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She is just 11 years old and Shayna Vidyanand is determined to make a difference to the lives of the underprivileged. This young Indian-American artist recently took the first step in this direction when she raised US$4,350 through the sale of her paintings to help provide vision to the poor. She donated the funds to Sankara Eye Foundation, which will use them towards 150 eye operations in rural India.

After reading an article about how a kid made an impact by donating his birthday gifts to Steph Curry’s foundation, Shayna Vidyanand decided to do the same with her initial works of art.

This private art exhibit, she said, was the first of her “Making Colors Matter” initiatives, with which she plans to help more and more people with her art. Vidyanand, who is fluent in Kannada, Tamil and English, started painting only a year ago. Her art is inspired from her exposure to a wide range of world cultures and her diverse surroundings.

She studies various forms of art from multiple teachers, painting oil on canvas, acrylic on canvas and has recently started sketching with pencils. The gifted artist loves to experiment with colors in her paintings and is typically bold with it. Shayna’s father Ramgopal Vidyanand said that she has always been a “very compassionate person to the less fortunate.”

Chicago IL: On December 11, 2017, Vaishnav Samaj of Midwest (VSM) and Vallabh Youth Organization – Education (VYOE) sponsored their first Toys for Tots event at Shreejidwar Haveli (located at 440 W. Fullerton Ave., Addison, IL).  The event was attended by Hon. Evelyn Sanguinetti (Lt. Governor of Illinois), Hon. Tim Schneider (Illinois State GOP Chairman), Hon. John Dabrowski (Bloomingdale Township Assessor), Hon. Nimish Jani (Schaumburg Township Trustee), Seth Lewis (State Senate Candidate) and Dr. Bhavna Sharma-Lewis (District 76 Superintendent).

It was a very successful and well-attended event by the members of the Vaishnav community with collection of 150 toys for donation.  VYOE students and parents provided warm welcome to the guests.

 Dr Umang Patel welcomed all the energetic students attending VYOE Sunday school, volunteers, Board of trustees and invited dignitaries. He thanked volunteers of VYOE for achieving phenomenal success of recruiting over120 students in Sunday school, in span of just two years.

Next speaker Hon. Nimish Jani (Schaumburg Township Trustee), introduced and thanked all the honorary guests for coming and blessing the special event on this cold Sunday. First He introduced Hon. Evelyn Sanguinetti (Lt. Governor of Illinois), in his introductory speech, he compared the startling success of Honorable Mrs. Evelyn Sanguinetti to the achievement of Indian diaspora. “Her Honor also arrived in this country as a poor child of Cuban Refugee parents and climbed the ladder of success due to burning desire, determination, hard work, charming personality, and succeeded in achieving one of the highest elected position in the Illinois Government today, namely Lt. Governor”.

Lt. Governor started the address with warm greeting of ‘Namaste’, thanked VSM and VYOE for organizing the Toys for Tots drive and contributing to the greater community. She particularly thanked Nimish Jani for educating her and educating her and other dignitaries with Vaishnava Samaj Hindu faith philosophy, Tour of shreeji-dwar haveli (temple) and giving her auspicious beautiful gift of ‘shawl’.

Next speaker Mr.Timothy Sneider, Chairman of Republican Party of Illinois. Started address with greeting “Jayshrikrishna” He taught students for achieving sincere lasting pleasure, contentment and ultimate ‘Nirvana’ in one’s life by Giving rather than receiving gifts. “Like what you are doing it today by donating these toys gift to needy boys and girls, rather than and keeping toys for yourself”.

Hon. John Dabrowski (Bloomingdale Township Assessor) thanked the organization for inviting them and demonstrating the outstanding work the group’s accomplishment. He wished all the success for the future endowers.

VSM leadership (Dr. Umang Patel, MD -Chairman and Mr. Jyotin Parikh, R.Ph -President) and VYOE leadership (Mrs. Paragi Patel, R.Ph -President VYOE Chicago and Dr. Vivek Shah, PhD -Lead VYOE Chicago) were the lead coordinators of the event with support from VYOE teachers, volunteers and parents.   The toys were donated by the children of VYOE was in alignment with Pujya Shri Vrajrajkumarji Mahodayshri’s message that sharing is the most important principle of being a Vaishnav.   VYOE also organized the presence of Santa Claus during the event in which the children took their pictures with the Santa.

The presence of the distinguished leaders provided evidence on the growth and expansion of the local Vaishnav community over the last two decades.  As an example, the Diwali and Hindu New Year event at the Haveli this year was attended by over three thousand individuals. Other special guests present were Seth Lewis (State Senate Candidate) and his wife Dr. Bhavna Sharma-Lewis (District 76 Superintendent).

Shreejidwar Haveli is a non-profit religious organization.  It is dedicated to serve the religious and cultural needs of the Hindu community since 2005 and is one of cornerstone Haveli of the Midwest region. VYOE is a Global non-profit organization that offers a unique learning program to develop an appreciation for India’s rich cultural heritage, a sound value system and a variety of life skills to the children for a more productive and well-rounded life.

BY TRANSCEND MEMBERS

Address By Ambassador Sergio Duarte – TRANSCEND Media Service

Thank you for the invitation to address this important and timely meeting. As a retired officer of the Brazilian Foreign Service, it is with special pride and honor that I return to this institution, where I spent a large part of my forty-eight years in the diplomatic career.

I was asked to provide a bird’s eye view of the three main topics of this Seminar, namely the contribution of the Treaty of Tlatelolco and ABACC to the security of Latin America and the world, the prospects for the 2020 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and the impact of the recent adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. I shall try to discharge the nearly impossible mission of dealing with these issues in the twenty minutes allotted to me but first may I be allowed to make a few general comments.

Seventy-one years have elapsed since the first Session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 1 on dealing “with the problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy”. It called for the elimination of nuclear weapons and all other weapons adaptable to mass destruction. Over those seven decades, the international community has successfully outlawed chemical and bacteriological weapons, but the problems related to the use of nuclear energy still defy humankind and have grown ever more complex. The high hopes of decades past based on the use of the atom to provide a clean, reliable and inexhaustible source of electric energy have been obscured by environmental and safety concerns due to disastrous accidents in civil nuclear facilities, coupled with the still unresolved question of the safe disposal of waste. The international security issues related to the military use of the explosive power of atomic fission and fusion proved even more intractable. There are still close to 15.000 nuclear weapons in the hands of nine States. 4.150 of those are deployed with operational forces and about 1.800 are kept in a state of “operational alert”. We are not told much about the status of the remaining ones.

Nuclear weapons started to proliferate in 1945 with the first experimental detonation of an explosive device intended to be used in war. Today, the horizontal dimension of nuclear proliferation seems to have been brought generally under control. However, vertical and technological proliferation continue unabated in the form of the relentless development of ever more sophisticated and destructive nuclear weapons. The economic aspect of the current “modernization” trend is particularly disturbing. Recent projections by the Arms Control Association estimate the cost of the nuclear weapons program in the United States alone over the next thirty years at somewhere around 1.35 trillion dollars, adjusted for anticipated inflation. By way of comparison, the cost of the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations just two years ago was set at a similar figure – 1.4 trillion dollars.

It is fair to recognize that over the past seven decades the international community has managed to achieve a certain degree of conceptual advancement and even some substantive progress in matters related to the control of nuclear weapons. Several agreements are now part of the corpus of positive international law and have helped to establish some important principles and rules in this area.

For instance, Latin America and the Caribbean States have been in the forefront of the quest for international regimes aimed at preventing the spread of – and at eliminating – nuclear weapons. One year before the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons – the NPT – was endorsed by the General Assembly the countries in our continent undertook to use the nuclear material and facilities under their jurisdiction exclusively for peaceful purposes and at the same time prohibited the testing, use, manufacture, production and acquisition of such weapons in our region. This example was later emulated by four other inhabited areas of the world. Nuclear weapon free zones now encompass the entire African continent and large parts of Oceania as well as of Southeastern and Central Asia, spanning 113 nations plus Mongolia. Similar zones free of nuclear weapons have been proposed for the Middle East, Northeast Asia and the Arctic regions. The South Atlantic has been declared a zone of peace and cooperation.

OPANAL, the agency established to ensure compliance with the obligations contained in the Treaty of Tlatelolco, has played an important role in fostering nuclear cooperation among Latin American and Caribbean countries and has actively sought partnerships with other nuclear free zones. OPANAL has consistently worked to strengthen the rather flimsy assurances given by the nuclear weapon States in the two Protocols attached to the Treaty.

Twenty-five years ago Argentina and Brazil signed the Guadalajara Agreement creating the Argentine-Brazilian Agency for the Accounting and Control of nuclear materials – ABACC in the Portuguese/Spanish acronym. A few months later the Quadripartite agreement involving Brazil, Argentina, ABACC and the IAEA came into being. The creation of the Common System of Control of Nuclear Materials permitted not only the reinforcement of confidence  through the mutual inspection of nuclear activities but also joint projects that enhance the strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship such as the current development of the Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor and of the Argentine RA-10 reactor. In a joint editorial published in July last year to commemorate the anniversary of ABACC, the Ministers of External Relations of the two countries stressed that the dynamics of Brazil-Argentina cooperation highlights not only the uniqueness of their bilateral relations but also their contribution to the region and the world at large with regard to security and non-proliferation. Our experience today serves as a model of how impasses could be overcome in other regions.

The Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is of course another landmark agreement. It is considered as the cornerstone of the multilateral non-proliferation regime. Over the 47 years since its entry into force the NPT has attracted near-universal membership. The unique conditions prevailing in the world in the 1960’s enabled the two superpowers to negotiate this agreement and steer its passage through the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee and the General Assembly. Such conditions are no longer present today. Most States have come to realize that their own security and that of the world at large would be better served by ensuring the absence of nuclear weapons, not only in their own territories but everywhere else. International peace and security cannot remain forever hostage to a precarious balance of terror.  The system of safeguards established by the NPT together with the IAEA has been so far instrumental in preventing the alarming predictions about horizontal proliferation from becoming reality, but the Treaty was ineffective to bring about nuclear disarmament. The obligation contained in Article VI of the Treaty remains unfulfilled.

For several disturbing reasons, the forthcoming Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT assumes great importance. Tensions between the two major nuclear powers, as well as in other regions, have increased since the failed 2015 Review Conference. A new and acute focus of stress emerged in Northeast Asia as the DPRK stepped up its nuclear weapon program and both Pyongyang and Washington engaged in mutual accusations and provocations to the point of explicitly threatening each other’s total destruction. A nuclear confrontation would entail catastrophic consequences for the whole world. Alarming signs are seen in some States where sectors of public opinion openly advocate the acquisition of indigenous nuclear capabilities. The agreement between the P5+1 and Iran, known under the acronym of JPCOA, is under severe strain and many fear for its sustainability. The use of nuclear devices by extremist groups became a frightening possibility. Last, but not least, for over twenty years now the Conference on Disarmament has been unable to achieve agreement even on a program of work, raising questions about its usefulness and permanence.

The first Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference took place last May. As in previous similar occasions, its outcome did not produce any agreed result. A second session will be held in April next year. The third – and last – session, in 2019, is supposed to deal substantively with the issues at hand. Yet, experience shows that substantive questions are left to be discussed at the Review Conference itself, and then again not always in a constructive, let alone productive mood. Five out of the nine Review Conferences so far have failed to achieve agreement on a Final Document. Many Parties believe that the “strengthened review process” agreed in 1995 as part of the package that permitted the indefinite extension of the NPT has outlived its usefulness.

