing from the campaign to be the next presidential nominee of the Republican Party. Jindal, the first ever Indian American Governor, whose popularity has plummeted in his own state, dropped out of the presidential race on Tuesday, November 17, 2015, conceding that he was unable to find any traction. Jindal withdrew days before a runoff election in the Louisiana governor’s race, a contest in which the candidates in both parties have intermittently criticized the once-popular incumbent.
Jindal is the third candidate in the now 14-member Republican field to drop out of race. Rick Perry, the former Texas governor, and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin also ended their campaigns.
During his months long campaign, Jindal had unveiled a series of policy proposals, ferociously attacked Donald J. Trumpand spent considerable time courting conservatives in Iowa, which begins the presidential nominating process. None of it worked. He raised little money, did not rise high enough in the polls to appear on the prime-time debate stage and was overshadowed by unconventional candidates such as Trump and Ben Carson. “We spent a lot of time developing detailed policy papers, and given this crazy, unpredictable election season, clearly there just wasn’t a lot of interest in those policy papers,” Jindal said in an interview on Fox News Tuesday night.
Jindal, 44, a son of Indian immigrants, was first elected governor in 2007, two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and he initially enjoyed great popularity. But he fell out of favor in a second term characterized by fiscal crises and frequent out-of-state travels. Seventy percent of Louisianans disapprove of his job performance, according to a University of New Orleans poll taken this month.
He was his state’s secretary of health at age 24 and oversaw its public universities by 28.
Jindal, who effectively began his presidential bid by declaring Republicans “the stupid party” in the wake of the 2012 election, tried to win attention to his long-shot White House campaign with a number of gambits. He placed a hidden camera in a tree outside the governor’s mansion to record a family meeting in which he first informed his children he was running for president and released the video to the news media.
Jindal, the first ever Indian American to be on the campaign mode, seeking to win the White House has been trailing behind almost all other Republican candidates. After trailing behind in the campaign, it appeared that Jindal was gaining some momentum. In a survey published Nov. 2 by Public Policy Polling, Iowa GOP voters gave Indian American Bobby Jindal, R-La., a healthy amount of support.
Bobby Jindal
Jindal, according to the PPP survey of 638 “usual Republican primary voters” in Iowa taken from Oct. 30 through Nov. 1, earned 6 percent support. The Louisiana governor is now slotted as the fifth-most supported Republican presidential hopeful, tied with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. In addition to polling about support, the survey asked about favorability, in which Jindal received 60 percent favorability. Bush, on the flipside, had only a 30 percent positive viewing, with 43 percent viewing him negatively. Carson and Cruz were the only two candidates ahead of Jindal’s favorability.
According to published sources, his record of good governance in his state is lackluster. He is described as a supporter of the rich. In his state, he was in favor of abolishing all corporate and personal income tax but in favor of raising the sales tax in order to make up for the loss of revenue to the state. His legislature wisely refused to go along with him for such regressive taxation.
Jindal refused to accept federal funding of $1.65 billion to expand Medicaid to the poor. He is pro-life and anti-abortion, and against same-sex marriage. He is against public funding of embryonic stem cell research. He favors the teaching of intelligent design in schools. He was against enforcing laws for the prevention of hate crimes in his state. His state ranked last for transparency in the United States.
Month after month, week after week, Gov. Bobby Jindal has been working to make himself relevant to the 2016 presidential election. Every week, Jindal made some (increasingly) desperate attempt for attention and relevance. On the rare occasion he made an appearance in Louisiana, he’s done everything possible to establish himself as a champion of “religious freedom.” He signed an executive order to give license to businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples. He’s even championed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would outlaw same-sex marriage.
As per media reports, despite having made a wreck of the state’s budget (including structural deficits for years), he’s also sold his soul to Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. He had approved more than $700 million in tax increases, in an attempt to earn GOP votes in Iowa and New Hampshire portraying himself as the candidate most violently against tax increases.
Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindal, son of immigrant parents from India, said that immigrants who do not adopt American values represent an “invasion”. “Immigration without integration is not immigration; it’s invasion, he told ABC when asked about tough stances against illegal immigration taken by Republican front-runner Donald Trump and other party candidates. “Look, as a child of immigrants, my parents have never taken this country for granted,” said the Louisiana governor who was born in the US three months after his pregnant mother came from India. “When it comes to immigration policy, what I’ve experienced and seen is that a smart immigration policy makes our country stronger; a dumb one makes us weaker. We’ve got a dumb one today,” he said.
In the statement announcing his departure, Mr. Jindal indicated he would return to focusing on policy issues. “One of the things I will do is go back to work at the think tank I started a few years ago — where I will be outlining a blueprint for making this the American century,” he said.
With several high profile endorsements already rendered, Raja is further bolstered with Chicago community leader Iftekhar Shareef and AAHOA [Asian American Hotel Owners Association] coming together to bring about greater national awareness of the candidacy of Raja Krishnamoorthi, a democratic candidate for the U.S. Congress from the eighth congressional district in Illinois at an event held on Friday, November 13, 2015 at India House in Hoffman Estate, IL.
Raja Krishnamoorthi thanked community leaders and AAHOA leadership for invigorating new enthusiasm and new excitement in the community in rallying behind his candidacy and added that this gives him a new momentum to his campaign. Raja said “I am running for congress for you and for your families and emphasized that he acutely understands the challenges the families are facing and will fight for their economic security. He pledged that when he goes to congress, he emphasized “you will go with me to congress to represent the dreams and hopes of each one of us.
Raja Krishnamoorthi thanked the leaders gathered at the event for extending a substantive and meaningful help and said he is deeply committed to working families’ agenda and he will employ his valuable experience both in the public and private sector to strengthen the working families.
Iftekhar Shareef, Principal Host, in his introductory address said Raja Krishnamoorthi bears tremendous promise as the next United States Congressman primarily because he is uniquely and exceptionally qualified as he deeply understands the issues and the challenges the nation and the local communities face. Iftekhar Shareef added that he will continue to strive to evoke collective community enthusiasm to deliver for Raja the victory he so tremendously deserves. Iftekhar Shareef pledged that our team will remain a driving force in helping put together many more events in order to bring energy and momentum to Raja’s candidacy.
Balvinder Singh another champion of Indian-American community offered his full support to Raja Krishnamoorthi, he endorsed Raja’s candidacy and said that he will work with Washington leadership in mobilizing support for Raja.
Kalpesh M. Joshi, Regional Director [Upper Midwest] of AAHOA and the event Co-Chair earlier welcomed the gathering of community leaders and outlined the commitment of AAHOA in throwing its far reaching robust support behind Raja Krishnamoorthi and added that AAHOA is deeply committed to backing Raja Krishnamoorthi with its resources and networking capabilities to help in reaching out nationwide to bring to bear the tools necessary for Raja to win the elections.
Earlier, Chirag Patel, AAHOA’s Vice President for Governmental Affairs outlined the strategy of AAHOA and its political action committee in channeling the support for Raja Krishnamoorthi because he understands the growing challenges and impediments the hospitality industry faces and the burdensome regulatory provisions which seriously impedes the business. Chirag Patel said AAHOA recognizes the potential in the candidacy of Raja Krishnamoorthi who can defend the goals AAHOA is committed to.
