WASHINGTON (TIP): The United States and India have begun conversations about Pakistan’s runaway nuclear weapons program, including its development and deployment of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons, in the backdrop of the nuclear security summit that opens here on March 31.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected in the US capital on Thursday morning, but ahead of his arrival, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his US counterparts and other senior American interlocutors have been discussing the progress in India’s ties with Pakistan, including complications arising from the patronage of terrorist groups by sections of the Pakistani establishment, and its nuclear posture.
The Pakistani headache featuring in talks with Doval was revealed by US Secretary of State John Kerry, when he referred cryptically to Washington having “serious questions” about “some choices” being made in the region that “may accelerate possible arms construction.”
“We’ve raised them with various partners in the region. So our hope is that this Nuclear Security Summit will contribute to everybody’s understanding about our global responsibilities and choices,” Kerry said, without directly naming Pakistan.
There was little doubt Kerry’s remarks were directed at Pakistan, which has bailed out of the summit citing the terrorist attack in Lahore, one of dozens in the country over the past decade that has not persuaded its establishment to jettison a policy of fostering extremist groups.
”India has a very important role to play with respect to responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials. India has a long record of being a leader, of being responsible, and it is particularly important right now at a time when we see in the region some choices being made that may accelerate possible arms construction, which we have serious questions about,” Kerry, with Doval beside him, said in a vote-of-confidence in New Delhi.
Earlier, President Obama telephoned Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to condole the death of more than 70 persons n the Lahore bombing, while also “expressing his understanding of Sharif’s decision to cancel his visit to the United States and remain in Pakistan following this terrorist attack,” according to the White House.
”This callous and appalling attack against innocent civilians, many of them women and children, underscores the critical danger that terrorism poses inside Pakistan, throughout the region, and around the globe,” a White House readout of the call quoted Obama as saying.
Pakistan has sent a low-level representation to the summit, evidently apprehensive about having to explain its decision to build tactical battlefield nuclear weapons in a situation where its home grown terrorists and mutinous extremist military personnel have attacked several military installations in the country, including the army headquarters and navy and air force bases.
The possibility of a nuclear conflagration between India and Pakistan had been dubbed a ”pink flamingo” scenario, from a term coined by security analyst Frank Hoffman to describe events that are predictable and fully visible, but almost entirely ignored by policymakers (as opposed to Black Swans, which are unpredictable and unforeseen).
Evidently, THIS pink flamingo is not something that will remain unnoticed or unaddressed.
The choice of Doval to play Sherpa to the Prime Ministerial visit rather than external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj suggests the New Delhi and Washington are developing a deep security relationship in addition to extensive military and diplomatic ties. Enigmatic comments and cryptic statements bear this out without shedding too much light on the depth of the engagement.
WASHINGTON (TIP): US presidential wannabe Donald Trump has withdrawn a call for women who have abortions to be punished, only hours after suggesting it.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says women who end pregnancies should face punishment if the US bans abortion, triggering a torrent of criticism from both sides of the abortion debate, including his White House rivals.
After MSNBC broadcast a clip of an interview with Trump, the property mogul released a statement two hours later backing a ban on abortion and advocating punishments for abortion doctors, but reversing himself on the question of women themselves facing repercussions.
Mr. Trump then travelled to Washington to meet with his foreign policy advisers and remained out of the public eye for more than 24 hours, a lifetime by his standards.
Instead of appearing himself, he dispatched a succession of aides to TV news sets to explain that his position on abortion had not been fully formed, and that he simply “misspoke”.
“This was a misspeak,” Katrina Pierson, a spokeswoman, told CNN. “There was a misspeak here and you have a presidential candidate that clarified the record not once but twice.”
“The doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman,” Trump said in his last statement. “The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb.”
Trump faced a barrage of condemnation on Thursday over his comments that women who have abortions should be punished, highlighting his struggles with female voters and damaging his chances in a crucial upcoming contest.
Trump has won support from Republican voters for selling himself as a Washington outsider. But the New York real estate tycoon, who once supported abortion access, has come under pressure from conservatives to prove he is truly one of them.
At the same time, he has drawn criticism for comments that offended women and minority groups.
The Republican front-runner has fallen behind rival Ted Cruz in Wisconsin, where the next primary election will be held on Tuesday, April 5, and a recent poll showed that nearly three-quarters of women have an unfavorable opinion of him.
While Mr. Trump holds a commanding advantage in the Republican race, even some within his own party have suggested his weakness with women could be his undoing in a potential general election match-up with Hillary Clinton.
Polls show the former secretary of state leading Mr. Trump by an average of 11 points in such a scenario, with the gap widening to 16 per cent among women.
Mrs. Clinton, for her part, has slammed Mr. Trump’s comments on abortion as “outrageous and dangerous”.