Another reason for concern is the fact that the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), remains in a legal limbo. This instrument was adopted over twenty years ago but is still not formally into force due to the lack of signature and/or ratification by eight of the 44 States specified in its Article XIV. Nevertheless, the CTBT set a standard of behavior that has been observed by all States in the 21stcentury with the only exception of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This treaty is a powerful measure to prevent proliferation and it is hard to understand why some of the States already possessing nuclear weapons still resist transforming their self-declared testing moratorium into a legal obligation under international law.

The ominous trends described above bring into question the artificial division of the world established by the NPT. The world community is split between two blocks of States with different and largely opposing agendas. One group values nuclear weapons and regards them as essential for their own security and that of their allies, and even for the security of the whole world. The other considers such weapons militarily ineffective, morally indefensible and abhorrent on humanitarian grounds. In their view, the mere existence of nuclear weapons constitutes a threat to international peace and security.

While both groups agree on the desirability of achieving nuclear disarmament their diametrically opposed positions on matters related to security reflect a basic disagreement. The former argues that nuclear weapons have been responsible for keeping peace and stability since the end of World War II. This argument neglects recurrent strife and instability in many parts of the globe and does not take into account the inherent dangers and risks resulting from the use or misuse of nuclear weapons, by design or by accident. Although not discarding the possibility of using atomic weapons in the circumstances they deem adequate, nuclear armed States still insist that their main purpose is to deter aggression. Having established what they consider an exclusive and indefinite right to retain their arsenals, they adamantly deny every other nation similar means of safeguarding their own security. Even as they agree on disarmament as an “ultimate objective”, nuclear States and their allies maintain that the conditions for progress do not exist at present. Those States contend further that the way to move forward is to seek agreement on partial measures that seem feasible to them. One such measure, defined by their proponents as the “next logical step” would be a prohibition on the production of fissionable material for weapons purposes. In fact, as proposed, a ban on the production of fissionable material would be redundant from the point of view of non-proliferation and innocuous from the point of view of disarmament, for the simple reason that non-nuclear weapon States are already prohibited under the NPT from acquiring atomic weapons and the envisaged ban would leave intact the huge stocks of that material amassed by the nuclear weapon States. The other group contends that the conditions for progress have never been clearly spelled out, leading to the conclusion that the real intention is to postpone indefinitely any engagement in meaningful negotiations of concrete measures of nuclear disarmament. All attempts to start action in this direction at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva have met with strong resistance from the nuclear weapon countries. Indeed, the word “disarmament” seems to have disappeared from the lexicon of the armed States and their allies.

Rising concern over the humanitarian and environmental consequences of any use of nuclear weapons coupled with frustration over the lack of tangible results in nuclear disarmament prompted several States, including Brazil, to push forward a proposal to negotiate a treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. As we know, this instrument was successfully negotiated and adopted last July at the United Nations. Fifty-three States so far have signed and three have already ratified it.

The negotiation of that treaty was also fiercely opposed with varying degrees of vehemence by the possessors of nuclear weapons. Among other alleged defects, these States pointed out: a) that the concept of the Treaty fails to take into consideration the global security environment; b) that it would be ineffective; c) that the process of its negotiation was divisive, rather than consensual; d) that the prohibition is not a substitute for reductions in current arsenals; e) that it undermines the NPT, and finally, f) that a progressive, step-by step approach is a more suitable path to achieve nuclear disarmament.

To counter these contentions supporters of the Treaty point out: a) that the ban was not conceived in isolation of the existing security conditions and that its adversaries neglected to attend the preparatory conferences where their concerns could have been voiced, and preferred instead to indict the process from the start and boycott the negotiations; b) that in fact past efforts have been ineffective in producing a clear, legally binding commitment to eliminate nuclear weapons; c) that the new treaty does not create divisions among States but simply calls attention to the longstanding gulf that has been exacerbated by the perceived disregard of the nuclear weapon States for their obligations; d) that the Treaty will obviously not result in the automatic abolition of arsenals but will make the need for nuclear disarmament more visible and hasten multilateral action; e) that rather than undermining the NPT, the Treaty provides a path for its Parties to fulfill their legal obligation to pursue negotiations in good faith and bring them to a conclusion, as clarified by the ICJ in 1996. This is what is meant by in the expression “leading to their elimination” contained in the General Assembly mandate for the negotiation of the new instrument; and finally, f) the “step-by-step” approach favored by the nuclear weapon States and their allies over the decades has not resulted in a single multilateral measure of nuclear disarmament and has, in effect, served to justify the maintenance of the status quo.

Opponents of the Treaty contend further that it offers no solution to the grave threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program. This argument ignores, perhaps deliberately, that the most pointed approaches so far attempted to deal with the DPRK as an emerging nuclear weapon State have not been successful either.

Despite the enthusiasm of its supporters and the disparagement of its opponents, it is too early to assess the impact of the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty on the current debate on the ultimate achievement of nuclear disarmament. The history of the negotiation and the language of the final version of the Treaty show an endeavor to take every precaution in order to avoid any incompatibility between this instrument and the NPT. In the months after the opening of the instrument to the signature of States at the United Nations it will be possible to gauge the extent of international support to the Treaty. Upon ratification, individual countries will be able to consider the adoption of national legislation containing measures that can have an impact on the policies and practices of nuclear weapon countries. States will need to find a workable convergence between the existing normative basis and the new prohibition embodied in the Prohibition Treaty in order to ensure increased security for all nations and not for just a few armed ones and their allies.

May I conclude by recalling that the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene a UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament no later than in 2018 in order to evaluate progress and advance further the elimination of nuclear weapons. The current 72nd Session of the General Assembly is expected to decide on the holding of a preparatory meeting for this High-Level Conference as well as on further work on a Fourth Special Session on Disarmament. This coincides with the preparatory cycle for the 2020 NPT Review Conference. The very articulate and thorough Final Document of the First Special Session in 1978 needs to be updated. Recent UN High Level Conferences produced important multilateral progress on issues like climate change, oceans and migration. States should avail themselves of the opportunity to participate in a process aimed at bringing new impetus to the non-proliferation and disarmament debate and at promoting concrete progress towards the elimination of nuclear weapons, with the active support of civil society organizations.

Sergio Duarte, a Brazilian Ambassador (ret.), is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development  Environment

The Indian Consulate in New York has been receiving calls/e-mails from Indian Passport holders regarding fake calls from persons pretending to be US Immigration/Police authorities requesting for details of Passports/Travel documents.

These are hoax calls with the eventual aim of getting details of the applicant’s Passport number/date of issue etc. and could lead to Identity theft as well as other fraud. Sometimes the fraudsters may mimic the telephone numbers of the Consulate or other authorities.

Indian Passport holders are requested to exercise extreme caution and not to give any information on telephone unless sought in written from an identifiable Authority. The details may only be shared by written communication and copy endorsed to the Consulate at [email protected]. If such call has already been received and details have been shared, please report to the nearest Police Station and keep Consulate informed about the calls along with the Passport details shared with such callers.

The Society of Indo-American Engineers and Architects (SIAEA) Scholarship Program is introducing a special Grand Scholarship in addition to the ten scholarships which are given annually to Indian American students pursuing degrees in the fields of Engineering and Architecture.

The Society of Indo-American Engineers and Architects (SIAEA) Scholarship Program is introducing a special Grand Scholarship in addition to the ten scholarships which are given annually to Indian American students pursuing degrees in the fields of Engineering and Architecture.

The announcement of this year’s Grand Scholarship worth $5,000, comes after the demise of the program’s former president Bansi Shah who passed away in August. Shah was a very popular, friendly and a strong community leader, who took the Society of Indo American Engineers and Architects to greater heights and worked in the construction business, IT sector, security systems and real estate.

The Bansi Shah Memorial Trust-Foundation will award one Indian American student a $5,000 scholarship along with awarding ten Indian American students, a scholarship worth $2,000 each.

To qualify for a scholarship, a student must have the following: Must be enrolled as a full time student in a college or university, who is working towards an undergraduate degree, a graduate degree or is enrolled in a master’s program in an Engineering or Architecture related field.

Preferences will be given to students who are in their third or fourth year of college as well as graduate students, Merit and need based. The student must have a minimum overall GPA of 3.0 and be able to provide transcripts certifying the above, which will be attached to the application.

As scholarship checks will be made payable to the institution and not to students individually, a preference will be given to institutions located within the Tri-State region, though students outside of the Tri-State region are also eligible to apply. Students must be a member of SIAEA; membership forms can be sent with the scholarship application.

The Scholarship Application Form must be submitted by Dec. 1 with a permanent email address, NOT a student email address. Previous scholarship recipients are NOT eligible to apply again.

Awardees must be present to receive the Scholarship Awards during SIAEA Annual Gala on the evening of Saturday, Dec. 16 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. Scholarship Applications can be submitted to: [email protected] or mailed to:

SIAEA Scholarship Committee
SOCIETY OF INDO-AMERICAN ENGINEERS & ARCHITECTS
P. O. Box 596, Tarrytown, NY 10591
Attn: Ketan Shah, Chair

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been named as the recipient of the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice, 2017 as an acknowledgement of its exceptional work worldwide, it was announced here on Thursday.

The UNHCR provides humanitarian aid to innumerable people internally displaced by conflicts and helping stateless people all over the world, said Harmony Foundation Chairman Abraham Mathai, which has instituted the only official award in memory of Mother Teresa, who attained sainthood in September 2016.

“The UNHCR has and continues to showcase to the world the true essence of humanitarianism through the life-changing works it does globally. We salute its committed, compassionate and courageous humanitarian work in dangerous and challenging regions of the world,” Mathai told IANS.

Referring to Harmony Foundation’s theme for 2017 – Compassion Beyond Borders, he said UNHCR epitomizes the theme so beautifully with the sheer bravery of its workers and volunteers who tirelessly work in crisis areas globally.

Instituted in 2005, the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice will be presented to the UNHCR at a function here on December 10, celebrating the unique legacy and global imprint of the woman known as the Saint of The Gutters during her lifetime, said Mathai.

As part of the awards ceremony, a Harmony International Conference to create awareness and action in the international community will be organized that day, with the participation of leaders from different fields.

Some of the past awardees include The Dalai Lama, Malala Yousefzai, Medicine Sans Frontiers, Anna Hazare, Colin Gonsalves, among many other individuals and organisations working in different fields in India and globally, said Mathai.

The Department of State said that through its $493,827 India program, it seeks to “reduce religiously-motivated violence and discrimination in India”. The US has announced a grant of nearly $500,000 for a non-governmental organisation to come up with proposals to develop early warning systems for “reducing religiously-motivated violence and discrimination” in India.

By Indian American Muslim Council

IAMC is pleased to have been an active supporter of the momentous fact-finding investigation of the gruesome mob lynching of dairy farmer, Pehlu Khan, and the subsequent cover-up by Rajasthan police. The investigation’s report was endorsed by IAMC and several human rights organizations in India, US and UK and is making waves in India for its shocking expose of police complicity in cow terrorism.

The report’s release was the culminated of a four-month investigation by independent journalist  Ajit Sahi. During the press conference organized at the Press Club of India in the nation’s capital New Delhi, human rights defenders and activists referred to the report’s findings as a watershed moment in the struggle to bring Pehlu’s killers to justice. The report highlights the role played by the Rajasthan Police in systematically sabotaging the case against the perpetrators of Pehlu’s cold-blooded murder and facilitating their “exoneration.”  The report is a powerful declaration by human rights defenders that the pursuit of justice will not be deterred. Widespread coverage of the report and the press conference has again brought Pehlu’s brutal killing, and the subsequent cover-up by the Rajasthan police back into the national conversation in India.