Keerthi Kumar Ravoori in his brief statement said Raja Krishnamoorthi is gaining momentum among the voters as he represents a new fresh invigorating voice for the Asians to help represent their dreams and hopes. Babu Patel appraised Raja Krishnamoorthi about the challenges business community is facing in the nation particularly the mounting untenable tax burden placed on them.
In conclusion, Raja Krishnamoorthi thanked and acknowledged the event hosts: Iftekhar Shareef, Kalpesh Joshi, Chirag Patel, Balwinder Singh, Ajeet Singh, Harish Kolasani, Keerthi Ravoori, Dinesh Gandhi, Babu Patel, Jagmohan Jayara & Mujeeb Ahmed.
“France is at war,” President François Hollande of France declared on Monday, November 16, 2015, and has called for an amendment the French Constitution to fight potential terrorists at home and for an aggressive effort to “eradicate” the Islamic State abroad. In the aftermath of the terror attacks in Paris that had killed 129 people Friday night in Paris, France has begun attacking the Syrian targets, home to ISIS that is believed to be behind the brutal murders of innocent civilians across this City of Lights.
“The deadly attacks across Paris last week that claimed 129 lives were planned and organised from Syria,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Monday. “The attack was organised, conceived, and planned from Syria,” CNN quoted Valls as saying in a radio interview. The prime minister said more than 150 raids were conducted on militant targets in different areas of France earlier in the day.
“We are making use of the legal framework of the state of emergency to question people who are part of the radical jihadi movement… and all those who advocate hate of the republic,” he said.
At least nine people have been arrested so far. Five of the detainees were identified over the weekend, and on Monday another two were named by the Paris prosecutor as Ahmad al-Mohammad and Samy Amimour, a BBC report said.
President Obama on Monday stressed solidarity with the French people after deadly attacks rocked that nation and defended his administration’s policy in fighting ISIS. “ISIS is the face of evil,” Obama said at the conclusion of the G20 summit in Antalya,Turkey. “Our goal is to… destroy this barbaric organization.”
Three teams of terrorists — all outfitted with suicide vests and armed with Kalashnikovs — swarmed six locations in Paris on Friday night and killed 129 people in a spree of shootings and explosions. France’s president called the attacks — which ISIS claimed responsibility for — an “act of war” and on Sunday night launched airstrikes on the terror group’s de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria.
Meanwhile, most Americans feel despair, and a presentiment that it is only a matter of time before something similar happens here, media reports here suggest. Even as Americans have felt the pain of the French, they have worried, not surprisingly, considering 9/11, about whether their country is next.
Law-enforcement officials and transportation agencies in major U.S. cities stepped up security measures over the weekend in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that he has directed state agencies to be on high alert following the attacks and has beefed up security protocols on trains, bridges and popular tourists locations.
New York City Mayor Mayor Bill de Blasio said in an interview with NBC New York on Friday that the New York Police Department is on high alert. The NYPD’s antiterrorism officers have been deployed to the United Nations and at the French Consulate. “Thank God there’s no specific threats toward New York City that we know of,” de Blasio said. “We believe this…is isolated to Paris. But it is a very, very painful thing to see Paris go through this again.”
According to analysts, the terror attacks in France depended on four things: easy access to Paris, European citizens happy to massacre their compatriots, a Euro-jihadist infrastructure to supply weapons and security agencies that lacked resources to monitor the individuals involved. These are problems the United States does not have — at least not nearly to the degree that Europe does, undermining its ability to defend itself. American policy makers have eyed Europe’s external border controls skeptically for many years: The Schengen rules, which allow for free border-crossing inside most of the European Union, have made life simple for criminals.
Complicating matters is the ease with which a terrorist might slip out of Syria, cross through Turkey and enter Greece and the European Union, as at least one of the Paris killers appears to have done. Counterterrorism often boils down to a search for a few individuals, and the chaos surrounding the flood of refugees — a record 218,000 entered the European Union just last month — has exacerbated the difficulty of keeping track of such incoming security threats.
But the United States is faced more with the domestic challenge. It appears the Paris attacks involved both Middle Eastern operatives and Muslims from France and Belgium. Americans have traveled to ISIS-controlled territories at a rate of roughly a third that of their European Union coreligionists.
The United States may have some advantage: an intelligence, law enforcement and border-control apparatus that has been vastly improved since the cataclysm of 9/11. Post-9/11 visa requirements and no-fly lists weed out most bad actors, and both the Bush and Obama administrations demanded that countries in our visa waiver program provide data on extremists through information-sharing pacts called HSPD-6 agreements. Improvements continue, like an advance passenger information/passenger name recognition agreement with the European Union of 2012.
ISIS has neither an air force nor a navy. It cannot directly confront the military forces arrayed against it by the West in the aggregate. So it strikes back in the only way it can, with terrorist attacks on the civilian populations of the sponsoring nations, such as what happened in Paris on Friday night. These tactics are as predictable as they are horrific.
It is time for the world community to form something comparable to a NATO alliance for antiterrorist activities in the Middle East. The member states could determine from their military officials what military force would be required to surround Raqqa, Syria, and totally eliminate the ISIS presence in that city. When that is completed, the new coalition should pursue a similar strategy with respect to Mosul in Iraq and other ISIS strongholds.
The combat troops and the military resources for that alliance should predominantly come from Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and so on. The United States and European countries should provide training, equipment, intelligence, transportation and perhaps a small contingent of special forces.
The choices available to the United States, and our European allies, in response to such actions are equally stark: either vastly engage our troops in the field to defeat ISIS (“boots on the ground”), or end our military involvement and rely on the countries in the region to resolve what is essentially an outbreak of an old religious civil war using 21st-century weapons and media.
Obama underscored that the wave of terror attacks in Paris and the fight against ISIS necessitate that the two nations work more closely together to share intelligence — efforts that are currently underway. “Paris is not alone,” Obama said highlighting attacks in Beirut, Turkey and Iraq.
A leading economic analysis group warned Friday that rising communal tensions in India were damaging Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reform plans and could scare off investors.
A report by Moody’s Analytics said members of Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, were fueling strife with provocative comments, an apparent reference to recent controversies over beef consumption and other domestic issues that have riled minorities, particularly Muslims.
“While Modi has largely distanced himself from the nationalist gibes, the belligerent provocation of various Indian minorities has raised ethnic tensions,” the group said. “Modi must keep his members in check or risk losing domestic and global credibility.”
The comments by Moody’s Analytics, a research division of the corporation that operates a separate credit rating agency, add to a growing debate in India over Modi’s policies and allegedly pro-Hindu rhetoric. The Indian leader took office in May 2014 promising to focus on economic growth. However, his conservative party, which has ties to hard-line Hindu groups, has garnered more headlines for pursuing laws seen as catering to India’s Hindu majority and for questionable statements by its politicians.
Some BJP-led states have banned the consumption of beef on the grounds that it’s offensive to Hinduism, which regards the cow as sacred. In September, a Muslim in northern India was lynched by a Hindu mob on suspicion that he ate beef; eight of 11 men accused in the death reportedly are relatives of a local BJP worker.
A BJP lawmaker, Sakshi Maharaj, said afterward: “We are ready to kill and get killed for cows.”
Modi did not appear to help matters when he finally spoke on the issue three weeks later, calling the killing “sad and undesirable” but saying his political opponents were trying to exploit it.