NEW YORK (TIP): Environmental advocate and former Vice President Al Gore and Attorneys General from across the nation, on Tuesday, March 29, gathered in the office of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for an unprecedented conference to discuss a multi-state effort to investigate possible violations of law by fossil fuel companies.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, along with 17 other Attorneys General from across the country, are exploring ways in which they can work together on key climate change-related initiatives, specifically ongoing and potential investigations into whether fossil fuel companies misled the public and investors about the risks of climate change.
Many of the states involved have worked together in the past on multi-state climate-change efforts, including pressing the EPA to limit climate change pollution from fossil-fueled electric power plants, defending federal rules controlling climate change emissions from large industrial facilities, and pushing for federal controls on emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane.
an alliance of top state law enforcement officers to press for urgent climate action on multiple legal fronts, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was joined by six of his counterparts, their ranks bolstered by aides from 10 additional states and the District of Columbia. The group met in New York to plan strategies and share information.
One after another, the top legal officials from Vermont, Virginia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut and the Virgin Islands vowed to hold fossil fuel companies accountable if their words and deeds on climate change had crossed into illegality.
“The First Amendment, ladies and gentlemen, does not give you the right to commit fraud,” said Schneiderman, who in November issued a subpoena to ExxonMobil under the state’s far-reaching securities and consumer protection statutes.
“Every attorney general does work on fraud cases, and we are pursuing this as we would any other fraud matter. You have to tell the truth, you can’t make misrepresentations of the kinds we’ve seen here,” he said on Tuesday. “The scope of the problem we are facing, the size of the corporate entities and their alliances, the trade associations and other groups, is massive and it requires a multistate effort.”
Attorney General Maura Healey of Massachusetts explicitly disclosed that she, too, has opened an investigation into ExxonMobil’s actions and statements involving climate change. Attorney General Claude Walker of the Virgin Islands said he had launched a fossil fuel investigation as well. Schneiderman later suggested that it involved Exxon, and also said that California has undertaken a probe of Exxon, although that state’s attorney general, Kamala Harris, was represented by staff.
All of those attorneys general are Democrats, and as the group stood at a podium bearing the words “AGs United for Clean Power” they made clear that their agenda also extended to supporting the centerpiece of President Obama’s climate policies, the Clean Power Plan. The group wrote a brief defending those regulations, which have been put on hold by the Supreme Court pending litigation at a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.
“Everyone from President Obama on down is under a relentless assault from well-funded, highly aggressive and morally vacant forces that are trying to block every step by the federal government to take meaningful action,” Schneiderman said. “So today we are sending a message that at least some of us, actually a lot of us, in state government are prepared to step into this battle with an unprecedented level of commitment and coordination.”
“If there are companies-whether utilities or fossil fuel companies-committing fraud in an effort to maximize their short-term profit at the expense of the people we represent,” he continued, “we want to find out about it and want to expose it and we want to pursue them to the fullest extent of the law, prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”
California, where an explosion and fire damaged the Exxon Mobil Torrance refinery last year, is investigating company statements on climate change
Schneiderman has demanded that Exxon turn over documents on climate science research and communications covering a span of almost four decades. He acted after InsideClimate News and the Los Angeles Times disclosed decades-old documents describing Exxon’s early understanding of the emerging science of climate change.
“The investigations targeting our company threaten to have a chilling effect on private sector research,” Exxon’s vice president of public and government affairs, Suzanne McCarron, said in a lengthy statement on its website. The company also responded on Twitter, saying the allegations of climate deceit are “preposterous” and “politically motivated and baseless,” and that it is assessing its legal options.
The attorneys general were joined by former vice president Al Gore, who predicted that the formation of their alliance would be a turning point.
“We cannot continue to allow the fossil fuel industry or any industry to treat our atmosphere like an open sewer or mislead the public about the impact they have on the health of our people and the health of our planet,” Gore said.
“Those who are using unfair and illegal means to try to prevent the change are likely now, finally, at long last, to be held to account,” he said. Gore compared the activities of Exxon to the tobacco industry in the 1990s, conduct that also faced a legal onslaught sparked by state attorneys general.
It’s a similarity that Gore said “may well hold up rather precisely.”
Gore and Schneiderman called it unconscionable that the fossil fuel industry has spent millions of dollars on polished public relations campaigns to muddle the truth, employing legions of lobbyists to stymie regulation and financing organizations devoted to discrediting prevailing climate science.
For all the saber-rattling, the attorneys general did not describe any specifics of their investigations. Schneiderman noted that each state’s laws and powers are different, and said that law enforcement officials preferred not to show their hands, at least for now.
Nor was there any sign of federal participation in the alliance.
Demands for a federal investigation of Exxon have come from federal and state lawmakers, the Democratic presidential candidates, environmentalists and climate scientists. So far, the U. S. Department of Justice has asked the FBI to evaluate whether the company’s actions might justify legal action under RICO, the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, which is aimed at illegal conspiracies.
In his remarks, Gore praised InsideClimate News and cited the L.A. Times and the Columbia School of Journalism for their investigative reporting that, after independent investigations, reached similar conclusions about Exxon’s role in climate research and its attempts undermine the consensus on climate science.