The report has exposed blatant acts by the Rajasthan police and government institutions that has led to an intentional miscarriage of justice, with the killers not being arrested despite six of them being named in Pehlu’s “dying declaration.”
The report and its impact on mainstream discourse in India has given a boost to Indian civil society as well as the Indian Muslim community to stay the course in demanding justice and equality before the law within the framework of the Constitution of India. Additionally, it has encouraged all in the pursuit of justice to push forward with other cases of lynching such as those perpetrated against Hafiz Junaid and Mohammed Akhlaq.
The press conference with India’s top human rights advocates exposed the high level coordination and strategy used by cow vigilantes (gau rakshaks). It also demonstrated complicity between criminals and fanatics and individuals at the highest levels of state law enforcement machinery.
The press conference and the ensuing social media campaign following the report’s release has put Indian Muslim issues on the global radar and influenced mainstream discourse in a positive direction. IAMC remains committed to the struggle for peace, pluralism and justice.

Source Newsroom: Academy of Finland

Newswise — The difference between men and women with respect to their age preferences, when it comes to sexual partners, is smaller than earlier believed. A recent study shows that also men become interested in older and older women as they themselves age.

While earlier research has indicated that even older men prefer young women, a recent study by Jan Antfolk at Åbo Akademi University suggests that this is only partly true. It is true that men, more than women, tend to maintain a sexual interest in younger partners. Contrary to what has been reported from earlier studies, most men and women are also sexually interested in partners their own age throughout life. Most sexual activity occurs between partners of approximately the same age.

Homosexual and bisexual men and women differ very little from their heterosexual counterparts. The only exception from this is that homosexual men are somewhat more likely than bisexual and heterosexual men to have sex with partners younger than themselves.

The study was conducted in Finland and included 878 adult men and 1789 adult women. The study was recently published in Evolutionary Psychology.

Link to the on-line publication: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1474704917690401

The study is a part of the research project Intra-Genomic Conflicts and Social Decision-Making in Humans. The project is financed by the Academy of Finland (project number 298513).

Prominent business leaders, dignitaries and members of the local Indian-American community gathered in downtown Chicago for the annual Pratham Gala on September 9. Held at the elegant Winter Garden of the Harold Washington Center, the event was attended by 300 guests and raised $260,000 for Pratham’s award-winning education programs.

“A small amount will make big difference in a child’s life forever,” said Allstate Executive and Chapter President Suren Gupta. “Many people are astounded to learn that Pratham can educate a child with a mere $25 because its low-cost programs provide scalable and effective solutions for improving children’s reading and math skills in just six to eight weeks.”

It is estimated that 100 million Indian children cannot read or write.

Guest of honor Martin Radvan President, Mars Wrigley Confectionery and President, Wrigley Company Foundation shared their “sustainable in a generation” plan and was honored for the impact of the Foundation’s partnership with Pratham in educating 100,000 children in Uttar Pradesh’s mint farming villages.

In his keynote speech, Genpact Presdient and CEO N V “Tiger” Tyagarajan stressed the importance of educating girls: “It’s my firm belief that when you educate girls and women in society, the society changes. Women have this tremendous power of actually changing the sociocultural fabric of countries.” Pratham’s Second Chance program gives women who have dropped out of school an opportunity to finish their education and stand on their own feet.

A distinct multicultural flavor was reflected in the evening’s program, which included comedian Anish Shah and tantalizing food from India Garden, and in the fashion, a mix of ethic Indian and Western formal.

Gala co-chairs Alwar Narayanan and Smruti Rajagopalan delivered a memorable night with the support of the chapter Board, local volunteers and the following sponsors: Allstate Insurance Company, Ernst & Young LLP, General Electric, Genpact, Infosys, McKinsey & Company, Mondeléz International, Salesforce Inc., Vinakom Inc., United Airlines, and Mars Wrigley Confectionery.

Established in the slums of Mumbai in 1995, Pratham is now one of India’s largest non-governmental education organizations, having affected the lives of more than 50 million underprivileged children in the past two decades.

It will be almost one year since Indian American Jeffny Pally was killed in front of the fire department at the University of Connecticut where she was studying to become a nurse.

According to earlier reports, Pally was returning from an off campus party on the night if Oct. 16, 2016 when she ended up plopping herself against the garage door in front of the University of Connecticut’s Fire Department.

Approximately 20 minutes later, firefighter Dana E. Barrow Jr., received a call and rushed to the scene, not knowing that he was going to run over Pally, who had fallen backwards as he opened the garage door and found her lying lifelessly on the ground when he returned 30 minutes later.

State Police said that Pally’s autopsy confirmed that her death was caused by increased consumption of alcohol as her blood alcohol level was .25, which is three times the state’s legal limit, along with blunt-force trauma caused by the vehicle running over her.

However, new surveillance footage obtained by the Hartford Courant suggests otherwise.

According to a police report, Barrow was cleared of committing a crime as investigators reviewed the video and wrote multiple times that the SUV’s tire “contacts, pushes and travels over Pally,” “traveled over the pedestrian” and “traveled up onto and over Pally,” concluding that Barrow was “not knowingly involved in a motor vehicle collision.”

The report adds that Barrow also “felt a bump, but kept driving to the call, figuring he would check when he got back.”

Tolland State’s Attorney Matthew Gedansky also told the Hartford Courant that he too reviewed the surveillance video before concurring that Barrow committed no criminal or motor vehicle violations.

“The video is consistent with [Barrow’s] statement that he thought he ran over equipment that was often left around the fire house area,” Gedansky said. “Another factor was that he was going to what he thought was a dorm fire.”

However, Michael Walsh, the Pally family lawyer who gave the Hartford Courant access to the surveillance video, in which it shows that Barrow had a chance to investigate what, was in the SUV’s path before choosing to drive over it.

“There was at least a moment –a moment or two – where the driver of that vehicle perceived an obstacle in his path. He hesitated. He went through a thought process. And he decided to go over that obstacle,” Walsh told the Hartford Courant adding that he has filed a lawsuit against the University of Connecticut and Barrow.

“Regardless of what call he was responding to, taking the one, two, three seconds to essentially open the door, pop out, and look – I don’t understand why that wasn’t done. I don’t understand why the police didn’t look at that,” he added.

The Hartford Courant report continues to unfold the story of the tragic night: Pally arrived at her friend’s dorm room between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m., where her and her friends were drinking alcohol prior to attending an off-campus party hosted by members of her sorority and the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

The group got a “sober ride” ” to the off-campus house, which was about two miles away, at around 10:30 p.m. where about 150 were already partying and the fraternity had stocked up on 30-can packs of beer.

Pally stayed at the party about two hours and then got into an Uber car with a bunch of her friends, to return to her dorm room shortly after 12:30 a.m.

A witness told the police that Pally was so intoxicated by then that she kept trying to text a friend who was already in the car.

Pally and another student were then dropped off to their dorm a friend who was still in the Uber car saw both of them walking in the darkness toward the dormitory building.

Surveillance video then shows that Pally arrived at the fire department at about half a minute past 12:44 a.m., where she seemed to be unsteady on her feet as she swaying back and forth as she types on her iPhone eventually making her way to the edge of the building to lean against a windowed garage door and drops to a sitting position.

A few minutes later, it is seen that her head slowly falls to her knee and she remains motionless until 20 minutes later, Barrow receives a call from a dorm as pranksters begin shooting off a stolen fire extinguisher inside a dormitory, triggering multiple alarms inside the firehouse.

At about half a minute past 1:13 a.m., Barrow opens the garage door to pull out the Chevy Tahoe SUV, causing Pally to fall back however, the video shows that she is lying diagonally across the threshold and Barrow slowly drives forward stopping three seconds later as the SUV’s front passenger tire comes into contact with Pally’s body.

After another second, the vehicle then labors to mount the obstacle in its path. Four seconds pass as the front tire slowly climbs over Pally and pushes her forward. The SUV’s right rear tire then rolls over the teen, the vehicle visibly bouncing as it clears her body.

“I felt a bump as I was pulling out. I was not sure where the bump came from. I thought it was a little unusual, but there have been times that our vehicles have run over equipment left on the ground in the bays,” Barrow told investigators in his written statement to police adding that he did look back in a mirror as he left the station and “saw something on the ground which looked like bunker gear which is stored in the bay. I thought I would take care of it when I got back from the call, because we had 5 smoke detectors going off, and I needed to respond to the fire.”

Less than a minute after Barrow left, a dispatcher glanced at a monitor providing a live feed of the surveillance camera and noticed the garage bay door was open, so she pressed a button to close it. “I did not notice anything out of the ordinary or anything that caught my attention,” she told police. “I was just looking to see if the door was closed.”

State police determined in their report that Pally had been pushed 19 inches by the SUV, which was far enough so that she was no longer blocking the path of the overhead door, allowing it to close properly.

About 25 minutes later, another dispatcher was looking at the monitor, trying to make out a shape in the dark by the garage and said “oh, that’s funny. That kind of looks like a leg,” to which her colleague replied saying “I don’t know; it looks like a shadow.”

Meanwhile, Pally’s boyfriend had texted her, sent a FaceTime request, a Snapchat message and even called her within a 10-minute period.

When Barrow returned from the prank call at about 1:51 a.m., he use his side mirrors to angle the SUV backwards toward the open garage and slowly moved the car closer and closer until he saw something on the ground.

“I noticed that it was a person because I saw a leg,” said Barrow, who was then seen getting out of the Tahoe and kneeling over Pally noticing that she was not breathing and also could not find a pulse.

He later told investigators that her eyes were “wide open and glossy” and that he “saw her mid part of her belly that had either dirt or tire marks on it.”

Barrow returned to the SUV to radio for help and then went into the firehouse, where dispatchers described him as distraught, in shock and remember him saying “I think I killed someone.”

When Barrow returned to Pally’s body, seconds later, paramedics and others came running out of the firehouse, they attended to Pally for 16 minutes but were unable to save her, she was presumed dead at 2:10 a.m.

Along with a blood-alcohol content of .25 percent, Pally’s autopsy showed that she had five broken ribs and injuries to her lungs, liver and the left ventricle of her heart.

Investigators recreated the scene from that night in numerous ways and concluded that “from the line of sight reconstruction it was concluded, that Barrow COULD NOT see Pally in her seated or supine position.”

“The goal in my career is the safety of the kids at the school. I can’t believe this happened to me,” said Barrow, who retired from the University of Connecticut’s Fire Department six months after the incident, he had been there since 1990. Six, Kappa Sigma fraternity members were also arrested in June and the fraternity has been suspended from the campus.

Four Indian-origin men have pleaded guilty to charges of their involvement in a multi-million US dollar telephone impersonation fraud and money laundering scheme in the US perpetrated by India-based call centres.

Nisarg Patel, 26, of New Jersey, Dilip Kumar Ramanlal Patel, 30, of Florida and Rajesh Kumar, 39, of Arizona each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering offences. The pleas were entered before US district judge David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas.

All three have been in federal custody since they were arrested in October 2016. In a related case, Dipak Kumar Sankalchand Patel, a resident of Pennsylvania, also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He has been in federal custody since his arrest in May this year.

Nisarg, Dilip and Rajesh and 53 others, besides five India-based call centers have been charged for frauding American people through a money laundering scheme in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas in October last year.

According to admissions made in connection with their pleas, the three men and their accomplices perpetrated a complex scheme in which people from from call centers located in Ahmedabad called people living in the US, posing as officials from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Using information obtained from data brokers and other sources, the accused targeted and threatened people in the US with arrest, imprisonment, fines or deportation if they did not pay money, which the accused alleged they owed to the US government.

Those who agreed to pay money to the scammers were instructed how to make the payment, including by purchasing stored value cards or wiring money. After the payment, the call centers would immediately turn to a network of “runners” based in the US to liquidate and launder the fraudulently obtained funds.

In connection with his guilty plea, Nisarg admitted that beginning in around June 2013 and continuing through December 2015, he acted as a domestic runner in the criminal scheme, liquidating victim funds for conspirators from India-based call centers and organisational co-defendant ‘HGLOBAL’.