In recent weeks, scores of leading scientists and artists have returned awards given to them by government bodies in protest of what they call a growing climate of religious and cultural intolerance.
n August, a 76-year-old secular writer and critic of Hindu fundamentalists, M.M. Kalburgi, was gunned down in his home in southern India. This week, students at the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India finally called off a strike they launched more than four months ago in protest of the government’s appointment of Hindu conservatives to lead the institution’s governing body.
An Indian activist participates in a candlelight vigil in New Delhi on Oct. 3 against the slaying of a Muslim who was killed allegedly for eating and storing beef in his house.
Modi, a canny communicator who has cultivated a relationship with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, has sought to project an image of a muscular, modernizing India, which plays well among his many middle-class supporters as well as audiences overseas.
But the Moody’s report, titled “India Outlook: Searching for Potential” and written by Sydney-based economist Faraz Syed, could rattle Modi’s government by drawing a connection between the sectarian strife and India’s lagging economic performance.
The report said India’s economic growth rate of 7.3% in September was “below potential” and the country’s exports could be hurt by a slowdown in global demand. It also noted that India’s stock market, which boomed on excitement over Modi’s victory, has fallen 11% because of the government’s “consistent failure to deliver key economic reforms.”
Modi faces another key test in early November with elections in Bihar, one of India’s largest and most impoverished states, where the BJP is locked in a tight battle with a coalition of rival parties.
Modi, who has campaigned vigorously in the state, drew criticism this week when he told a rally that the BJP’s opponents would take affirmative action slots from Hindu lower classes and give them to “another community.” Commentators said it was an unspoken reference to Muslims, who make up a large minority in Bihar and about 14% of India’s 1.2 billion population.
“Overall, it’s unclear whether India can deliver the promised reforms and hit its growth potential,” the Moody’s report said. “Undoubtedly, numerous political outcomes will dictate the extent of success.”
Special correspondent Parth M.N. contributed to this report.
The United States has made “the long bet” on India as an important partner in advancing their collective security interests in the South Asian region, according to a senior Obama administration official. “In the South Asia region, we have made the long bet on India as an important partner in advancing our collective security interests,” said Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Nisha Desai Biswal at an event here last week.
“The United States and India have a unique ability and opportunity to shape this region’s future for good,” she said at the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army, according to the transcript of her address released by State Department Oct. 19.
Nisha Desai Biswal
And, to that end, earlier this year President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid out a Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, Biswal noted.
“This landmark document affirms the importance of safeguarding maritime security, ensuring freedom of navigation – especially in the South China Sea – and peacefully resolving territorial and maritime disputes,” she said.
“We’re also building India’s capacity through our defense trade – like that C-17 they brought their soldiers to Washington in, or the C-130s they used to deliver relief supplies after Nepal’s earthquake,” Biswal said. Last month, the Indian Air Force finalized a $3 billion deal for Apache and Chinook helicopters, she noted.
The U.S. was also helping India develop aircraft carrier and jet engine technology as part of their Defense Technology and Trade Initiative launched back in 2012. U.S. and India are also “increasingly cooperating in countering the threats posed by non-state actors through increased counter-terrorism cooperation in the region,” she said. The recently-signed Joint Declaration on Combating Terrorism paved the way for greater intelligence sharing and capacity building.
The U.S., she noted, conducted “more military exercises with India than any other country and we are fast becoming India’s biggest defense partner”. “Great examples include Exercise Yudh Abhyas, an Army to Army exercise that brought 150 Indian Army soldiers to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State where they arrived aboard an Indian Air Force C-17, and MALABAR, currently underway with India and Japan.”
“Together with 225 American soldiers, our armies practiced working together in peacekeeping and counter-terrorism operations,” Biswal said. “They also exchanged views on regional security and emerging challenges in the Indo-Pacific.” The US and India have also reached a major announcement on peacekeeping cooperation and the two countries are going to jointly train peacekeepers with several countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Eight Indian Americans have been named “Hillblazers” by the campaign of presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for raising at least $100,000 each for the Democratic frontrunner. Their names are prominently displayed on the election website of the Hillary campaign.
As per the list, updated Sept. 30, the Indian Americans Hillblazers are Ankit N. Desai, of Washington, D.C.; Shefali Razdan Duggal, of San Francisco; Raj Fernando, of Chicago; Frank Islam and Mahinder K. Tak, of Maryland; Deven J. Parekh, of New York; and Kamil and Talat Hasan, of California. It also has three Pakistani Americans as Hillblazers: Shaista Mahmood, of Virginia; and Asif Mahmood and Imaad Zuberi, both of California.
The United Nations came to be established in 1945 as a result of the world of 70 years ago, responding to the crisis of the World War II. The United Nations Security Council, the most powerful body of this international organization that represents the world’s 192 countries, has been dominated by the FIVE Permanent member states. India has served seven terms as a non-permanent member of UNSC and has echoed the need for expansion and reform in the Security Council. A permanent seat in UNSC would elevate India to the status of USA, UK, France, China and Russia in the diplomatic sphere and warrant India a critical say in all global matters that matter globally. The United Nations continued to be a representative of the world order of 1945.
Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister of India, has strongly pitched for reforms in the United Nations Security Council and pointed out that neither India with nearly a sixth of the world’s population nor the largest continent Africa in terms of number of countries were on board. India has made several attempts, making a strong pitch for early reforms of the United Nations Security Council before a gathering of Africa’s leaders, saying both India and Africa can no longer be excluded from their “rightful place” in the world body. “Although Indians and Africans comprise nearly 2.5 billion people, our nations continue to be excluded from appropriate representation in the institutions of global governance,” Sushma Swaraj said last week. Swaraj, who addressed the ministerial meeting of the third India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi, also referred to the scourge of terrorism faced by India and Africa, and said the menace of non-state actors and cross-border terrorism has acquired a new dimension.
“India and Africa can no longer be excluded from their rightful place of the permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council. How can we expect legitimacy from a governance structure that excludes the entire African continent and a country, which represents one-sixth of humanity?” Over 180,000 Indian troops have participated in U.N. peacekeeping missions – more than any other country, she pointed out.
She said India was committed to a people-centric approach for cooperation with African countries focusing on capacity building, human resource development, and technical and financial support for mutually agreed priorities. Unless there were more democratic global governance structures, a more equitable international security and development framework will continue to elude the world, Swaraj said.
She said “A major issue is that of UN Security Council reforms. The Security Council continues to be representative of a world order of 1945. It is inconceivable that the Security Council today does not have any permanent representation from Africa, which is the largest continent (in terms of number of countries),” Sushma Swaraj said while addressing the third India-Africa Editors’ Forum meeting here.
She said it was also incomprehensible that India, which represents almost one-sixth of the world’s population and has all credentials to be a permanent member of the Security Council, was still out of it. We all need to work together to remove this anomaly and the media has an important role in this,” she said.