“The facts that were publicly presented in those series of articles that I have mentioned are extremely troubling,” Gore said.
Schneiderman said he was not surprised that Exxon and the fossil fuel industry would fight back.
“It’s too early to know what we’re going to find with Exxon, but we intend to work as aggressively as possible, but also as carefully as possible,” he said.
“We’re very aware of the fact that everything we do here is going to be subject to attack by folks who have a huge financial interest in discrediting us,” he said. “So we’re going to be aggressive and creative but we’re also going to be as careful and meticulous and deliberate as we can.”
All of the attorneys general talked about the impact of climate change on their states, including flooding, severe weather and sea level rise. Climate change is already responsible for significant and worsening damages, they said.
“Our natural resources are the lifeblood of our state’s economy and our quality of life,” said Attorney General Janet Mills of Maine, who was not at the podium but issued a supportive statement. “Global climate change demands immediate action and I am committed to using the authority of my office to address the problem in a meaningful way.”
The speakers faulted partisan politics in Washington for slowing efforts to fight global warming and for allowing the fossil fuel industry almost free rein to deceive the public about the harm of global warming.
“We can stand up and take action where others will not,” said Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen.
WASHINGTON (TIP): US President Barack Obama on March 31 reaffirmed the US commitment to Turkey’s security during a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, while also discussing both countries’ efforts to fight Islamic State, the White House said. “The president extended condolences to President Erdogan on behalf of the American people for those killed and injured in today’s terrorist attack in Diyarbakir, and reaffirmed the support of the United States for Turkey’s security and our mutual struggle against terrorism,” the White House said. “The leaders also discussed how to advance our shared effort to degrade and destroy ISIL,” it said, using an acronym for Islamic State.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA (TIP): A gunman who shot a Virginia state trooper at a bus terminal on Thursday was shot dead by two other officers, police said. Two civilians were hurt, though it was not clear if they had been shot.
The trooper’s injuries were life-threatening, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller. The two civilians were expected to survive.
Initially, State Police had said in a news release that two troopers were taken to a hospital, but Geller later told reporters that only one had been hurt.
Brendan Hamilton told The Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper that he was about to walk into the station when he heard two loud bangs, then saw flashes of light. He told the newspaper he then heard at least five more bangs. People then started to run out of the building, he said.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Three Sikh soldiers filed, March 29, a lawsuit against the Department of Defense seeking to serve in the US armed forces without being forced to compromise with their articles of faith like turbans, unshorn hair and beards.
In the lawsuit, Specialist Kanwar Singh, Specialist Harpal Singh and Private Arjan Singh Ghotra demand that the Army accommodate their religious articles of faith, including turbans, unshorn hair and beards, so that each can begin Basic Combat Training with their various units in May.
The lawsuit was filed by the Sikh Coalition, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and McDermott Will & Emery, after the US Department of Defense ignored a written demand letter that was sent on March 23.
“We had hoped that we would not have to file a second lawsuit on behalf of three more Sikh American soldiers, who simply want to practice their faith freely while serving their nation,” said the Sikh Coalition’s legal director, Harsimran Kaur.
“However, the Defense Department has remained unresponsive to their requests for accommodation and the clock is ticking. Action must be taken,” she alleged.
The new lawsuit follows the March 4 federal court ruling that the Army was prohibited from subjecting a decorated Sikh American soldier, Captain Simratpal Singh, to discriminatory testing.
A final Army decision regarding CPT Singh’s landmark religious accommodation request is due by March 31. “We would like the opportunity, like every other American, to proudly serve,” said Kanwar Singh, who enlisted in the Massachusetts Army National Guard.
“I look forward to joining my battalion for training and making the diverse state of Massachusetts proud,” he said.
SPC Harpal Singh, a California Telecommunications Engineering Specialist, was recruited by the US Army Reserve for his foreign language skills.
PVT Arjan Singh Ghotra, who is 17, enlisted in the Virginia Army National Guard and is slated to attend basic training before attending George Mason University this fall, the statement said.
“It is unfortunate that in the face of overwhelming evidence that Sikhs should be permitted to serve, we are once again asking whether our nation’s largest employer will embrace religious freedom and diversity or continue to aggressively thwart progress. It is a sad day for all Americans when our military is on the wrong side of common sense, the law and our shared American values,” said Amandeep Sidhu, Partner at McDermott Will & Emery.
Last year, 27 retired US Generals called on the Department of Defense to eliminate the ban on observant Sikhs. These generals joined 105 Members of Congress, 15 Senators and 21 national Interfaith and civil rights organizations, who had previously signed letters in support of American Sikhs’ right to serve.
NEW YORK, NY (TIP): It was a memorable evening with an artist who easily fits in to any role. Not only acting role, but all kinds of role in the film industry – screenwriter, director, producer, playback singer, choreographer, lyricist, dancer and what not.