He communicated about the fraudulent scheme with various India-based co-defendants via telephone, email and WhatsApp text messaging. Dilip Kumar admitted that he to had served as a runner, liquidating victim scam funds per the instructions from his accomplices in India, who were running the fake call centres.

He communicated via phone and email in furtherance of the criminal scheme with his India-based associates, including by sending lists of re-loadable card numbers to be activated and loaded with funds siphoned off from the victims.

Kumar also operated as a runner, laundering scam proceeds from reloadable cards and purchasing money orders using those funds in and around south-central Arizona at the direction of both domestic and India-based co-defendants. He admitted to using fraudulent identification documents, including drivers’ licenses, to receive wire transfers of money directly from victims of the fraud scheme.

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Amol Sinha, an attorney who has been an advocate for people wrongfully convicted has been chosen as the new executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. Amol Sinha, who grew up in New Jersey, will be the first person of color to lead the organization. He said his initial plans call for setting up meetings throughout the state to listen to the needs of residents, organizations and community groups.  He wants them to know that the ACLU-NJ will be there to collaborate with them to make the state better.

“We should be out in communities and letting people know that we are here for them, and I’m certain there are folks that either have a misunderstanding of what we do, or don’t understand it, or aren’t aware of us at all and I want to fix that,” he told the media.

Sinha was director of the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Suffolk County chapter and recently led state advocacy campaigns to address wrongful convictions nationwide at the Innocence Project. The son of Indian immigrants, Sinha grew up in Lawrenceville. In a statement, Sinha says the issues South Asian communities face are “emblematic of civil rights issues.”

In his first 100 days on the job, Sinha plans to primarily listen.

“In the first few months, my plan is to travel across the state, listen to the needs of people here, meet with as many organizations, community groups, and people as possible, and make the ACLU completely accessible,” Sinha said. “I want people across the state to know that we’re here as a partner, to collaborate together to make New Jersey better and more welcoming than it already is.”

For Sinha, taking the helm is a homecoming, not just to his home state, but to an organization that has always anchored him. Sinha’s first role as a new lawyer – after interning for the national ACLU while a student at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law – was as director of the Suffolk County Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union. He said the job posting had an unforgettably fluid yet empowering description: “Be the face of the NYCLU.”

Employment and labor attorney Neeti Sundaresh has launched a hunt to find a matching bone marrow donor to save her father’s life who is battling blood cancer. But in the process, the Ohio-based Indian American lawyer could end up saving many more lives.

In her quest for finding the right donor for her father, she has created ‘Swab for Sundaresh,’ a series of blood marrow donor drives throughout Ohio and other parts of the U.S.

Her father, Dr. Sundaresh, devoted his life to taking care of children as a pediatrician in Cleveland, and only recently retired in December 2016, Sundaresh wrote on the Facebook page @Swabforsundaresh, adding that he is a loving husband, father and grandfather and loves to golf, travel and spend time with his family.

Dr. Sundaresh was diagnosed with high risk MDS, a failure of his bone marrow, and was given a very grim prognosis in June 2017. His only hope for a cure is to undergo a transplant from a matching donor. He currently has no matches in the donor registry, she explained, since his best chance of finding a match is within the South Asian community.

“We just need that magic match,” she was quoted as saying by the news site. “If there’s no match for dad, we can save another life.” She also wants to inform the South Asian community about the lack of diversity in tissue and organ donor banks, reported Cleveland.com.“This is a big public-health issue and people aren’t aware,” Sundaresh said. “There is a real need, as the South Asian community is underrepresented in the registries,” she wrote. Registration can be done through https://join.bethematch.org/sundaresh

Gurpreet Singh, an Indian-American man from Watertown, New York, will lose his citizenship after serving his prison sentence because of fraudulent information he gave at the time of his naturalization process. Gurpreet Singh, 37, was sentenced July 11, in federal court in Syracuse, N.Y., to three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, following a jury trial in January where he was convicted of knowingly obtaining U.S. citizenship through unlawful naturalization.

Because of this conviction, Singh’s U.S. citizenship will be revoked by law, announced Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, Grant C. Jaquith, in a press release.

The trial evidence showed that Singh, who is originally from India, repeatedly affirmed to United States Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) authorities that he had not committed any crimes for which he was not arrested.

Immigration authorities later learned that the defendant sexually abused a 9-year-old child during the same time-period he was applying for U.S. citizenship. Evidence presented at trial demonstrated that Singh deliberately failed to report his criminal activity to USCIS because he knew that USCIS would not have approved his naturalization application if the agency had known about his crimes.

Singh pleaded guilty in New York state court to a single count of sexual abuse of a minor child, after he had become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Singh was arrested by the City of Watertown (New York) Police Department the day after his naturalization ceremony in April 2012.

While on supervised release following his prison term, Singh will be required to register as a sex offender and will be prohibited from having direct contact with children under the age of 18 (other than his own) and from going to places where children under 18 are likely to congregate, such as parks, libraries, and schools, without prior permission of a probation officer, the press release said.

In perhaps his first public address since he was convicted of insider trading, Rajat Gupta, an IIT Delhi alumnus and former managing director of McKinsey, apologized for his “errors and misjudgments.”

“I genuinely ask for your forgiveness and understanding,” Gupta told the audience, adding, “I have regrets that five years of my life was taken away from me where I could have made, hopefully, many more contributions to philanthropic causes.”

Gupta was addressing the the Santa Clara Convention Center on June 17 on the future of artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, clean energy and other hi-tech topics as Indian Institute of Technology alumni from across the Bay Area — mostly Indian American entrepreneurs and IT professionals — came together for the second annual IIT Bay Area Leadership Conference.

About 800 of the Bay Area’s roughly 12,000 IITians attended the event, which is organized annually by the IIT Bay Area Alumni Association, a nonprofit organization that aims to promote collaboration within the IIT community and create a platform for venture capitalists, job seekers and business persons to interact with each other.

Addressing his fellow IITians, he said he was determined to emerge physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually stronger, and expressed his gratitude to his friend, Dr. Deepak Chopra, for standing by him through these tough times. Gupta said Chopra had helped him deal with this catastrophe with dignity, grace and humility.

Lakshman Rajagopal, an Indian American professor at Iowa State University, was accused of child trafficking June 20, as he and his toddler son – who is Caucasian – attempted to board a flight in Atlanta, Georgia.

Professor Lakshman Rajagopal had just arrived in Atlanta after a 6 AM flight from  Des Moines when he was stopped by Delta employees.  He says he was told child trafficking has been a big issue and airlines have been told to keep an eye out for possible cases.  Rajagopal, a single father,  says a flight attendant alerted the pilot of suspicious activity because he looked nervous when he requested a different seat for more room for him and his toddler son.  The pilot then called the Atlanta airport where two employees were waiting on his arrival and questioned him.  Rajagopal described the interview questions, “We have some questions for you, who’s this, who are you traveling with and where are you going? What’s your relationship with this child? I said, well he’s my son.”

He describes his experience with Delta as humiliating. “After my experience, I don’t know if I want to fly Delta. Also, on the 28^th I have to go back to Iowa and I’m kind of scared to go to Iowa and scared to go on a flight to Iowa.” Rajagopal added, I’m not against Delta but I feel like this is a good example with how people still have a problem with color.  I didn’t think my behavior was suspicious because at 6 AM, with a toddler, a single parent, how am I supposed to look? I don’t think I’d look excited,” he said.

Delta has reached out the Professor Rajagopal and offered him a five-hundred dollar voucher to use within a year.  They’ve also said they will use his situation as a way to improve their security training with employees. Rajagopal said, “I told them if I was white, this would not be a problem because a white person with a white child would be fine.”

The International Day of Compassion aims to commemorate Mother Teresa’s work among the poorest of the poor. An India-based NGO has urged the United Nations to declare August 26, the birth anniversary of St Mother Teresa, International Compassion Day.

In a statement, Harmony Foundation President Abraham Mathai said compassion is the need of the hour and what better way to have the world observe International Day of Compassion than by celebrating it on the birth anniversary of Mother Teresa, “whose life symbolised compassion and hope”.

“The Harmony Foundation has decided to celebrate August 26 as the International Day of Compassion to commemorate Mother Teresa’s work among the poorest, hungry, homeless, crippled, lepers and the most unwanted people of society shunned by all. We have written to the UN to likewise declare the day in honor of her selfless services,” Mathai said.

The NGO said it will work towards a world of “compassion without border” by launching acts of compassion in India and abroad on August 26. “We are galvanizing school and college students, community members from the rural areas to Mumbai to prepare a Care Package for Kashmiri refugees in Mumbai and Syrian and South Sudanese refugees around the world. The package would comprise a small toy, school stationery, dental care items and other essentials,” he said.

It has identified NGOs in Jordan and South Sudan and is reaching out to other governments, aid agencies and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help with the logistics of taking the Care Packages to the intended beneficiaries.

Additionally, in collaboration with several organizations, the NGO is planning long-term sustainable solutions for refugee children, their education, health and rehabilitation. Since 2005, Harmony Foundation has been hosting Mother Teresa Memorial Awards annually — the only award in her name approved by the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata, founded by her in 1950 — to outstanding people from all over the world who excel in various humanitarian endeavors.

Some of the past recipients of the award include The Dalai Lama and Pakistani girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai, The White Helmets, Zeenat Shaukat Ali of Pakistan’s Wisdom Foundation and Kashmir’s Rukhsana Kausar.

Mother Teresa was canonized as a Saint on September 4 2016, by Pope Francis. Senior citizens of Chicago meet to highlight blindness in India

BY KATAYOUN KISHI7 COMMENTS

Vice President Mike Pence recently drew attention to the persecution of Christians around the world, telling a summit in Washington, D.C., that “no people of faith today face greater hostility or hatred than the followers of Christ.” In the same speech, Pence singled out “the suffering of Christians in the Middle East,” promising that the U.S. would act to protect Christians in that part of the world.

Some of the vice president’s statements on Christian persecution comport with data from a recent Pew Research Center report on global religious restrictions in 2015. Christians have been harassed in more countries than any other religious group and have suffered harassment in many of the heavily Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa. But the report also shows that this widespread harassment is due in part to the huge size and broad geographic dispersion of Christians around the world, and that the Middle East is just one of a number of regions where Christians have faced harassment.

(The Center’s recent report tracks harassment against religious groups around the world, but it does not attempt to estimate the number of victims in each country. As a result, it does not speak to the intensity of harassment in each country.)

Christians were harassed by governments or social groups in a total of 128 countries in 2015 – more countries than any other religious group, according to the report. But there also were 2.3 billion Christians in 2015, more than any other religious group. Large populations of Christians are present in all but a few parts of the world: Roughly two-thirds of the world’s countries, for example, have Christian majorities.

By contrast, smaller religious groups may not have been harassed in as many countries simply because they are not present in as many countries. For instance, because of their dense concentration in a small number of countries, 99% of Jews and Hindus lived in nations where members of their groups were harassed. And despite being one of the most geographically dispersed religious groups, 97% of Muslims lived in countries where harassment of Muslims occurred in 2015. (By comparison, 78% of Christians lived in places where Christians were harassed.)

Due in part to the large number of Christian-majority countries, Christians were actually harassed mostly in Christian-majority countries. In some of these countries, the Christian majority was itself harassed, often by the government. For example, in Nicaragua – where an estimated 59% of the population is Catholic – the Catholic Church reported that the government monitored its emails and telephone conversations and granted financial support for churches based on the clergy’s political affiliation. The church also reported that the Nicaraguan government used Catholic traditions and symbols when promoting political agendas, saying it undermined the church’s religious authority.