India will surely have to cultivate a global consensus which will include the P-5. India is not the only country in the world eyeing a spot in UNSC. Other competing nations include the likes of Japan, Germany and Brazil. India commands three distinct characteristics which make its case for a permanent seat compelling. Currently having a population of 1.28 billion, India will become the most populous country in the world by 2022. Such a large portion of the planet’s population cannot be altogether ignored or kept at a distance from the decision making table of UNSC which brings with itself the “veto” power. Secondly, India happens to be the second fastest growing economy in the world making it an ideal destination for foreign investment and future growth. Thirdly, India is ruled by a democratic, secular government which has never been upstaged by an army coup and can be labelled as a “responsible” nuclear power.
A reform in UN Security Council would necessitate the need for an amendment in the UN Charter which is possible only when a resolution is adopted by two-third member nations in the UN General Assembly. It has to be further ratified by the constitutional process of two-third member nations including P-5. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest is on record stating “President (Obama) would support the inclusion of India in that process (reform of UNSC)” but cables leaked by Wikileaks quoted Former US Secretary of State and arguably the next American president Hillary Rodham Clinton ridiculing countries like India as “self appointed front-runners” for a permanent membership of UNSC.
“We are dismayed at the opaque manner in which the Security Council continues to mandate peace operations, without any accountability or transparency,” India’s Permanent Representative Asoke Kumar Mukerji said at a General Assembly session on peacekeeping operations. “The human costs of this failing are evident in both the rising number of casualties among UN peacekeepers, as well as an alarming growth in the number of civilians, now reaching 60 million according to the Secretary General, whose lives are being disrupted by the conflicts that an ineffective Security Council is powerless to resolve,” Mukerji added. He appealed to Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft to “take the lead to prioritize agreement on an early reform of the Security Council during this 70th Session.”
Since he decided to enter the race to become the next President of the United States, Jindal has done everything possible to position himself for a serious run at the White House. Jindal has been polling at or below 1 percent in each national poll conducted by various news media outlets across the nation.
However, after failing to receive the necessary 2.5 percent support in a CNN poll to achieve a spot at the national debate’s main stage Oct. 28, the Louisiana Indian American governor told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Oct. 20 he isn’t committed to attending the CNBC undercard debate. “We haven’t made a decision yet,” Jindal told Blitzer. “They still have the opportunity to do the right thing.”
A new poll out Monday, October 26th confirms that Ben Carson is topping Donald Trump in Iowa’s Republican caucuses — this time by 14 points. According to the Monmouth University poll released Monday, Carson is leading Trump 32% to 18% among likely Republican Iowa voters. In a Monmouth poll conducted in August, the two had been tied at 23%. The poll confirms a shift in the state identified by two other polls in the past week. In the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll, Trump was up 9 points, and Quinnipiac University showed him up 8 percentage points.
The poll had good news for other GOP candidates, as well. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has picked up 6 percentage points since August, to 10%. That’s good enough to tie for third place with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Jeb Bush has picked up three points to be in fifth place, at 8%. His favorability rates have also improved 8 points since August. On the other hand, Carly Fiorina’s post-debate bounce has seemingly ebbed, as she dropped from 10% in August to 5% in Monday’s poll.
Earlier this months, polls pointed to Donald Trump as their strongest general election candidate, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that highlights the sharp contrast between the party’s voters and its top professionals regarding the billionaire businessman’s ultimate political strength. Seven in 10 Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters say Trump could win in November 2016 if he is nominated, and that’s the most who say so of any candidate. By comparison, 6 in 10 say the same for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who, like Trump, has tapped into the powerful wave of antiestablishment anger defining the early phases of the 2016 contest.
Jindal, the first ever Indian American to be on the campaign mode, seeking to win the White House has been trailing behind almost all other Republican candidates. Jindal, in the CNN/ORC poll published Oct. 21, joined Jim Gilmore and George Pataki with less than 1 percent support. Four hundred sixty-five Republicans were polled. Those polled were asked who would be their first choice among the current GOP candidates and Jindal received an asterisk, or less than 1 percent support. When asked for their second choice, 1 percent of those polled said they would choose Jindal.
According to published sources, his record of good governance in his state is lackluster. He is described as a supporter of the rich. In his state, he was in favor of abolishing all corporate and personal income tax but in favor of raising the sales tax in order to make up for the loss of revenue to the state. His legislature wisely refused to go along with him for such regressive taxation.
Jindal refused to accept federal funding of $1.65 billion to expand Medicaid to the poor. He is pro-life and anti-abortion, and against same-sex marriage. He is against public funding of embryonic stem cell research. He favors the teaching of intelligent design in schools. He was against enforcing laws for the prevention of hate crimes in his state. His state ranked last for transparency in the United States.
Month after month, week after week, Gov. Bobby Jindal has been working to make himself relevant to the 2016 presidential election. Every week, Jindal made some (increasingly) desperate attempt for attention and relevance. On the rare occasion he made an appearance in Louisiana, he’s done everything possible to establish himself as a champion of “religious freedom.” He signed an executive order to give license to businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples. He’s even championed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would outlaw same-sex marriage.
As per media reports, despite having made a wreck of the state’s budget (including structural deficits for years), he’s also sold his soul to Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Although he has approved more than $700 million in tax increases, Jindal desperately wants GOP voters in Iowa and New Hampshire to see him as the candidate most violently against tax increases. According to CNBC’s guidelines, candidates need at least 2.5 percent on an average of NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, CNN and Bloomberg polls to qualify for the main stage event, debating to win the Republican presidential nomination.
In an ever growing clout of Indo-Canadians, 15 Liberal candidates of Indian origin, 3 from the Conservative Party and an Indo-Canadian belonging to New Democratic Party (NDP) won the election to the Canadian Parliament in the general elections to 338 seats. The Liberals got a parliamentary majority that will allow them to govern without relying on other parties.
The results of the national elections to the Canadian Parliament were declared on October 20th, 2015. The Indian-Canadians more than doubled their representation in the Canadian parliament from eight to 19 as Canadians voted out the Conservative Party by handing out a landslide to the Liberal Party.
Gosal lost to fellow Indian-Canadian Ramesh Sangha of the Liberal Party in Brampton Center, and Grewal of the Conservative Party lost in Fleetwood-Port Kells, British Columbia. But the biggest surprise was created by Darshan Kang of the Liberal Party, who won the Calgary Skyview seat for his party for the first time in 50 years by beating fellow Indian-Canadians Devinder Shory of the Conservative Party and Sahajvir Singh Randhawa of the New Democratic Party.
The outgoing minister of state Tim Uppal retained his seat by beating Amarjeet Singh Sahi of the Liberal Party and Jasvir Deol of the NDP in Edmonton Mill Woods. Most Indian-Canadian victories came in Canada’s biggest province of Ontario.
In Brampton East, Raj Grewal of the Liberal Party beat Harbaljit Kahlon of the NDP and Naval Bajaj of the Conservative Party. Bajaj is the former president of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. In Brampton West, Kamal Khera of the Liberal Party beat Ninder Thind of the Conservative Party. In Brampton North, Ruby Sahota of the Liberal Party beat outgoing MP Parm Gill of the Conservative Party and white Sikh Martin Singh of the NDP.
While longest-serving MP Deepak Obhrai, a 65-year-old Conservative lawmaker, won for the seventh time from Calgary Forest Lawn, outgoing minister of state Bal Gosal and four-time MP Nina Grewal were prominent Indian-origin Canadians who lost their fight to hold back their seats to the Parliament.