I am referring to the one and only one Kamal Hassan who works primarily in the Tamil film industry but has left his deep imprint on Bollywood too with his magnificent performances as an actor.
The evening with Kamal Haasan was arranged, March26bySree Sreenivasan, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City of which he is the Chief Digital Officer.
While the room was packed to capacity with 300 fans of Kamal Haasan, thousands upon thousand must have watched him address the gathering and answering questions during the question hour session, intelligently moderated by Sree.
Mr. Haasan calls himself “a reluctant actor”. Upon being asked why reluctant, he said as a young person one day he went to see Mr. K. Balachander (late famed director of Tamil Cinema). Mt. Haasan told Mr. Balachander that he wanted to be a director just like him. Balachander answered you want to come to the studio on a rickshaw rather than in a car. Mr. Balachander said you have what it takes to be an actor.Mr. Balachander gave Mr. Haasan his first break. He introduced Mr. Haasan to the Hindi speaking audience with the blockbuster film Ek Duuje Ke Liye. That’s how he became a reluctant actor.
Ek Duuje Ke Liye is one of his favorites movies, he said.
On the question if there was a possibility of his doing a film with Rajinikanth, Mr. Haasan jokingly said, yes, why not; if there is a producer who will have the budget to pay us both our fees.
Mr. Haasan said he does not like doing run of the mill films but he enjoys comedy. It is appreciation from the audience and his hunger for artwhich keep him going.
Co -workers of yesteryear-New York based film maker and actor Tirlok Malik (left) and Kamal Haasan share memories at the event
Also present among the gathering was New York filmmaker-actor Tirlok Malik who worked with Kamal Haasan as US line producer in The Smart Hunt Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006) directed by Gautham Menon. Malik recalled asking Gautham Menon “how did he directan actor like Kamal Haasan?” Menon replied, “You don’t direct actors like him. You navigate them.” Malik asked Kamal Haasan “what was his opinion on the statement?” Mr. Haasan replied “Actor and director for a filmare like a mirror. No matter how good actor you are, you always need a director to navigate you.”
QUEENS, NY (TIP): State Senator Tony Avella and State Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz called the de Blasio Administration’s plans to build a new jail in College Point “ludicrous and irresponsible” in a joint statement on March 31.
“It’s outrageous that the city would even think about burdening the College Point community yet again with another large scale development – let alone proposing that it be a jail that would house 2,000 criminals. I’m appalled that while we’re protecting the Mayor’s back in Albany, he’s going behind our back to hurt our community,” stated Senator Avella.
“City Hall’s proposal to shift inmates to a neighborhood as densely populated as College Point is appalling,” said Assemblyman Simanowitz. “College Point Corporate Park has become a convenient dumping ground for large scale development and relocations, a burden borne by our residents. Moreover, this plan blatantly ignores public safety and quality of life issues. I stand with Senator Avella and the community in unequivocal opposition to this proposal.”
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK (TIP): To this monthly gathering, 8 religious members from the Hindu, Jain, and Christian faiths used their religious texts as a background to talk about “Animals.”
When asked about animals in the scriptures, one of the Hindu representative stated that, “In the scriptures there are two things, the body and the soul. The real thing is the soul, the body is temporary. Animals are not looked down upon but is worshipped if the god is with it.” The representative from the Jain faith quoted, “We don’t have animals in our scriptures. But we treat them as equal because we believe in karma.”
Another Hindu representative added, “There are many animals in our scriptures. But rather than worshipping the animal, we are showing respect. We do not worship the animal but we worship the divine god. There is a difference between worship, praise, and respect.” He further added, “There are also animals in our scriptures that are not real, like a seven headed snake.” The Christian representative explained that their scripture contains animals but is used to figuratively express the spiritual world. He mentioned that the Bible also contains a seven headed beast. The Hindu and Christian faith leaders both were able to find common grounds through their scriptures.
This supports the quote made by Mr. Yongmin Shin, U.S. East Coast Director, “In the WARP Office, each religious leader talks about a certain topic, not through their own opinion, but rather through their respective religious text.” He further added, “Every religion emphasizes peace. Our goal is to emphasize the common ground, not differences, so that we can build a peaceful community.”
In conjunction to the WARP Offices, current and former heads of state, chief justices and politicians are working diligently to create an international legal instrument for peace and the cessation of war that root from religious conflict. Last week on March 14, HWPL held its Proclamation Ceremony of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War and presented the ten articles of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War with the members of the HWPL International Law Peace Committee, chief justices of the Supreme Court, and ministers of justice from 16 nations in Seoul, South Korea.
CHICAGO, IL (TIP): The Akshaya Patra Foundation will be holding its 2016 Chicago Benefit Event on Saturday, May 7th. The Mayor of the Village of Burr Ridge, Mickey Straub, will be the honorary host of the event. The event’s Host Committee will also be led by Mafat Patel of Patel Brothers.
Gopi Kallayil, Google’s Chief Evangelist for Brand Marketing will serve as the event’s keynote speaker. Comedian and actor Omi Vaidya will serve as the event’s Master of Ceremonies. The event will be held at the Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and will begin with a welcome reception at 6:30 PM.