In other Christian-majority countries, Christian minority denominations were targeted. For example, in Eritrea – where Eritrean Orthodox Christianity is the dominant faith – Jehovah’s Witnesses reported being unable to obtain official identification documents because of their faith. In addition, the majority of religious prisoners in Eritrea in 2015 were Protestants, namely Pentecostals and evangelical Christians.

While Christians were harassed in countries far beyond the Middle East and North Africa, they faced significant harassment in this region, too. In Syria, for example, Christians reported that tolerance within society was on the decline as extremist groups gained influence.

And in Egypt, Christians were killed for having converted from Islam or simply because they were Christian. For example, in January and February 2015, two Christian men were killed – one of these murders was claimed by the Islamic State – in the North Sinai city of Arish, according to a Christian advocacy group with a presence in the region.

With the clock ticking toward the 2030 deadline for meeting the international goals to eradicate hunger and poverty, five of the world’s most important emerging economies are well positioned to take a leading role in helping to achieve these objectives, according to the United Nations.

The five countries, known collectively as the “BRICS” (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), form an important economic block, the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on June 16 reported.

They account for more than 40 per cent of the world’s population and over 20 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Together, they produce more than one-third of global cereal production. Last year, Russia became the largest wheat exporter in the world.

“The BRICS countries play an important political role in the international arena. Developing countries around the world look to your successes in economic development over the past few decades as an example to follow,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, Assistant Director-General and FAO’s Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, during the 7th Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Agriculture, in Nanjing, China.

“Your experiences provide a path that can help us all meet our global collective commitments, namely those of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and the Paris climate accord.”

Kadiresan pointed out that, despite trends towards urbanization, poverty in the world today is primarily rural. As a result, accelerating rural development will be key to achieving the SDGs.

“The question is how can we do this? Our experiences in countries in different parts of the world have shown that it can best be done through a combination of agricultural growth and targeted social protection, but also through growth in the rural nonfarm economy,” she said.

“Agriculture can be a driver of sustained and inclusive rural growth. In low-income countries, growth originating from agriculture is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth originating from other sectors of the economy.”

Equally important is that all the tools, approaches and technologies developed “must be useful and accessible to poor family farmers in developing countries” so that they can increase production and productivity.

Achieving agricultural growth would also require investments in research and development, and the BRICS countries could play a leading role in this, as all five countries have strong agricultural research systems that are working on many of the challenges faced by developing countries, such as feeding a growing population in a sustainable way, according to FAO.

“Biotechnology would also play a key role in these advances, as would agro-ecological approaches. Climate-smart agriculture will be essential to adapt to the uncertain changes facing our farmers, and it will rely heavily on cutting-edge research.”

Information and Communication Technologies are becoming more widespread by the day, and they offer a promising approach to address many of the challenges smallholders face with regard to information on prices, weather forecasts, vaccines, financial services, and much more.

Agricultural growth, as important as it is, cannot eradicate hunger and poverty all by itself – social protection programs can also play a key role in rural development, the UN specialised body says.

These programs have important poverty reduction and health benefits, and can also strengthen the confidence of family farmers, encouraging them to become more entrepreneurial, it explains. “Brazil’s Fome Zero and India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act are global references in this regard.”

Kadiresan stressed that it is important not to overlook the key role played by the rural non-farm economy in fostering rural development. “As economies transform, most farm households obtain significant income from activities other than farming. The income from these activities provides not only a higher standard of living, but also a more stable one in many cases. Governments play a key role in encouraging this transformation by investing in rural health and education,” she said.

“While these investments are typically not within the Ministry of Agriculture’s mandate, we must support such investments, as they are in the interest of our rural constituents. Where would any of us be today without the opportunities provided by our former teachers and a strong educational system?”

International trade could also serve as an effective instrument in promoting food security and act as an adaptation tool to climate change. When an inevitable bad harvest occurs, as it does in every country at some stage, timely imports can help to rebalance the domestic food economy.

Nausheen Rahman, 29, an Indian American woman from Staten Island, New York – who is facing murder charges for throwing her newborn baby in the trash shortly after giving birth – said she did not check for breathing before dumping the baby in trash.

Nausheen Rahman reportedly told officers in testimony taped shortly after she was arrested March 13, 2016, that she should have checked for signs of breathing in her infant son. “I was like ‘okay, he’s not crying, is he dead?’ “

The medical examiner has deemed the death a homicide, and Rahman has been charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse. She has denied the allegations.

“It was just my state of mind at the time. I’m like ‘What happened here?’ Then, I’m like, ‘What should I do?’ I was really scared, nervous. I was scared of my dad. ‘What’s going to happen?” And things like that,” Rahman told detectives, as reported by Staten Island Live.

“When I picked it up to put it in the bag, that’s when I saw he’s not breathing,” said Rahman, reportedly incriminating herself by saying she intended to put a live baby into a bag. She told detectives she had immediately gone downstairs in her house after delivering the baby, to get a black garbage bag.

According to reports, Rahman had hidden the pregnancy from her mother and father. Immediately after she was arrested, she asked law enforcement officers: “Are you going to tell my parents?”

An autopsy determined the newborn still had air in its lungs, meaning it was alive at birth. There were also signs that the infant had moved after birth. The pre-trial hearing will determine whether Rahman made her statements voluntarily or was coerced by police.

The young woman told police the father of the baby wanted nothing to do with her, and that she did not know what to do with the newborn infant. Rahman’s parents had been arranging for her marriage to another man. Asked if she had considered an abortion, Rahman said: “There was no plan on that. There was no intention of getting rid of it.”

An Indian American student was found dead here after he went missing earlier this week, police said. Aalaap Narasipura, 20, was an electrical engineering student at Cornell University and was missing since May 24, ABC News reported.

Cornell University Police said Narasipura’s body was recovered May 19 from Fall Creek, a gorge located near Ithaca Falls. The circumstances of Narasipura’s death remain under investigation, but police said they don’t suspect any foul play.

State and local authorities from multiple agencies searched Narasipura’s residence, academic spaces and regular routes of travel as well as adjacent natural areas and gorges around the Ivy League university.

They did not find any evidence of his whereabouts until coming across his body in Fall Creek, police said. Earlier in the week, police had released a photo and description of Narasipura seeking more information in the case. Narasipura was set to graduate this December, according to the report.

“He was an active member of the Ultimate Frisbee team, enjoyed taking photos and planned on continuing at Cornell to pursue a Masters of Engineering degree,” said Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student and campus life at Cornell.

“On behalf of the Cornell University community, I extend our deepest condolences to Aalaap’s family and friends as they grieve this tragedy,” Lombardi said.  “They are in our thoughts as we all come to grips with the enormity of this loss,” he said

He described Narasipura as an “ambitious student” who was scheduled to graduate early this December. “He was active on the Ultimate Frisbee team, enjoyed taking photos, and planned to continue at Cornell to pursue a Master of Engineering degree,” he said in a statement.

The Indian National Overseas Congress hosted a event for the Telangana Congress Working President and former deputy speaker of Telangana – Shri Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in New Jersey at Paradise Restaurant on Friday – May 12th. The event was organized by the Telangana Chapter and coordinated by Shravan Poreddy and Roy Manthena. The event was attended by over 200 people.

The event started off with Roy Manthena explaining the purpose of hosting the meeting and talking of the contributions of the Congress Party to India since last 70 years. The next speaker was NATA (North American Telugu Association) President Rajeshwar Gangasani who spoke of his association with the Congress Party and some of the policies of the Congress Government in Telangana that perculated to the rural areas. Dr.Rajender Reddy Jinna spoke of the role of Indian National Overseas Congress and how it has contributed to the Congress Party in India. Shravan Poreddy spoke on the struggle of Telangana and said that the movement of telangana has been hijacked by some leaders from the present ruling Party in telangana for their own benefit.

Rajender Dichpally (National General Secretary of Overseas Congress) urged Bhatti Vikramarka in taking the services of NRI in helping the Congress Party in Telangana and also nuturing good leaders from the NRI’s for the next elections. He assured him that the NRI’s will campaign in behalf of the Congress Party in the next elections in 2019.

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka spoke on how Telangana was achived when he was deputy speaker of telangana assembly and how difficult it was to achieve the formation of telangana state. He said that this would not have been possible but for the role and support of Smt.Sonia Gandhi and this was acknowledged by everyone including the present Cheif Minister of Telangana. He was however disappointed with the present administration for not keeping many of its promises and indulging in mass corruption. He was confident that the people will see through the various omissions and commissions of the present Government in Telangana and will vote the Congress back to power in telangana in 2019. He assured that he will encourage a lot of NRI’s to join public life in telangana on behalf of the Congress Party.

Photo 1 (Caption) : Group photo at the event hosted by Indian National Overseas Congress for Shri Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka – Working President of Telangana Congress

Photo 2 (Caption) : Rajender Dichpally (National General Secretary) Speaking at the event.

Photo 3 (Caption) :Shri Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (Working President of Telangana Congress) speaking at the event.

May 15^th, 2017: Chicago: People love their alma mater as much as their mother. This was proved beyond an iota of doubt in the Centenary Celebrations of Osmania University organized by Glory of Hyderabad on May 14th, 2017 at Shalimar Banquets, Chicago. Around 700 Osmanians, including youngsters, veterans, and super veterans from New York, Houston, San Francisco, Minnesota, Indiana, etc. attended the celebrations with gaiety and fervour. An innovative exhibition, an inspiring documentary, and an informative souvenir turned them emotional and made them recall their eventful times in the University and their loving teachers and great friends. They fondly remembered H.E.H. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad and founder of the University and its illustrious alumni, including former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil, distinguished film personality Sham Benegal, former Governor RBI, Dr. Y V Reddy, etc.

Her Excellency Neeta Bhushan, Consul General of India in Chicago said that alumni of Osmania University, who are spread far and wide globally, are its greatest strength. She said that the organisation of the centenary celebration in Chicago was of special significance as Chicago was also known for its academic excellence. She called upon the alumni of Osmania University to cultivate a culture of giving back which is one of the most constructive and rewarding ways they can contribute to the betterment of their alma mater. “There is, therefore, a need to diversify and enrich the efforts to bring the alumni and alma mater closer together“, she added.

Professor S Ramachandram, Vice Chancellor of Osmania University said that the University has emerged as a pace setter reflecting the agenda for higher education and carved out a niche as an icon of higher learning with international outlook and global outreach. He said that the University has become the most preferred destination for higher studies for foreign students and added that students from across the globe are pursuing their studies in the University. He said that such high profile educational institutions as IIMs, IITS, ISB, IISc, JNU, UoH, BHU, IIITs, etc., have made India a force to reckon with in the domain of professional education. He advised Indian Americans to send their children to India for pursuing their education so that they reap the dual benefit of high quality education and exposure to Indian values.

Congressman Raja Krishnamurthy underscored the need for greater collaboration between the universities of India and the USA. “They have their respective competitive advantages and their networking in the fields of teaching, research, and consultancy will prove to be a win-win proposition“, he opined.

Mr. Hardik Bhatt, CIO, office of the Governor, Illinois said that Illinois and Telangana States have signed an MoU to share expertise in the domain of planning and execution of smart cities and hoped that Osmania University, like University of Illinois, will be a key partner in Illinois’ smart state initiative.

“Glory of Hyderabad, Chicago, has the rare privilege of being the only organization outside of India to host first historic event of Centenary Celebration of Osmania University“, said Mr. Mir Khan, President, Glory of Hyderabad, with a sense of pride.