“I have a strong record both as a representative of the constituency as well as working in government and in the opposition over the years I have been in Parliament,” Obhrai, who began his career as a Reform Party lawmaker, was quoted as saying by the Calgary Sun.
For over a century, Canada has benefited from the talent and hard work of newcomers from India. Tens of thousands of Indians continue to make the journey to Canada every year to help us build our country, our economy and, in many cases, to settle permanently and become Canadians.
Canada remains a destination of choice for visitors, students and business travellers from India. In 2013, Canada issued more than 130,000 visas to people coming to visit family, friends or as tourists. Canada welcomed almost 14,000 students and admitted more than 33,000 Indian citizens as permanent residents.
The Canadian government has been making changes to facilitate legitimate travel, welcoming more visitors, businesspeople and students to Canada than ever before. The Business Express Program (BEP), introduced in 2008, was created to ensure faster processing of visa applications for businesspeople. In addition, the Worker Express Program, which provides expedited service to applicants sent to Canada by companies under the BEP, was introduced in India in June 2009 and has since benefited more than 7,200 Indian citizens.
In addition to the BEP, in July 2011, the government extended the duration of multiple-entry visas from five to 10 years allowing visitors to enter and exit Canada for up to six months at a time over a 10-year period. The Parent and Grandparent Super Visa remains a fast and convenient option for parents and grandparents who want to spend longer periods of time with their families in Canada. By the end of February 2014, more than 31,000 Super Visas had been issued, and almost 97 percent of qualified Super Visa applicants were approved.
According to reports, more than 33,000 Indians became permanent residents in 2013, a 17 percent increase since 2008. The number of visitor visas issued in 2013 to Indian citizens represents an increase of 14 percent since 2008. Nearly four times more Indian students entered Canada in 2013 than in 2008 when 3,566 Indian citizens entered Canada as students. Canada welcomed more than 50,000 parents and grandparents to Canada during 2012 and 2013. Canada plans to welcome 20,000 more over the coming year.
Indian-Canadians make up over three per cent of Canada’s population of about 35 million and have become a significant political force. There were eight lawmakers of Indian-origin in Canada in 2011.
The 2015 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been criticized by India but lauded by Republican presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio after its release October 14th.
The report listed India as a Tier 2 country, in which “the violations engaged in or tolerated by the government are serious and characterized by at least one of the elements of the ‘systematic, ongoing and egregious’ standard, but do not fully meet the CPC (countries of particular concern) standard.”
Six out of 29 state governments in India enforced existing “anti-conversion” laws and there were also reports of religiously motivated killings, arrests, coerced religious conversions, religiously-motivated riots, and actions restricting the right of individuals to change religious beliefs, according to the report.
“In some cases, local police failed to respond effectively to communal violence, including attacks against religious minorities, although local officials used broad authorities to deploy police and security forces to control outbreaks of religiously-motivated violence,” it read. The local non-governmental organization Act Now for Harmony and Democracy reported over 800 religiously-motivated attacks from May through the end of the year, it said.
India snubbed the report that expressed concern over reports of religiously-motivated killings in the country, saying the Indian constitution provides every citizen equal religious, political and social rights.
According to media reports, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the report is “internal to the U.S. administration. It is widely acknowledged that the Indian constitution guarantees equal rights – religious, political and social rights – to its citizens, including its minorities; and any abuses are handled by internal process, including the judiciary, a vibrant media, civil society and the National Human Rights Commission etc.”
However, the report gave a thumbs-up to the Indian authorities as they “continued to enforce laws designed to protect ‘religious sentiments’ and minimize the risk of religious violence, which some argued had the effect of limiting freedom of expression related to religion.”
Meanwhile, Rubio called for Pakistan to be designated as a Country of Particular Concern, adding the State Department does not utilize the tools it has to name and shame violators of religious freedom. “Religious freedom must be a bedrock of American foreign policy. The stakes are too high for anything less. We need to redouble our efforts to serve as a beacon for religious freedom around the world and press countries to implement policies that protect religious expression and worship,” Rubio said in a statement.
The administration should re-designate countries every year for their religious freedom violations, Rubio urged. In its global overview, the report said, in 2014, non-state actors committed some of the world’s most egregious abuses of religious freedom and other human rights. Government failure, delay, and inadequacy in combating these groups often had severe consequences for people living under significant and dire restrictions on, and interference with, their exercise of freedom of religion, it said. Pakistan has been placed as a Tier 1 country, comprised of “countries whose governments engage in or tolerate particularly severe violations of religious freedom that are systematic, ongoing and egregious,” the report said.
Indian American and Asian American organizations, joined the White House in launching a public awareness campaign to address bullying in the middle of National Bullying Prevention Month. The “Act To Change” public awareness campaign was launched by the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Sikh Coalition and Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment to empower Asian American and Pacific Islander youth, educators and communities with information and tools to address and prevent the problem.
The Initiative, co-chaired by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Vivek Murthy and led by Ahuja, is housed within the U.S. Department of Education. “The ‘Act To Change’ campaign, and the strong coalition behind it, is a critical and necessary step forward for empowering our communities to stand up against bullying,” Sapreet Kaur, Sikh Coalition executive director, said in a statement.
“Bullying is a major civil rights issue for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in particular,” Initiative executive director Kiran Ahuja said in a statement. “We’ve seen too often AAPI groups, including Sikh, Muslim, Micronesian, LGBT, and limited English-proficient youth, targeted for bullying and harassment.”
Sikhs have become the poster child for this pervasive problem in post 9/11 classrooms, largely because of their articles of faith. The Sikh Coalition’s 2014 national bullying report found that 67% of turbaned Sikh children in varying U.S. communities have been bullied.
“The bullying of Sikh children is an epidemic,” said the Sikh Coalition’s Law and Policy director Arjun Singh. “Misinformation and misunderstanding regarding the Sikh faith, coupled with a dramatic increase in bigoted dialogue towards religious minorities, has resulted in intolerance and bullying in our schools.”
The campaign website, ActToChange.org, and its social media tag #ActToChange, provide AAPI youth and community members with platforms to share their stories, engage in dialogue around bullying awareness and prevention, and “Take the Pledge” to join the #ActToChange movement.
Video testimonials, music playlists, and blog stories provide messages of empowerment and support from AAPI athletes, artists, entertainers, and community members. As one in three AAPIs does not speak English fluently, the campaign offers resources in multiple languages: Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.
Campaign partners will host a live event in Los Angeles, Calif., at the Japanese American National Museum Nov. 21. The public event will feature armchair dialogues and performances with distinguished personalities and community members. Prior to the event, OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates, a national civil rights organization — will host high school advocacy training, expanding upon its existing “APA Y-Advocate” program to include a bullying prevention curriculum.
Maulik Pancholy, a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on AAPI, said, “Growing up, sometimes people made me feel like an outsider; I was the perfect storm of nerdy, gay and Indian American,” in discussing the campaign. “But now, I’ve come to find that those very things that were sometimes used as fodder against me are the things I love the most about myself,” he wrote in a White House blog post.
“I have the privilege to be connected to amazing communities of incredible people: people who know that it’s actually cool to nerd out about stuff, who celebrate the strength and joy of what it means to identify as LGBT, and who appreciate the rich cultural heritage of being Indian American.”