Mickey Straub was elected Mayor of Burr Ridge, a suburb of Chicago, in 2013. Nicknamed “Mayor Mickey,” he is a husband, parent, speaker, and is active in his township and church. He is the author of a newly released BIG GOALS…Short Deadlines, an inspirational book with a patriotic and spiritual message. Mickey Straub is also the founder and president of Sales Activity Management, Inc., a faith-based company providing custom business management tools and services nationwide. In 2012, Mickey became the only person in history to take a patriotic pilgrimage in honor of Lincoln and our veterans to 50 capitols in 50 days.
The event’s Host Committee is composed of prominent leaders of the Chicago community: Mayor Mickey Straub, Mafat Patel of Patel Brothers, Himanshu Patel, Ila Vyas, Saroj Patel, Sunil Kumar, Mohanbir Sawhney, Dipak Kapadia, Dr. Bharat Barai, Dr. Umang Patel, Harish Bhatt, Alok Gaur, Midwest Molding Inc., Cheena Chandra, Prashant Sheth, Vandana Walia, Dr. Romi Chopra, Ketki Parikh, Bhailal Patel, Ram Prashantha, Chhotalal Patel, Kanti S. Patel of the Gujarat Culture Samaj, Moti Agarwal of the Millennium Bank, Suketu Amin, Nilesh Naren Patel of MedStar, Kantilal Patel of New York Life, Kishan Patel of New York Life, Ram Barat, Babu Amin, Natubhai Bajee Patel, Madan Meadows Club, and Share with Love. Over 400 other business, non-profit, government, and philanthropic leaders from around the region are expected to attend and support the organization’s dual mission of addressing childhood hunger and malnutrition, and to promote education for underserved children in India.
As Google’s Chief Evangelist for Brand Marketing, Gopi Kallayil connects corporate clients to their customer base using Google and Google social applications. In his time with Google, Mr. Kallayil has also been responsible for Google +, AdWords, and AdSense. Prior to joining Google, Gopi Kallayil was on the management team of two Silicon Valley venture startups. He also worked on information technology and business performance projects for global corporations in India, China, and the United States as a consultant with McKinsey & Co.
Omi Vaidya is one of the few actors and filmmakers working in Hollywood and Bollywood. A graduate of NYU’s Film School, Omi started as a video editor on independent films and went on to direct short films that have won awards at film festivals worldwide. Omi’s work in front of the camera includes memorable characters on American TV shows like The Office, Arrested Development, Bones, Growing up Fischer, and The Comeback. In Bollywood, Omi made his major debut in Aamir Khan’s film, Three Idiots, which became the biggest Indian box office success of all time.
Established in 2000, Akshaya Patra began by serving 1,500 in 5 schools in Bangalore. Today Akshaya Patra is the largest NGO-run school meal programs in the world and serves over 1.5 million children daily in over 11,501 schools through 24 kitchens in ten states in India. This March, Akshaya Patra will celebrate its 15th Anniversary and the serving of its 2 billionth meal to children in India.
Akshaya Patra has received international recognition for its life-changing mission. In 2016, Akshaya Patra’s Founder Madhu Pandit Dasa received the Padma Shri Award, India’s fourth highest civilian award, for his work with Akshaya Patra. Shridhar Venkat, CEO of Akshaya Patra India, was recognized as being among the 50 Most Impactful Social Innovators in the world. Akshaya Patra was recently awarded the Nikkei Asia Prize, an award established to recognize an organization’s outstanding achievements that contribute to the region’s sustainable development.
year’s Chicago Gala event will feature an evening of networking, entertainment, and dinner. Individuals interested in purchasing tickets and sponsoring the event, can contact Manisha C Gandhi, Director of Development, at 832-876-2142.
To Register:
www.foodforeducation.org/chicago
For more Information: www.foodforeducation.org
To register: Manisha C Gandhi,
832-876-2142 | Piyali Dutta, 781-462-8454
(Photographs and Press release courtesy Asian Media USA)
Americans are generally known for having a positive outlook on life, but with the countdown for November’s presidential election now well under way, polls show voters are angry. This may explain the success of non-mainstream candidates such as Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders. But what is fuelling the frustration?
A CNN/ORC poll carried out in December 2015 suggests 69% of Americans are either “very angry” or “somewhat angry” about “the way things are going” in the US.
And the same proportion – 69% – are angry because the political system “seems to only be working for the insiders with money and power, like those on Wall Street or in Washington,” according to a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll from November.
Many people are not only angry, they are angrier than they were a year ago, according to an NBC/Esquire survey last month -particularly Republicans (61%) and white people (54%) but also 42% of Democrats, 43% of Latinos and 33% of African Americans.
Candidates have sensed the mood and are adopting the rhetoric. Donald Trump, who has arguably tapped into voters’ frustration better than any other candidate, says he is “very, very angry” and will “gladly accept the mantle of anger” while rival Republican Ben Carson says he has encountered “many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch the American dream slipping away”.