A highlight of the program was the honoring of the following Osmanians for their notable accomplishments on this auspicious occasion: Mr. Hassan Chishti- Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Community Service & Literary Contribution; Dr. M M Taqui Khan- Distinguished Osmanian & Scientist of International Repute Award; Mr. Syed Hashim Ali-Award for Distinguished Contributions as Civil Servant & Vice Chancellor (posthumously); and Professor S Ramachandram-Award for Distinguished Service to Osmania University. In addition, Her Excellency Neeta Bhushan, Mr. Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Mr. Hardik Bhatt were presented awards for their Distinguished Community Services.

Reminiscing about their student lives in the University, the Osmanians said unanimously, “Osmania University equipped us with a rare fusion of core competencies and time tested values, and thereby empowered us to prove our mettle across the globe and keep the flag of the University flying high”.

The highly acclaimed singers, Nipa Shah, Hitesh Master Nayak, and Rajesh Chalam, performed live and mesmerized Bollywood music lovers. They kick started the scintillating evening with the most haunting melodies, followed by a wave of soulful numbers, and captured the hearts of the audience.

On this occasion, Siasat Calligraphy Exhibition was inaugurated. The visitors went around the Exhibitions and appreciated the rare calligraphy exhibits. An Exhibition of Osmania University was also inaugurated which was of help to visitors to understand the exciting journey of Osmania University during the last 100 years.

The memorable evening concluded with a sumptuous dinner which was relished by one and all. Earlier, Ashfaq Syed, Chairman Steering Committee, Glory of Hyderabad welcomed the gathering. Mr. Sami Siddiqi, Member, Steering Committee proposed a vote of thanks.  Mr. Mohammed Faheem, Member of the Steering Committee was the Master of Ceremonies.

An Indian-origin man in the US has said that United Airlines cancelled his flight for filming a dispute involving an employee of the airlines.

Navang Oza, 37, said the incident happened earlier this week when he complained to a United Airlines agent about a $300 charge for his luggage while he was checking in for a flight to San Francisco from New Orleans, the New York Post reported.

Oza said he paid $125 to check the same bag on the first leg of his trip.

Unable to get an explanation, Oza said he decided to do what many other frustrated passengers have done and film the dispute.

Oza posted an unedited clip of the lengthy interaction with the ticket counter worker in New Orleans.

“You do not have my permission to videotape,” the United Airlines employee says in the video shared on Twitter. Next, she instructs an agent to “cancel the reservation”.

About a minute after ordering his trip cancelled for taping her, the United agent is seen recording Oza.

“I was shocked because I didn’t know she had the right to cancel my flight because I started recording,” Oza told news station KNTV.

The California resident said that he ultimately re-booked his flight on a different airline. Oza said he wants United to pay for that trip.

A major challenge to the U.S. watchdog for consumer finances fizzled last week, as Congress missed a deadline to repeal the agency’s new rule on prepaid cards. Late last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a rule requiring greater disclosures and overdraft limits for the cards sold by companies such as Mastercard Inc. and Greendot and frequently used in place of paychecks.

The timing made the rule eligible for Congress to repeal it under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), but lawmakers only had until Thursday to kill the regulation by passing a disapproval resolution in both chambers with simple majorities.

Republican Senator David Perdue of Georgia, one of the agency’s biggest critics, had introduced a resolution that he tried to speed through his chamber, but congressional aides and advocacy groups said he could not gather enough votes.

Perdue has repeatedly said the CFPB, created in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Streetreform law to protect individuals against fraud, oversteps its authority. Earlier this week he said he intends to keep up pressure on the agency.

The resolution’s failure indicates that future regulations from the CFPB, reviled by many Republicans, may have shots at survival. The agency is led by Democrat Richard Cordray, was created by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and was originally conceived by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leader in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

The CFPB was expected to soon finalize restrictions on the fine print in contracts known as “mandatory arbitration clauses” that require consumers to give up their rights to class-action lawsuits as a condition of buying a service or product. But the rule’s fate has been caught in limbo. Congress is expected to kill it swiftly with a CRA resolution once it is official.

While the first half-dozen CRA resolutions flew easily through Congress, repealing a wide spectrum of Obama-era regulations, the final resolutions faced a tougher time. One limiting methane emissions from oil and gas production on public lands failed on Wednesday. All told, Congress killed 14 regulations since Feb. 1.

Lawmakers could still vote after this week to repeal rules that Obama finished in the last six months

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

appreciate support from fellow Americans against bias and harassment

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

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

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

The Embassy of India in Washington, D.C., organized a memorial ceremony Feb. 21 to condole the passing away of two stalwarts of India-U.S. journalism – Warren Unna, former South Asia Bureau Chief of Washington Post and longtime columnist for the Statesman and T.V. Parasuram, a veteran Press Trust of India/Indian Express correspondent. Unna, 93, died Feb. 9 of congestive heart failure at a retirement community in Mitchellville, Md, while Parasuram, also 93, died at his home in Bethesda, Md., Feb. 13.

The event saw participation of the families and close friends, old India hands among the media and members of the Indian-American community, an embassy press release said.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador of India to the United States Navtej Sarna, highlighted the stellar contributions of Parasuram and Unna in the field of journalism and promotion of greater empathy and deeper mutual understanding between the people of India and the world. The Ambassador also drew attention to the passing away of another legendary journalist – Ambassador Sarna also paid trubute to (1961-78).

Sidd Bikkannavar, a U.S.-born Indian American NASA scientist was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials and was not permitted to enter the country unless he unlocked his PIN-protected work phone. Sidd Bikkannavar, who works in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was detained Jan. 30 upon returning to the U.S. from Santiago, Chile, the Verge reported.

Bikkannavar said he was pressured to give the CBP agents his phone and access PIN. Since the phone was issued by NASA, it may have contained sensitive material that wasn’t supposed to be shared. Bikkannavar’s phone was returned to him after it was searched by CBP, but he doesn’t know exactly what information officials might have taken from the device.

Seemingly, Bikkannavar’s reentry into the country should not have raised any flags. Not only is he a natural-born US citizen, but he’s also enrolled in Global Entry — a program through CBP that allows individuals who have undergone background checks to have expedited entry into the country. He hasn’t visited the countries listed in the immigration ban and he has worked at JPL — a major center at a US federal agency — for 10 years. There, he works on “wavefront sensing and control,” a type of optics technology that will be used on the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.

“CBP officers seized my phone and wouldn’t release me until I gave them my access PIN for them to copy the data. I initially refused since it’s a JPL-issued phone and I must protect access.” He added, “Just to be clear — I’m a U.S.-born citizen and NASA engineer, traveling with a valid U.S. visa.”

Bikkannavar was yet to receive an explanation for why he was stopped at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. “I don’t know what to think about this,” Bikkannavar recently told The Verge in aphone call. “…I was caught a little off guard by the whole thing.”

Award-winning Hollywood film producer and Wimbledon tennis player, Ashok Amritraj has been appointed the United Nations in India Goodwill Ambassador for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Chairman and CEO of the Hyde Park Entertainment Group, Mr. Amritraj is the first Ambassador for the UN in India.

An internationally-renowned iconic filmmaker, Ashok Amritraj has made over 100 films during the span of his 30-year extraordinary career garnering global acclaim as well as worldwide revenues in excess of $2 billion. He has been a pioneering force in bridging India and Hollywood through film and media.

Accepting the honour, Mr. Amritraj said “I look forward to working with the United Nations in India to amplify awareness about the SDGs. It is a tremendous opportunity that brings together my personal desire to serve the country of my birth, and my passion to leverage the power of the media for the creation of diverse, socially-relevant content”.

Welcoming Mr. Amritraj to the UN Family, Yuri Afanasiev, UN Resident Coordinator said, “We look forward to working with Mr. Amritraj as a powerful advocate for the SDGs, and to his support in showcasing innovations and cutting-edge solutions to development challenges that are being generated in India”.

In September 2015, at the UN General Assembly, 193 countries adopted arguably the most ambitious global agenda of our times, The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a plan of action for people, planet, prosperity and peace. India played an important role in shaping the global agenda and is critical to its success.

Communications and advocacy which engage governments, organizations and rights holders in a constructive dialogue to advance the SDGs is important. UN Goodwill Ambassadors aim to generate momentum and commitment to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and to foster engagement of new stakeholders in the implementation of these Goals.

A passionate believer in the power of the media to effect social change, Mr. Amritraj produced and hosted the acclaimed series, ‘Chance of a Lifetime’ in partnership with the UNHQ in which young filmmakers from Asia competed to create original, short stories highlighting issues related to water, HIV/AIDS, gender equality, migration and education. The winners were feted at the Cannes Film Festival.

The United Nations has a long history of close co-operation with the Government of India and today the United Nations system in India includes 26 organisations that have the privilege to serve in the country.

Ashok Amritraj will be in conversation with Mr. Yuri Afanasiev, United Nations Resident Coordinator at the UN Young Changemakers Conclave on Saturday, 28 January, details of which are available at http://www.youngchangemakersconclave.in/

Chicago IL:  Vanitaben Patel passed away, on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 in Chicago at the age of 80 (August 21, 1936 to January 31, 2017) after 6 years of illness. Her final days were spent surrounded by family and friends. Her funeral was on Friday, February 3rd, 2017 11:00 a.m. until time of cremation 1:00 p.m. at the Countryside Funeral Home and Crematory, 950 South Bartlett Rd , Bartlett , IL .

Vanitaben was an astonishing person, a true matriarch of her extended family possessing all the attributes of Matriarch Mother namely loving, caring, compassionate providing leadership, unconditional love, self-sacrifices to anyone who came in touch with her. Speaking in her memory, one of the close individuals who knew her well for years from India , summarized her life as religious, filled with compassion for all living life. Result of successful careers of her children and grandchildren can be clearly seen, due to her teaching of basic significance of hard work, moral values, honor, simplicity, and ethics.

She is survived by Dr Kamal Atmaram Patel (son), Chhayaben K Patel (daughter in law), Ashka K Patel (granddaughter), Ishika K Patel (granddaughter); Kiran Atmaram Patel (son), Preetiben K Patel (daughter in law), Krushna K Patel (granddaughter), Karan K Patel (grandson); Kunjlattaben C Patel (daughter), Chitrang S Patel (son in law), Phenil C Patel (grandson)

Kamal Patel, with a heavy heart said, “I was very close to my mother for the last seventeen years. These last 6 years were very crucial because of her health. She had recurrent hospitalization, recovering, and gradual declining in health.  She was an inspirational figure for me. We always feel so much pain when we lose our parents, no matter how old or how sick our parents are. We are feeling that pain to day. “

“My mother was very spiritual, strong, kind, and a caring person. She would do anything for anyone. She had a heart of gold, the courage of a lion and love for everyone. Despite all illnesses and hospitalizations, she fought her illnesses and lived a good and positive life. I and my family were very fortunate to spend the last seventeen years with my father and her under the same roof. She cared and worried for everyone throughout her life. May your soul rest in peace. I want to thank all of you for taking your time and coming here for the final tribute and giving us emotional support during this difficult time”.

Narendra Patel from Kadva Patidar Samaj, expressed his feelings about wanting to spend time with Ba in her last moments.  “I could not spend time with her in her last moments. We are all gathered here today for Ba’s last tribute. So, we will talk and pray today about Ba’s achievements of her life. We will pray to God that Ba’s soul will go in heaven and she will rest in peace. “

During the last seventeen years, Dr. Kamal Patel participated in leadership role with the KPS (Kadva Patidar Samaj of Chicago ), FIA, and the Indian Medical Association of Illinois. Through these contributions; Dr. Kamal Patel has established himself as a prominent community leader. Besides this, he participated in lots of community health fare conventions.