“It’s okay to be weird, but it’s NOT okay to be bullied,” said Pancholy, noting: “Every day, kids of all ages suffer from being bullied in schools across the country.” In the AAPI community, this problem is often complicated by cultural, religious and linguistic barriers that can keep AAPI youth from getting the help they need, he said.
“And we’ve seen that certain AAPI groups — including South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Micronesian and limited English proficient youth — are more likely to be the targets of bullying,” Pancholy wrote.
Every year, Indians for Collective Action, one of the oldest San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit organizations focused on development and social entrepreneurship in India, has been honoring outstanding people who have been doing groundbreaking work to help the most under-served communities in India.
This year, ICA is celebrating its Annual Recognition Dinner honoring Padmashree and Magsaysay Award winners Dr. Prakash Amte and Dr. Mandakini Amte of LBP, Pune, India, and Padma Bhushan Dr. Thomas Kailath, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, Calif. (the Indian American educator is also the recipient of the 2014 Science & Technology Innovation Award from President Obama), on Oct. 11 at the India Community Center.
Since 1974, Dr. Prakash Amte (son of renowned humanitarian Baba Amte) and Prakash and Mandakini Amte, along with their organization Lok Biradari Prakalp, have spent 40 years bridging the gap between the two worlds — that of the beneficiaries of modern science and technology and of the Madia Gond tribals, who live on the fringes of society without such basic necessities as food, clothing and shelter.
The doctor couple helped them assert their rights and intervened to mediate disputes and get rid of abusive officials. Today, the Amtes’ tribal area hospital treats 40,000 patients a year free of charge. Also, the popular animal orphanage run by the Amtes at Hemalkasa, Maharashtra, promotes the survival of animals as a part of nature’s balance.
Thomas Kailath, Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, has been widely acclaimed for his contributions to science and technology. His numerous recognitions include the IEEE Medal of Honor in 2007, a Padma Bhushan award in 2009 from the president of India, and election to the major science and engineering academies in the U.S., India, UK and Spain.
In 2014, President Barack Obama honored him with a U.S. National Medal of Science for “transformative contributions to the fields of information and system sciences, dedicated and sustained mentoring of young scholars, and for translation of scientific ideas into entrepreneurial ventures that have had a significant impact on industry.”
Kailath has been actively supporting numerous community and philanthropic initiatives in this country and in India, including ICA’s Sarah Kailath Women’s Leadership Program in India, since 2008. The cost of the event is $55 per person and $65/pp at the gate, which is partially tax deductible. You can register online for the event at: www.icaonline.org
A recent Pew Research Center study has predicted that Asian immigrants will surpass those of Hispanics by the year 2055 in the United States. The study, published Sept. 28, said that immigration in the U.S. has increased from 9.6 million in 1965 to 45 million this year. And by 2065, researchers said there will be roughly 78 million immigrants throughout the nation.
In the 50 years since 1965, America’s population growth was heavily weighted by new immigrants coming over with their children and grandchildren to the tune of 55 percent. In turn, the nation’s demographics have shifted.
In 1965, 84 percent of Americans were non-Hispanic white people. But by 2015, non-Hispanic white people accounted for 62 percent of the population. The Hispanic population in the nation, over that same time span, has grown from 4 percent to 18 percent. Likewise, the Asian population grew from 1 percent in 1965 to 6 percent this year.
The data reflects the change resulting from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 when the U.S. swept away a national origins quota system that favored immigrants from Europe. It changed its focus to family reunification and skilled immigrants.
Pew’s researchers have determined that there will be another shift coming, but within the immigration population. While Hispanics have accounted for the largest percentage of the population among U.S. immigrants since the 1965 act, Asians will slowly overtake the lead in that category in the next 40 years. Currently 47 percent of immigrants are of Hispanic descent. Asian immigrants, which include Pacific Islanders, account for 26 percent in 2015.
While Hispanics will have a larger population for the considerable future, by 2055, researchers said, Asian immigrants will leapfrog Hispanics as the largest immigrant population in the U.S., at 36 percent to 34 percent. That percentage gap will grow by 2065 to a 7 percent margin with Asian immigrants totaling 38 percent of the population to Hispanics’ 31 percent.
In total population, Asians will account for 14 percent of America’s total population – those born in the U.S. and abroad – by 2065, up from the 6 percent in 2015. Meanwhile, by 2055, no racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of the population. The non-Hispanic whites’ population in the country will be less than 50 percent by 2055 and is projected to be 46 percent by 2065.
The historic visit by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi to the United States last month has strengthened the bonds between India and the US, the two largest democracies of the world and opened up new avenues of co-operation, top American lawmakers have said.
“There are many different areas and sectors where the U.S. and India’s growing friendship will cover mutually beneficial ground. Prime Minister Modi’s second visit to the U.S. has allowed us to continue to strengthen those bonds and explore new opportunities for us to work together,” Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, said.
Gabbard is the first ever Hindu Congresswoman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She was among the top American lawmakers to have met Modi and attended his address to the community at SAP Center in San Jose, California. During her meeting with Modi, she and other members of Congress discussed plans to build U.S.-India relations and promote technology partnerships. “Prime Minister’s 2-day tour of Silicon Valley included meetings with technology executives who offered their ideas and assistance in bringing India fully into the digital world,” she said.
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who also met Modi in San Jose, said Modi’s visit to Silicon Valley is symbol of the collaboration and cooperation between the US and India. “Innovation and entrepreneurship are values that both of our countries excel at and serve as a model for,” he said. Among the members of Congress who attended the event were the Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Ami Bera and George Holding, co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Indians and Indian Americans; Eric Swalwell; Mike Honda and Jim McDermott.
Congressman Matt Salmon said the India and the U.S. were natural partners. “Our growing cooperation on issues like counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, and maritime security is a positive development for the region and the world,” he said. “At the same time, our economic and commercial ties have not kept pace with our deepening political ties,” he said.
“I am pleased to support the elevation of commercial issues in the recently concluded first U.S.-India Strategic and Economic Dialogue and Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the U.S., where he heard ideas first-hand from entrepreneurs and business leaders in Silicon Valley on how we might advance our economic relationship,” Salmon said.
Following her meeting with Modi over the weekend, Congressman John Garamendi said that he raised the concerns of about the treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in India with the Prime Minister. He is Sikh Caucus Co-Chair. “I appreciate that Prime Minister Modi gave me the opportunity to discuss these critical issues. Rest assured that he knows where I stand and that the message of my constituents was heard loud and clear,” he said.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was honored on by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations for her leadership in removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol building grounds this summer. The award was given at a dinner ceremony by Harvard Foundation Director S. Allen Counter at Winthrop House in Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass on October 1st, 2015.
In her speech, Haley talked of a “New South” that was tackling historical problems of racial and economic inequality, the Harvard Crimson reported in its online edition. Haley also indicated the Republican Party was committed to solving the problems of the poor and people of color in her state. “I would not have won the Republican primary if this were a racially intolerant party,” she is quoted saying in the Crimson.
Haley is considered a “Rising Star” in the party, and her national image rose dramatically following her decision to remove the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds after the massacre of 9 black members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. by white supremacist Dylann Roof.
Haley spoke about the difference between how South Carolinians responded to the massacre compared to the violence that ensued in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland, after killings of unarmed blacks at the hands of police there. The uprisings, she said, hurt black people already facing police violence whereas in South Carolina people came together to mourn the loss of life.