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders says: “I am angry and millions of Americans are angry,” while Hillary Clinton says she “understands why people get angry”.
Here are five reasons why some voters feel the American dream is in tatters
Economy
“The failure of the economy to deliver real progress to middle-class and working-class Americans over the past 15 years is the most fundamental source of public anger and disaffection in the US,” says William Galston, an expert in governance studies at the Brookings Institution think tank.
Although the country may have recovered from the recession -economic output has rebounded and unemployment rates have fallen from 10% in 2009 to 5% in 2015 – Americans are still feeling the pinch in their wallets. Household incomes have, generally speaking, been stagnant for 15 years. In 2014, the median household income was $53,657, according to the US Census Bureau -compared with $57,357 in 2007 and$57,843 in 1999 (adjusted for inflation).
There is also a sense that many jobs are of lower quality and opportunity is dwindling, says Galston. “The search for explanations can very quickly degenerate into the identification of villains in American politics. On the left it is the billionaires, the banks, and Wall Street. On the right it is immigrants, other countries taking advantage of us and the international economy -they are two sides of the same political coin.”
Immigration
America’s demographics are changing – nearly 59 million immigrants have arrived in the US since 1965, not all of whom entered the country legally. Forty years ago, 84% of the American population was made up of non-Hispanic white people – by last year the figure was 62%, according to Pew Research. It projects this trend will continue, and by 2055 non-Hispanic white people will make up less than half the population. Pew expects them to account for only 46% of the population by 2065. By 2055, more Asians than any other ethnic group are expected to move to US.
“It’s been an era of huge demographic, racial, cultural, religious and generational change,” says Paul Taylor, author of The Next America. “While some celebrate these changes, others deplore them. Some older, whiter voters do not recognize the country they grew up in. There is a sense of alien tribes,” he says.
The US currently has 11.3 million illegal immigrants. Migrants often become a target of anger, says Roberto Suro, an immigration expert at the University of Southern California. “There is a displacement of anxiety and they become the face of larger sources of tensions, such as terrorism, jobs and dissatisfaction. We saw that very clearly when Donald Trump switched from [complaining about] Mexicans to Muslims without skipping a beat after San Bernardino,” he says, referring to the shooting in California in December that left 14 people dead.
Washington
When asked if they trust the government, 89% of Republicans and 72% of Democrats say “only sometimes” or “never”, according to Pew Research. Six out of 10 Americans think the government has too much power, a survey by Gallupsuggests, while the government has been named as the top problem in the US for two years in a row – above issues such as the economy, jobs and immigration, according to the organization.
The gridlock on Capitol Hill and the perceived impotence of elected officials has led to resentment among 20 to 30% of voters, says polling expert Karlyn Bowman, from the American Enterprise Institute. “People see politicians fighting and things not getting done – plus the responsibilities of Congress have grown significantly since the 1970s and there is simply more to criticize. People feel more distant from their government and sour on it,” she says.
William Galston thinks part of the appeal of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders is down to frustration with what some see as a failing system. “So on the right you have someone who is running as a ‘strong man’, a Berlusconi and Putin, who will get things done, and on the left you have someone who is rejecting incrementalism and calling for a political revolution,” he says.
Ted Cruz, who won the Republican caucuses in Iowa, is also running as an anti-establishment candidate. “Tonight is a victory for every American who’s watched in dismay as career politicians in Washington in both parties refuse to listen and too often fail to keep their commitments to the people,” he said on Monday night.
America’s place in the World
America is used to being seen as a superpower but the number of Americans that think the US “stands above all other countries in the world” went from 38% in 2012 to 28% in 2014, Pew Research suggests. Seventy percent of Americans also think the US is losing respect internationally, according to a 2013 poll by the center.
“For a country that is used to being on top of the world, the last 15 years haven’t been great in terms of foreign policy. There’s a feeling of having been at war since 9/11 that’s never really gone away, a sense America doesn’t know what it wants and that things aren’t going our way,” says Roberto Suro. The rise of China, the failure to defeat the Taliban and the slow progress in the fight against the so-called Islamic State group has contributed to the anxiety.
Americans are also more afraid of the prospect of terrorist attacks than at any time since 9/11, according to a New York Times/CBS poll. The American reaction to the San Bernardino shooting was different to the French reaction to the Paris attacks, says Galston. “Whereas the French rallied around the government, Americans rallied against it. There is an impression that the US government is failing in its most basic obligation to keep country and people safe.”
Divided nation
Democrats and Republicans have become more ideologically polarized than ever. The typical (median), Republican is now more conservative in his or her core social, economic and political views than 94% of Democrats, compared with 70% in 1994, according to Pew Research. The median Democrat, meanwhile, is more liberal than 92% of Republicans, up from 64%.
