FIA Officers Administered Oath of Office Virtually By Consul General Randhir Kumar Jaiswal

The new Board of Trustees of the Federation of Indian Association of NY, NJ, CT (FIA Tristate) led by Chairman Ankur Vai was sworn-in in a virtual oath ceremony by the new Consul General of India in New York, Randhir Kumar Jaiswal, barely a few hours after he arrived in New York on on July 19, 2020.

Vaidya is joined by Bipin Patel, as vice chairman and Jayesh Patel as the general secretary.  The current Board also consists of distinguished community stalwarts including Rambhai Gadhavi, Chandrakant Trivedi, Prabir Roy, Dr. Parvin Pandhi, Andy Bhatia, Srujal Parikh, Anand Patel, Dipak Patel and Kanubhai Chauhan. Longtime veteran community leader, Albert Jasani of Royal Alberts Palace serves as the Unifying-Unity Trustee of the group, along with Yash Paul Soi as Emeritus Vice Chairman for FIA’s Golden Jubilee Year.

Speaking as a newly sworn-in Chairman, Vaidya welcomed the new Consul General, announced his brief accomplishments and expressed his surprise and gratitude for Jaiswal to hit the ground running and sending a positive message to the Indian American community.

Prior to being appointed the Consul General of India in New York, Jaiswal was the Joint Secretary-cum-Social Secretary to the President of India Ramnath Kovind. A 1998 Indian Foreign Service officer, Jaiswal headed the foreign affairs office of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and advised the President on India’s foreign policy. Prior to that he served as the Consul General of India in Johannesburg in South Africa. He has also worked as a Counselor at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

During a special meeting attended by FIA President Anil Bansal, Secretary Parveen Bansal, and 14 out of the 16 current Board members, immediately after the sudden passing away of its long time Chairman of the Board, Ramesh Patel, Mr. Vaidya was elected Chairman of FIA, the largest Indian American organization. Established in 1970, the FIA of the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut is one of the largest umbrella organizations in the Indian community. It represents over 500,000 strong and vibrant Asian-Indians who provide significant grass root support.