Harvard Foundation Director S. Allen Counter presented her with an award of appreciation for her calls to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol this past summer. In remarks in Winthrop House, Haley described the bright future of a “New South” dedicated to tackling historical problems of racial and economic inequality. She also offered a defense of the Republican Party and its values in solving problems for low-income people and people of color in her state.
Haley entered the political spotlight this summer after nine black members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., were shot and killed, allegedly in a racially motivated attack by Dylann Roof. Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol in the wake of the killings, and many people throughout the country celebrated her subsequent signing of the bill that took the flag down.
Reflecting on her choice to call for the removal of the flag, Haley said that “the State House belongs to all people, and it needed to be welcoming to all people. That was not possible with the flag flying,” she concluded.
Haley spoke in depth about how South Carolina residents responded to this summer’s massacre, contrasting it with the violence that erupted in cities like Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore after killings of unarmed black people at the hands of police there.
Haley, while maintaining that “black lives do matter,” argued that the uprisings in other cities in fact hurt black people who face police violence. Charleston, in contrast, saw no violence in the wake of the church massacre, with Haley describing the local reaction as a peaceful coming together to mourn the loss of life. Haley met with University President Drew G. Faust and Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana during her visit, according to Counter.
Let’s pause a moment to thank an under-appreciated Congress for one of its great accomplishments: the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which turned 50 on Saturday. The law ended the era of race-based immigration, a quota system based on national origin that overwhelmingly favored white European immigrants.
If you have ever wondered how and why this country had to stop looking at itself as the America of the Disney movies of the mid-1960s — the ones with Fred MacMurray and Keenan Wynn, where everyone seemed to be white and Midwestern and the men wore bowties to supper — you can look to the 1965 law, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, which greatly widened the gateway to immigrants from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, among other places.
The White House was host to a citizenship ceremony today to celebrate Hart-Celler. The speakers included the historian Taylor Branch, who quoted President Johnson’s stirring words at the signing ceremony at the foot of the Statue of Liberty. The bill, Johnson said, corrected the “harsh injustice” of national-origins quotas, erasing “a cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of the American nation.”
Mr. Branch said he counted himself among the historians who view Hart-Celler as “a third pillar of democratic fulfillment from the Civil Rights era, along with the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
He placed the bill on a long, slow timeline of American course-correction and self-improvement, a step forward for a country that had learned to turn away from white supremacy, the ownership of human beings and the subjugation of women and was now confronting the many varieties of legal and institutional discrimination and forced inequality.
Hart-Celler affirmed, Mr. Branch said, “that the United States is founded not on any language or ethnic identity,” but rather on the idealism embodied in its founding document’s first three words: “We the people.”
Speaking to the 15 newly sworn citizens in the room, Branch said, “You are a testament to that ideal.” He noted that the bill gets little attention, is misunderstood by many and scorned by some. “There is no Martin Luther King of immigration reform,” he said, “nor any landmark anniversary on par with Selma and the March on Washington.”
But you could say Hart-Celler’s landmark anniversary is the one held in the heart of every immigrant on the day he or she takes the naturalization oath, rejecting old allegiances and joining the citizenry, full-fledged and proud.
The United States has long been—and continues to be—a key destination for the world’s immigrants. Over the decades, immigrants from different parts of the world arrived in the U.S. and settled in different states and cities. This led to the rise of immigrant communities in many parts of the U.S.
The nation’s first great influx of immigrants came from Northern and Western Europe. In 1850, the Irish were the largest immigrant group nationally and in most East Coast and Southern states. By the 1880s, Germans were the nation’s largest immigrant group in many Midwestern and Southern states. At the same time, changes to U.S. immigration policy had a great impact on the source countries of immigrants. In 1880, Chinese immigrants were the largest foreign-born group in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Nevada. But with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese immigrants were prevented from entering the U.S. As a result, other immigrant groups rose to become the largest in those states.
Fifty years after passage of the landmark law that rewrote U.S. immigration policy, nearly 59 million immigrants have arrived in the United States, pushing the country’s foreign-born share to a near record 14%. For the past half-century, these modern-era immigrants and their descendants have accounted for just over half the nation’s population growth and have reshaped its racial and ethnic composition.
Looking ahead, new Pew Research Center U.S. population projections show that if current demographic trends continue, future immigrants and their descendants will be an even bigger source of population growth. Between 2015 and 2065, they are projected to account for 88% of the U.S. population increase, or 103 million people, as the nation grows to 441 million.
These are some key findings of a new Pew Research analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data and new Pew Research U.S. population projections through 2065, which provide a 100-year look at immigration’s impact on population growth and on racial and ethnic change. In addition, this report uses newly released Pew Research survey data to examine U.S. public attitudes toward immigration, and it employs census data to analyze changes in the characteristics of recently arrived immigrants and paint a statistical portrait of the historical and 2013 foreign-born populations.
Immigration since 1965 has swelled the nation’s foreign-born population from 9.6 million then to a record 45 million in 2015. The current immigrant population is lower than the 59 million total who arrived since 1965 because of deaths and departures from the U.S. By 2065, the U.S. will have 78 million immigrants, according to the new Pew Research population projections.
The nation’s immigrant population increased sharply from 1970 to 2000, though the rate of growth has slowed since then. Still, the U.S. has—by far—the world’s largest immigrant population, holding about one-in-five of the world’s immigrants.
Between 1965 and 2015, new immigrants, their children and their grandchildren accounted for 55% of U.S. population growth. They added 72 million people to the nation’s population as it grew from 193 million in 1965 to 324 million in 2015.
This fast-growing immigrant population also has driven the share of the U.S. population that is foreign born from 5% in 1965 to 14% today and will push it to a projected record 18% in 2065. Already, today’s 14% foreign-born share is a near historic record for the U.S., just slightly below the 15% levels seen shortly after the turn of the 20th century. The combined population share of immigrants and their U.S.-born children, 26% today, is projected to rise to 36% in 2065, at least equaling previous peak levels at the turn of the 20th century.
The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act made significant changes to U.S. immigration policy by sweeping away a long-standing national origins quota system that favored immigrants from Europe and replacing it with one that emphasized family reunification and skilled immigrants. At the time, relatively few anticipated the size or demographic impact of the post-1965 immigration flow. In absolute numbers, the roughly 59 million immigrants who arrived in the U.S. between 1965 and 2015 exceed those who arrived in the great waves of European-dominated immigration during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1840 and 1889, 14.3 million immigrants came to the U.S., and between 1890 and 1919, an additional 18.2 million arrived.
After the replacement of the nation’s European-focused origin quota system, greater numbers of immigrants from other parts of the world began to come to the U.S. Among immigrants who have arrived since 1965, half (51%) are from Latin America and one-quarter are from Asia. By comparison, both of the U.S. immigration waves in the mid-19th century and early 20th century consisted almost entirely of European immigrants.
As a result of its changed makeup and rapid growth, new immigration since 1965 has altered the nation’s racial and ethnic composition. In 1965, 84% of Americans were non-Hispanic whites. By 2015, that share had declined to 62%. Meanwhile, the Hispanic share of the U.S. population rose from 4% in 1965 to 18% in 2015. Asians also saw their share rise, from less than 1% in 1965 to 6% in 2015.