The study also found that the share of Americans with a highly negative view of the opposing party has doubled, and that the animosity is so deep, many would be unhappy if a close relative married someone of a different political persuasion.
This polarization makes reaching common ground on big issues such as immigration, healthcare and gun control more complicated. The deadlock is, in turn, angering another part of the electorate. “Despite this rise in polarization in America, a large mass in the middle are pragmatic. They aren’t totally disengaged, they don’t want to see Washington gridlocked, but they roll their eyes at the nature of this discourse,” says Paul Taylor. This group includes a lot of young people and tends to eschew party labels. “If they voted,” he says, “they could play an important part of the election.”
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference,” the 20th-century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr once famously wrote. Arguably, this very much sums up the United States President Barack Obama’s foreign policy doctrine and his valuation of American priorities in various regions.
In fact, the president has been always open about the profound influence of Niebuhr’s works, affectionately declaring in an interview, “I love him. He’s one of my favorite philosophers.”
Obama saw himself as a perfect antithesis to the George W Bush administration, which combined coercive unilateralism with a missionary zeal to supposedly spread US-style democracy in the Middle East and beyond.
The Bush era disasters heavily undermined neo-conservatism, paving the way for the rise of more calibrated realists such as Obama, who appreciated the limits of US power and the virtues of strategic patience.
As the Obama administration enters its twilight months in office, questions over its legacy and long-term historical significance have gained momentum.
The most salient aspect of Obama’s foreign policy, one could argue, is his gradual retrenchment from the Middle East, where the US has been hopelessly overstretched, in favor of an accelerating pivot to Asia, where booming economies and a rising China are reshaping the global order.
Not long ago, prominent journalists such as James Traub were quick to portray Obama as a deflated, demoralized idealist, who “has been well and truly mugged by reality”.
Multiple crises, from Russia’s annexation of Crimea to the rise of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), seemed to have undermined the US power, and extinguished Obama’s hopeful vision of an orderly, rule-based international order.
Asia is simultaneously a region where there is the greatest opportunity for expanded trade and investments and also where the US confronts its greatest rival, China.
In the Middle East, the Arab winter and the deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations swept away the wellspring of optimism generated by Obama’s historic Cairo speech, where he unsuccessfully promised a new relationship between the US and the Muslim world. But soon it became clear that Obama had some foreign policy tricks up his sleeve.
Obama managed to pull off an improbable and highly controversial nuclear agreement with Iran, while normalizing relations with communist Cuba and becoming the first US president to visit Cuba in almost a century.
True to his early promise of reaching out to historical foes, Obama oversaw a qualitative shift in Washington’s approach to former foes such as Tehran. But as Obama admits in his long interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, he has been committed to decouple from the conflict-ridden Middle East.
Recognizing the US failures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, where its military interventions have created failed states and havens for extremism, Obama refused to even enforce his own redline on Syria, when the Bashar al-Assad regime was accused of using chemical weapons against its own population. Clearly, he had little appetite for additional US military entanglements in the region.
Amid rising Saudi-Iranian rivalry, he has even encouraged Arab allies “to find an effective way to share the neighborhood [with Iran] and institute some sort of cold peace”, giving birth to a post-American order in the region.
Instead, Obama, who was raised in Indonesia and Hawaii, has been primarily interested in augmenting US strategic footprint in the Asia-Pacific region, where “[the US] can do really big, important stuff”, which have “ramifications across the board.”
Under Obama, who has visited Asia more than any of his predecessors in recent memory, the US has established cordial ties with former foes such as Vietnam and Myanmar, built strategic partnership with key Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, upgraded high-level dialogue with China, negotiated a major regional trade pact – the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement -and overseen a major improvement in its approval ratings.
The revived interest of the US in Asia is based on a belief that “the relationship between itself and China is going to be the most critical” in the 21st century. More fundamentally, Obama believes that the future of the US and the world will be decided in the Asia-Pacific region, which is “filled with striving, ambitious, energetic people”.
Exasperated by persistent anti-Americanism in the Middle East, Obama enthusiastically cites how Asians are pragmatists who are willing to work with the US and are committed to “build businesses and get education and find jobs and build infrastructure.”
In short, Asia is, simultaneously, a region where there is the greatest opportunity for expanded trade and investments and also where the US confronts its greatest rival, China.
There are, however, concerns that the US may have missed the train, for it faces an uphill battle in maintaining its hegemony in Asia, especially as a resurgent Beijing gradually carves out a new Sino-centric order in East Asia.
In economic terms, China is the leading trading partner of almost all East-Asian countries, while it is set to transform into the pillar of infrastructure development in Asia, thanks to major development initiatives such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Maritime Silk Road plan. China is the new economic pivot around which Asia revolves.
Overseeing decades of rapid military modernization, Beijing is also progressively pushing US naval forces out of its adjacent waters, upending centuries of Western military hegemony in Asia.