In his special message, Kamal Patel MD mentioned, “Many of you attended the funeral for my mother Vanitaben and paid respect and glowing tribute to the departed soul. Our heartfelt  thanks to the more than 300 people who attended her funeral services as well as many more who attended Basnu (Pratha Sabha), called, text messages and email to us. On behalf of large south Asian Diaspora including members of Asian Media USA Chicago, we like to express our condolences. We pray God Almighty to give courage and strength to bear such loss

Both Wyoming Senate and Wyoming House of Representatives in Cheyenne will start their day with ancient Hindu prayers on February third. These invocations will contain verses from Rig-Veda; the oldest existing scripture of the mankind still in common use.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed will deliver these prayers from Sanskrit scriptures before the Senate and House. After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English translation of the prayers. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.

Zed, who is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, besides Rig-Veda, will also recite from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He plans to start and end the prayer with “Om”, the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.

Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Rajan Zed plans to say “Asato ma sad gamaya, tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, mrtyor mamrtam gamaya”, which he will then interpret as “Lead us from the unreal to the Real, Lead us from darkness to Light, Lead us from death to immortality.” Reading from Bhagavad-Gita, he proposes to urge the legislators to keep the welfare of others always in mind.

Zed is a global Hindu and interfaith leader. Bestowed with World Interfaith Leader Award; Zed is Senior Fellow and Religious Advisor to Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, on the Advisory Board of The Interfaith Peace Project, Spiritual Advisor to National Association of Interchurch & Interfaith Families, etc. He was invited by President of European Parliament in Brussels (Belgium) for a meeting to promote interfaith dialogue. He also leads a weekly interfaith panel “Faith Forum” in a Gannett publication for the last nearly six years.

According to “Dress Code in the Chambers During Sessions” (as described in Management Council Policy 12-03), “Business formal (for men is defined as a suit, or dress slacks, jacket, tie, dress shirt and dress shoes or dress boots. Boots must be polished.) dress is expected on the chamber floor during legislative sessions”. But Rajan Zed’s attire; who wears saffron colored robes, a ruddraksh mala (rosary), and traditional sandalpaste tilak (religious mark) on the forehead; has been reportedly approved by the Wyoming Senate President for February three.

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

In the 64th Wyoming Legislature, Eli D. Bebout is President of the Senate, which has 30 members; while Steve Harshman is Speaker of the House of Representatives, which has sixty members. Matt Mead is the Governor of Wyoming, whose nickname is “Cowboy State” and tagline is: “Some things can’t be explained. Only experienced.”

Habib Chaudhry, a New Yorker, has been detained after remaining a fugitive for nearly four years in a case alleging to have been involved in more than $200 million credit card fraud schemes, one of the largest ever charged by the Justice Department.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman made the announcement on January 23, stating that Chaudhry, 49, of Valley Stream, New York, was initially charged by complaint in February 2013 and then by indictment in September 2013. He was expected to make his initial appearance Jan. 23 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark federal court, Fishman said.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court. Fishhman said in a press note, Chaudhry was indicted as part of a conspiracy, led by Tahir Lodhi, Babar Qureshi, Ijaz Butt, and others to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. Since then, 19 people have pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme.

The scheme involved a three-step process — the defendants would make up a false identity by creating fraudulent identification documents and a phony credit profile with the major credit bureaus, then pump up the credit of the false identity by providing bogus information about that identity’s creditworthiness, and finally borrow or spend as much as they could without repaying the debts. The scheme caused more than $200 million in confirmed losses to businesses and financial institutions.

The scope of the criminal fraud enterprise required the conspirators to construct an elaborate network of false identities. Across the country, the conspirators maintained more than 1,800 “drop addresses,” including houses, apartments and post office boxes, which they used as the mailing addresses for the false identities.

The FBI has interviewed a Rutgers University computer science student who has been identified by a well-known cyber security blogger as the likely author of the malicious code that caused a massive Internet disruption in October. The expert said the student also may be linked to repeated attacks on Rutgers’ computer system starting in late 2014.

While he says he does not know who may have actually launched the massive “denial of service” or DDoS attacks last fall, the security researcher said the coding language used and other anecdotal evidence seemed to point to the 20-year-old-student, Paras Jha, as an author of the malware used to shut down hundreds of computer servers.

The student’s father, Anand Jha, confirmed that federal investigators have questioned his son, but he adamantly denied he had any knowledge of the attacks or was involved in any way.

In an interview with NJ Advance Media at his Fanwood home, Anand Jha said his son is one of the principals at ProTraf, a company he said helps clients avoid online attacks. But he said his son had nothing to do with the attacks that caused widespread disruptions.

“I know what he is capable of,” Anand Jha said. “Nothing of the sort of what has been described here has happened.” He said the FBI has been in touch with his son more than once. Initially, the family believed authorities were trying to help their son, but they now believe the FBI is trying to build a case against him.

“It is tough. He is just a college kid who doesn’t know what is going on,” the father said. ‘The truth will come out.” Attorney Robert Stahl, a former assistant U.S. attorney who has been retained by the family, said the younger Jha has not been charged with any wrongdoing and was innocent. He said the focus on the student largely stemmed from the apparent findings of Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post reporter who writes a highly influential computer security blog.

“The Krebs alleged investigation makes several leaps of logic,” Stahl said. “We’ll be conducting our own investigation and are looking forward to clearing this young man’s name.”

A Rutgers spokeswoman, Karen Smith, said she could not comment on the status of the investigation.

“We continue to cooperate with all appropriate law enforcement authorities in connection with the ongoing investigation of the DDoS attacks,” Smith said. “This is a very serious matter and we will have no further comment while this matter is under investigation.”

Suhag Shukla, Executive Director, Legal Counsel, and co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), has been named one of twelve “faith leaders to watch in 2017” by the Center for American Progress, the Center for American Progress announced Jan. 18. Sapreet Kaur, the Sikh Coalition’s executive director in 2009, was the other South Asian featured on the list.

Amid many changes happening throughout the country, the center noted that “faith leaders can fill the critical dual roles of holding political leaders accountable to communities and witnessing the shared vision of a more just nation and world.”

It added, “Both individually and collectively, people of faith, their voices, and their actions will be integral to fighting back against injustice and ensuring that all people are treated with dignity and equity.” Shukla is the co-founder of HAF and currently serves as its executive director and legal counsel.

“I’m humbled to be included alongside other prominent American faith leaders,” the Indian American activist said in a statement. “However, doing this work and being honored in this way is only possible because of the dedication and hard work of the entire team behind HAF, as well as that of our supporters.”

The foundation is an advocacy organization for the Hindu American community. It educates the public about Hinduism, speaks out about issues affecting Hindus worldwide and works with intrafaith and interfaith organizations to advance its mission of religious liberty.

Shukla embodies true religious liberty, ensuring that plurality and the rights of religious minorities are at the heart of religious freedom advocacy, the report said.

Since starting as the Sikh Coalition’s executive director in 2009, Sapreet Kaur has transformed the organization into a large and visible civil rights organization that provides legal defense and advocates on issues of hate crimes, racial and religious profiling, safe schools, employment discrimination, and religious liberty. Shedding a light on the lesser-recognized faith, in 2013, Kaur was the first Sikh to speak at a Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service. In 2016, Kaur and her team launched the groundbreaking  Sikh Project, a collection of photographs of diverse Sikh Americans that complicates the narrative and sparks conversation about what it means to be American.

In all of her work, Kaur prioritizes building bridges within the interfaith community, ensuring that the Sikh Coalition’s advocacy work supports not only Sikh civil rights but also the rights of all people. Going forward, Kaur is committed to pushing back on attacks on religious minorities and lesser-known communities and taking a stand against fear mongering and discrimination.

Shedding a light on the lesser-recognized faith, in 2013, Kaur was the first Sikh to speak at a presidential inaugural prayer service, the center news release noted. Last year, Kaur and her team launched the Sikh Project, a collection of photographs of diverse Sikh Americans that complicates the narrative and sparks conversation about what it means to be American.

The gauntlet of leaders to watch represent the best of faith traditions: optimism that the future can and will be more just and strength and perseverance to fight to make it so, the center stressed. Their leadership is desperately needed, and CAP’s Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative looks forward to the inspiration their work will provide in the coming year, it added.

Dr. Sanjay Kumar, a 50-year-old Indian-origin doctor in North Carolina has been charged with drug trafficking and money-laundering, according to federal authorities. According to reports,  Kumar was charged with conspiracy to unlawful distribution of opioids such as oxycodone and alprazolam, which can be misused as addictive drugs, the federal prosecutor’s office for Eastern North Carolina announced on Jan. 17.

As per prosecutors, Kumar conspired to illegally dispense Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Hydromorphone and Alprazolam. The charges were filed against him after a grand jury, a panel of citizens that makes the initial determination to prosecute, indicted him. That is the first stage in the U.S. justice system and he will next be tried in court.

If convicted, the maximum penalties for each charged drug count are imprisonment for 25 years and a $1 million fine. Kumar is from Bern in North Carolina. A local newspaper Sun Journal said he was a specialist in physiatry and headed a sports medicine practice.

He was arrested in June at a traffic stop and according to authorities “trafficking levels” of drugs were found when his house was searched with a warrant. According to the newspaper, when Kumar was produced before a judge at that time he said: “I am going to fight all these charges, humbly and boldly.” He has also faced charges of stalking his neighbors, Sun Journal said.

The Sikh Coalition filed a lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on behalf of Dr. Jaswinder Pal Singh.  The suit alleges that Dr. Singh – an observant Sikh physician and father who keeps a religiously mandated turban and beard – was denied a neurology job after the employer and recruiter inquired into his religious appearance.

The suit further alleges that as part of the 2014 hiring process, the employer, Premier Medical Group, P.C., and its recruiter, Arthur Marshall, Inc., expressed interest and concern about the way Dr. Singh looked. Although in phone interviews the recruiter praised Dr. Singh’s credentials, he was abruptly denied further interviews after he submitted photographs of himself, along with additional information on Sikhs and Sikhism. The job then remained vacant.

“It was very clear to me that I was denied employment because of my ethnic background and religious appearance,” said Dr. Singh. “I contacted the Sikh Coalition because nobody is better at holding companies accountable for their discrimination.”

In 2015, the Sikh Coalition represented Dr. Singh in filing a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  After the EEOC issued a right to sue notice, we established a legal partnership with the reputable Tennessee plaintiff attorney, Douglas B. Janney III, to file the anti-discrimination lawsuit against the employer, Premier Medical Group, and its recruiter, Arthur Marshall.

“Whether you are a doctor in Tennessee or a truck driver in California, we will always protect and defend your right to practice your faith fearlessly,” said Sikh Coalition Legal Director, Harsimran Kaur.

Last month, the Sikh Coalition announced a massive legal victory on behalf of four Sikh truck drivers who were denied jobs by one of the largest trucking companies in America. This new lawsuit, on behalf of Dr. Singh, seeks to secure a court order requiring that both defendants implement anti-discrimination policies, practices and training to ensure that they do not discriminate against any future applicants.

“No Sikh in any job or profession should ever be denied employment because of their religion,” said Dr. Singh.  “By speaking out and taking action, I know that we will continue to hold employers directly accountable.”

Drs. Neelima and Mukul Parikh of Mechanicsburg were recently honored with the 2016 Humanitarian Award from United Way of the Capital Region’s Tocqueville Society for their outstanding commitment to improving lives throughout the region during a special reception, sponsored by M&T Bank, Wilmington Trust, Clarion Hotel Partners and The JDK Group.

The society said that the Indian American physician couple, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., were honored for their outstanding commitment to improving lives throughout the region.

The Humanitarian Award is presented annually to a local leader, or leaders, who meets the criteria of having a commitment to voluntary systems of human services; having a creative approach to serving the community; are outstanding in providing leadership and working with others; provide sustained service over a period of years; are inspirational in encouraging others to serve; their actions have had or will have a major impact on changing and saving lives; and, produce results that are clearly visible and tangible.