The Pew Research analysis shows that without any post-1965 immigration, the nation’s racial and ethnic composition would be very different today: 75% white, 14% black, 8% Hispanic and less than 1% Asian. The arrival of so many immigrants slightly reduced the nation’s median age, the age at which half the population is older and half is younger. The U.S. population’s median age in 1965 was 28 years, rising to 38 years in 2015 and a projected 42 years in 2065. Without immigration since 1965, the nation’s median age would have been slightly older—41 years in 2015; without immigration from 2015 to 2065, it would be a projected 45 years.
By the early 20th century, a new wave of immigration was underway, with a majority coming from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe. By the 1930s, Italians were the largest immigrant group in the nation and in nine states, including New York, Louisiana, New Jersey and Nevada.
The composition of immigrants changed again in the post-1965 immigration era. By the 1980s, Mexicans became the nation’s largest immigrant group; by 2013, they were the largest immigrant group in 33 states. But other immigrant groups are represented as well. Chinese immigrants are the largest immigrant group in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Indians are the largest immigrant group in New Jersey. Filipinos are the largest immigrant group in Alaska and Hawaii.
Shashi N. Kumar, an Indian American has been named to two posts at the Maritime Administration. Currently the academic dean at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kumar will take on the roles of deputy associate administrator and national coordinator for the Maritime Education and Training at MARAD’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. At MARAD, Kumar is expected to lead the efforts in bolstering the country’s pool of merchant marines and help address the needs of state and federal maritime academies.
Dr. Shashi Kumar
“After serving at the United States Merchant Marine Academy since January 2007 as the academic dean and as interim superintendent three times, I am moving on to pursue other challenges,” Kumar said in a statement. Kumar is a graduate of the University of Ulster, Maine Maritime Academy and the University of Wales, Cardiff, the latter from which he earned his doctorate in applied economics.
He has been honored with a number of awards pertaining to his service and leadership over the years, and, in June, was named an honorary alumnus of USMMA. A member of several marine- and maritime-based organizations, Kumar got his start in the industry at Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. in Singapore as the company’s master mariner in 1979. After about seven years there, Kumar moved on to the Maine Maritime Academy where, from 1987 to 2007, he served as the founding dean of the Loeb-Sullivan School of International Business and Logistics. Kumar will be leaving USMMA this month.
The Bihar state election, which begins on October 12 and concludes on November 8, will be the “biggest electoral test” for the Modi-led BJP government thus far, a top American think-tank has stated. The upcoming Bihar Assembly election this month will be the biggest electoral test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi this far, scholars from a top American think-tank have said, noting that the ramifications of its results will be felt far away from the state’s borders.
“No matter what the voters of Bihar decide, the ramifications will be felt far beyond the state’s borders,” scholars Milan Vaishnav and Saksham Khosla from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – a top U.S. think tank – wrote in an op-ed last week. If it prevails, this victory could provide the central government with new momentum. A win would bring BJP closer to a Rajya Sabha majority and boost its chances ahead of state elections in 2016 and 2017.
If it falls short, it would be a big blow, especially because Modi has associated his own reputation so closely with the campaign, even recently announcing a $ 19 billion (Rs1.25 lakh crore) economic package for the state, the Carnegie scholars wrote. The election could also make or break the careers of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his new found ally, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the think-tank scholars said.
“Kumar’s star, once among the brightest of all state leaders, has dimmed after the 2014 general election debacle. For Yadav, who will likely return to jail to serve time for a corruption conviction, a victory would maintain his and his family’s relevance in state politics,” they wrote. “Forming an alliance in Bihar would provide Congress some comfort for its spate of recent electoral defeats and boost the standing of the party’s heir-in-waiting, Rahul Gandhi,” they said.
Historically, Indian Americans have a played a key role in defining the relationship between India and the United States. Leaders from both India and the US have emphasized the contributions of the fast growing and influential Indian American community in the US in bringing India and the US closer than ever before in their histories.
President Barack Obama has said they welcome the role of Indian-Americans sought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the development of India. “Prime Minister Modi has called on the Indian diaspora in the United States which is very large and very successful to contribute their talents to India’s progress. “And that’s something that we welcome,” Obama said yesterday after his hour-long meeting with Modi at the UN headquarters here wherein the Prime Minister spoke about his weekend trip to Silicon Valley and how this would help the development of India.
“I was in Silicon Valley over the weekend. I experienced the strength of American innovation and enterprise that provide the foundation of American success. “I also saw the driving force of our relationship — youth, technology and innovation — and the natural partnership of Indians and Americans in advancing human progress,” Modi said.
Referring to his visit to California, Modi informed Obama about the conversations he had relating to startups, renewable energy and how the visit would probably lead to many new technology partnerships between India and U.S. In this context he also referred to the Start Up Konnect event where 40 startups from India had come to basically benefit from the ecosystem that already exists in the Silicon Valley and how India would create a similar ecosystem where startups would eventually scale up to larger entities, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the U.S. to woo American investors, the White House said President Barack Obama would work closely with him to expand economic opportunity for both Americans and Indians. “There are any number of reasons why the President would work closely with his counterpart, Prime Minister Modi,” on strengthening India-U.S. economic ties, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday.
Modi, who arrived in New York, had his third summit with Obama within a year after meeting investors in New York and tech leaders at Silicon Valley giants like Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Tesla among others.
When Obama travelled to India in January, “there was much discussion of the important economic ties between our two countries,” Earnest said in response to a question about the just concluded first India-U.S. strategic and commercial dialogue.
Several American business leaders had also travelled to India at the same time “to engage in discussions with Indian business leaders and leaders in the Indian government to discuss strengthening the ties between our two countries,” he noted.
“The idea here is that by strengthening these ties, we can expand economic opportunity in both of our countries; that the more business that American businesses can do in India, the more economic opportunity that it creates back here in the U.S.,” Earnest said. “There’s also a potential that Indian businesses choosing to invest in the United States could also expand some economic opportunity here as well,” he said. “So there are any number of reasons why the President would work closely with his counterpart, Prime Minister Modi,” Earnest said. Modi “understands these kinds of dynamics and shares the President’s goal of trying to deepen these ties with an eye toward expanding economic opportunity for the citizens in both the United States and India,” he said.
Earnest also reiterated Obama’s support for India’s inclusion in a reformed Security Council, but suggested India “take on additional responsibilities” in international matters by, for instance, playing “a constructive role in the climate talks in Paris.” The spokesperson recalled that during his first trip to India back in 2010, Obama had announced that the U.S. “would be supportive of including India in the United Nations Security Council in the context of reforming essentially the governance structure of the United Nations. That continues to be the position of the United States, and I think it reflects the increasingly important role that we’re seeing India play around the world,” he said.
“And as the world’s largest democracy and as a country whose economic influence is only growing, we would welcome additional opportunities for India to take on additional responsibilities when it comes to contributing to the shared interests of the international community,” Earnest said. “Certainly one way to do that would be for India to play a constructive role in the climate talks in Paris; that as a growing economy, India could make an important statement about the future of our planet by making a serious commitment in the context of those negotiations.” Obama and Modi have had talked about it in the past, Earnest said, “and I would anticipate that they’ll talk about it again in advance of the Paris climate talks.”