Neelima and Mukul have practiced anesthesiology since 1984 at West Shore Anesthesia and Riverside Anesthesia Associates respectively and both have served in leadership positions within their profession.

Since the 1980s, Neelima and Mukul have used their medical talents, as well as their spirit for philanthropy to take medical mission trips to parts of Africa, Haiti, India, the Philippines and Thailand. These trips are financed using personal vacation time as well as personal funds. The couple strives to complete two mission trips a year.

In 2013, Mukul and Neelima founded Operation Medical, a nonprofit organization comprised of trained professionals and volunteers committed to providing high quality medical care and education to the most at-risk communities around the globe. Mukul, president of Operation Medical, along with Neelima, conduct surgeries, help secure financial resources, medical supplies, equipment and pharmaceuticals, and inspire others to join in this life-changing work.

Both Neelima and Mukul are very active with the Hindu American Religious Institute (HARI). Neelima served as the first female president of HARI and on its board of directors. Mukul has served as chair of the board of HARI, where he also taught Sunday school for 25 years and coordinated youth group activities for a decade.

Longtime donors to United Way, Neelima and Mukul have continued to grow their generosity. In 2015, they donated $100,000 to our United Way – the largest gift from individual(s) last year. In 2005, the couple established a private foundation to help support the many educational, health care, religious and community service activities they ardently support.

Around the world, millions of people celebrated Diwali festival. Conscious of the valuable contribution made by the Hindu community in NYC, NYC  Council and Democratic district leader Dr.Neeta Jain has invited a cross-section of the Hindu community to celebrate Diwali with him in the Mayor’s office at City Hall on Thursday, 15 November.

To commemorate the event , Council Member Barry Grodenchik presented a proclamation to Indian Commuinty Leader Harish Thakkar. Harish Thakkar has received honors for his community work for various American and Indian American Community organizations, including: Lohana Samaj of USA, BAPS and Association of Indians in America and organising walkathon for cancer research, diabetic society and children diwali  event at Queens public library.

At the event  Indian Community leader Harish Thakkar said,  “Diwali is the most important and significant festival for the people of Hindu religion. It has many rituals, traditional and cultural beliefs event  of celebrating it. It is celebrated all over the country as well as outside the country with great enthusiasm. One of biggest Diwali event in the world out side India happens right here in our NYC City at south seaport in October 1st week for last 29 years.

“I can tell every person here is committed to helping keep this NYC Council Diwali going strong, and it’s really inspiring to see. May we all continue to work together, nurture and support each other and help grow the unique image of NYC City as a dynamic, creative place to live and work. On behalf of Indian American Community I thank NYC Council and newly elected Democratic queens district leader Dr. Neeta Jain for organising this wonderful event,” he added.

In Picture: From right corner  Assemblyman David Weprin,  Council Member Barry Grodenchik , Harish Thakkar, Democratic queens district leader Dr. Neeta Jain,Council Member Rory Lancman and at left corner Councilman Peter Koo

Trayvon Malik Wilhite, a 19-year-old teenager in Chesterfield County, Va., was sentenced to 40 years in prison on November 15 for his role in the attempted robbery and fatal shooting of convenience store owner Harshad Patel.

Chesterfield Circuit Court Judge David E. Johnson brushed aside defense arguments that the teen deserved some leniency because of his troubled upbringing – he was abandoned by his mother at age 8. The judge focused instead on the “senseless and brutal murder” of convenience store owner Harshad Patel, 55, who was fatally shot dead on January 11 as he prepared to close for the night, reported Virginia Post-Dispatch.

The judge said Wilhite intentionally pointed a gun at Patel, a father of two, and fired as the Indian American store owner ducked for cover, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch report.

“He shouldn’t have to take cover in his own place of business,” the judge said, according to the Times-Dispatch report, adding that Wilhite mistakenly believed Patel — who was unarmed — was reaching for a gun and blamed the victim for crouching behind the counter to protect himself. Johnson said Wilhite could then have left the store but instead made a premeditated decision to break the law.

Johnson ultimately ruled that Wilhite, who was arrested in January along with Thomas Jennings, III and a 14-year-old boy, later learned to be Wilhite’s younger brother Tyquise, be sentenced to a total of 73 years in prison with 33 suspended for the killing and attempted robbery of Patel.

After the arrest, Wilhite confessed he was the lone shooter in the crime, which was captured on surveillance video.

The video shows Jennings entering the Marketplace #21 convenience store first, followed by Trayvon Wilhite with a pistol in hand. The single shot taken went through Patel’s right arm and through his chest, fracturing a rib and penetrating the upper lobe of his lung before slicing a major artery that supplies blood to the right arm, the report said. Patel was found by a customer who arrived later to buy lottery tickets.

Chesterfield prosecutor Ken Chitty told the court that investigators found no weapon behind the counter or any guns at all in Patel’s store, the Marketplace #21 at 6811 Walmsley Blvd.

At the conclusion of the 90-minute hearing, Johnson sentenced Wilhite to a total of 73 years in prison with 33 suspended in the killing and attempted robbery of Patel, a native of India whom the judge described as a beloved family man and respected business owner. His death shocked and angered many of the victim’s regular customers who lived near his store.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Bernards Township, alleging it violated federal law in its denial of the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge’s plan to build a mosque. The proposed site is located in a part of the township that, at the time of the society’s zoning request, permitted the construction of places of worship.

“Bernards Township has treated the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge differently than other houses of worship,” U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul J. Fishman said. “(Federal law) ensures that municipalities must treat religious land use applications like any other land use application.

“But here, township officials kept moving the goalposts by using ever-changing local requirements to effectively deny this religious community the same access as other faiths.”

The society, led by the former mayor, Mohammad Ali Chaudry, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Newark earlier in March, accusing the town’s planning board of breaking RLUIPA. The proposal to build the mosque was mooted in Nov. 2011 when Chaudry, a retired AT&T executive who has also served as the township’s mayor, decided with some friends to open a mosque in the township where he has lived for some 40 years and has been on its board of education and has led a task force to create the town’s community center. But the society could not have its mosque proposal sanctioned by the board as the latter rejected it year after year under one ground or the other.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleged that Bernards Township’s denial of approval for the mosque discriminated against the Islamic Society based on its religion and the religion of its members; applied standards and procedures on the Islamic Society that it had not applied to other religious and non-religious assemblies in the past; and imposed a substantial burden on the Islamic Society’s religious exercise. The complaint also alleged that the township violated RLUIPA by amending its zoning ordinance in a manner that imposes unreasonable limitations on all religious assemblies.

Jagsheer Singh, a young Indian American father in Queens, New York, who pleaded guilty to assault and manslaughter in connection with the death of his four-month-old son, who suffered multiple skull fractures, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison on November 15th, as per reports by AP.

Prosecutors say Singh, 28-year-old, had been left with his son in December 2014 while his wife, Dr. Reena Malhotra, went to work. The next day the child was taken to the hospital, where an examination showed the skull fractures, brain injury and retinal hemorrhages. The boy died a few days later.

Jagsheer Singh was charged with manslaughter and assault of his son, Nevin Janduher, who had died after suffering multiple skull fractures in December 2014. “As a father, the defendant’s job was to protect and nurture his helpless, innocent son,” said District Attorney Richard Brown. “Instead, the defendant assaulted his son, causing skull fractures and widespread brain injury and ultimately resulting in the child’s death. As a result, the sentence to be imposed by the court is more than warranted.”

Singh first told his wife that Nevin fell off a changing table, but doctors found that his injuries were inconsistent with a short fall and that he had suffered “abusive head trauma.” Medical personnel at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, examined the baby and found he had suffered injuries inconsistent with falling off a table. Doctors said that Nevin had suffered non-accidental inflicted trauma.

The infant died several days later on Christmas Eve after being taken to Cohen Children’s Medical Center. Singh is facing up to 18 years in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Richard Buchter at Queens Supreme Court on Nov. 4.

Singh was arrested Dec. 21 with first degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child. The charges were upgraded after Nevin’s death, to second degree murder and acting in a manner injurious to a child under the age of 17.

In March 2015, Queens radiologist Reena Malhotra, Nevin’s mother and Singh’s wife, wrote to Judge Richard Buchter, who was presiding over the case, to ask that her husband be released. She pointed out that Singh was a “loving and caring father. Our family is his world,” she wrote. “He has a big heart, is a God-loving man, and is a responsible person with a calm demeanor,” she said. In September, to honor their nephew’s second birthday, Nevin’s aunts started a gofundme drive to raise donations for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. “We think of Nevin every day,” wrote his aunts.

Gurnoor Singh Nahal, a California teenager was found dead in the garage of his home after a reported shooting on November 8th. Gurnoor Singh Nahal, 17, a senior at Inderkum High School was driving home from work at his father’s retail at night and about 10 minutes later, Sacramento police received a report of a shooting near his residence, CBS news reported.

Sacramento police reported receiving a call of a shooting at 10:40 p.m. Tuesday in the 5700 block of Kandinsky Way in the town. “All I heard was a gunshot and then after that, there was like somebody crying and then police came,” Singh’s neighbor Emily Thao told NBC Sacramento.

When officers arrived to the scene of the reported shooting, they found Singh laying dead in his garage. He was pronounced dead at the scene. “I saw him laying out on the ground and blood was on his side,” said Uncle, Tejiderjit Singh.

His family believes Singh was followed home from work and that the shooter may have been after the cash that was inside the car; collected from the family business that day. But, the money was never taken.

“We extend our sympathy to his family and friends, and we’re reaching out to provide support,” the Natomas Unified School District said in a released statement. “This is a difficult day for Inderkum and a sad time for the Natomas community.”

Homicide investigators have spent time canvassing the area looking for evidence and have reportedly spoken to potential witnesses. Singh is the sixth teenager killed in Sacramento County this year, the Bee reported.

Several family members and mourners gathered at the home where the shooting occurred, as well as at a neighboring home where relatives of the victim also live.

An Indian-American couple have been indicted on human trafficking charges related to forced labour of foreign nationals primarily from India, authorities have said on November 17th. A federal grand jury charged Satish Kartan, 43, and his wife Sharmistha Barai, 38, with conspiracy to commit forced labour and the commission of forced labor. Kartan was also charged with fraud in contacting foreign labor and Barai was also charged with benefiting from forced labor.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert of the Eastern District of California announced the indictment.

The indictment alleges that Kartan and Barai struck one worker on multiple occasions, including one incident where Kartan grabbed her hands and caused them to be burned over the flames of a gas stove. Moreover, the indictment alleges that the defendants failed to pay another worker and told her that they would call the police if she tried to leave. When she was ultimately able to arrange to be picked up from the defendants’ house, Kartan refused to provide her with the access code to the gated community so that her ride could enter, said the DOJ statement.

The couple from California were arrested on October 21, on a criminal complaint and were released on bond with special conditions that prohibit them from hiring any non-relatives to perform domestic services or child care work for them. The arraignment is scheduled for November 21.

According to court documents, between February 21, 2014, and October 3, 2016, Kartan and Barai hired workers from overseas to perform domestic labor in their homes in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Stockton and elsewhere in the US.

In advertisements seeking workers on the internet and India-based newspapers, the couple made false claims regarding wages and duties of employment, federal prosecutors alleged.

“Once the workers arrived at the defendants’ residences, Kartan and Barai forced them to work 18 hours a day with limited rest and nourishment. The defendants did not pay wages and used force, physical restraint and coercive conduct to get the workers to perform the labor and services,” it said.

Moreover, the indictment alleges that the defendants failed to pay another worker and told her that they would call the police if she tried to leave. When she was ultimately able to arrange to be picked up from the defendants’ house, Kartan refused to provide her with the access code to the gated community so that her ride could not enter, the court papers alleged. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.