Some of Obama’s likely successors are far from helpful. Demagogues such as Donald Trump, who is calling for a return to 19th-century American mercantilism, is undermining Asia’s confidence in the US and its reliability as a superpower.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether Obama’s renewed focus on the region has been enough to prevent a post-American order in Asia. Yet one should credit him for becoming the first truly Pacific president in the White House, reorienting US foreign policy from the troubled Middle East to a promising Asia. This will be his greatest foreign policy legacy.
The author is a specialist in Asian geopolitical/economic affairs and author of Asia’s New Battlefield: US, China, and the Struggle for Western Pacific. He can be reached at @Richeydarian
In the unfolding Uttarakhand drama all participants emerge diminished. It was a problem borne of rebellion in the Congress. Apparently, Chief Minister Harish Rawat, now facing horse-trading charges, had lost majority with nine MLAs parting ways with the Congress. The Speaker did not agree to their demand for a division of votes on the appropriation Bill, claims the BJP and asks on what ground the MLAs were suspended by the Speaker. The floor test would have determined whether the Congress government enjoyed the majority. However, an impatient BJP leadership imposed President’s rule, which has invited all-round criticism and Arun Jaitley’s arguments just don’t add up.
If the Governor had evidence of a “breakdown of constitutional machinery”, as is made out to be, why would he call for a floor test? Where is the so-called “breakdown of constitutional machinery?” If the Speaker says the appropriation Bill has been passed, his ruling is final and it may be challenged subsequently. Whether a Bill is passed or not, whether a government enjoys a majority or not -these are questions which can be answered only on the floor of the House as has been decided by the Supreme Court in the SR Bommai case. Such issues cannot be settled in Delhi. When all interested parties play such dirty politics, the country looks up to the President to maintain the high standards his position demands. The President could have deferred the signing of the proclamation for Central rule and asked the BJP government to wait for the outcome of the floor test. However, he, disappointingly, did not rise to the occasion and spare the nation a few absurdities.
The sordid political drama could have been avoided if everyone had followed the rulebook. Now it has thrown up legal issues the High Court at Nainital is grappling with. While the single-judge Bench is right in asking for a floor test in keeping with the Supreme Court guidelines, whether he could interfere with a Presidential proclamation and revive a suspended government for a floor test is an open question which the Division Bench is expected to take up at the next hearing. The matter would end up in the apex court. Federal arrangements have suffered.
NEW YORK CITY, NY (TIP): Directed by the Oscar-winning Director Jeffrey Brown and Produced by Emma Thompson, “Sold” is a compelling story that spotlights the horrific business of sex trafficking. An adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same title by Patricia McCormick, it focusses on the life of a 13-year-old girl in Nepal, Lakshmi, who hopes for a better life by moving to India for a new job.
“Sold” tells the story of this Nepali child named Lakshmi, portrayed by Niyar Saikia and how her dreams turn to nightmares as she finds herself trapped in a brothel where she’s repeatedly drugged, beaten, and forced into the flesh trade.
Lakshmi’s ordeal comes to an end after a U.S. photographer, played by Gillian Anderson (best known as the FBI special agent Dana Scully from “The X-Files”), who works with a local organization, learns about Lakshmi and leads efforts to rescue her.
“Sold” opens theatrically in the U.S. starting on April 1 in New York, and rolls out to other cities through May.
The Indian Panorama met the “Sold” team to know more about the film and here is what they had to say:
The film focuses on the sex trade between Nepal and India, but the issue is global and governments along with the society need to change their invisible attitude towards sex slavery and Human trafficking – Sold director Jeffrey D. Brown.
Lakshmi leaves home in the company of the woman who promised her parents to get her a job in Kolkata where she would be well looked after
While talking to us about the movie, director Brown spoke about his experience meeting with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who saw the movie at a private screening with the cast of the film, and how it led to the partnership between Art of Living and ‘Sold’ to increase awareness and fund raising programs to help the children trapped in the horrific business of sex trafficking.
While emphasizing on the importance of education in reducing human trafficking among children, Brown called upon governments around the world to notice this growing pandemic and asked for governments to set up special units to counter this “fresh meat trade”.
Gillian Anderson highlighted the importance of the communities to get involved and appealed to the Indian-Americans to join the cause.
Emma Thompson, the producer of the film, called for the society, the celebrities – cricketing world &Bollywood, to support the fight against human trafficking.
Lakshmi is made a jail bird at the brothel when she protests against being forced in to sex
“Sold” has partnered with a number of nonprofits, including the Art of Living, Build a Nest, Hope House, Save the Children, PTSD Tackled and many more, in raising funds for children of sex workers and sex trafficking survivors.
Taxis, Cabs, police everyone seemed to be in the trade and it moves in circles, said actress Seirah Royin who stars as Mrs. Tripathi, the Hope House director in the movie.
She also spoke about her experience as the team recced the Kolkata red district and how visible these family home styled brothels were to the society, yet invisible to all around.
The International Labor Organization estimates that, worldwide, of the approximately 21 million people trafficked into forced labor—including sexual labor, which accounts for more than 20 percent of cases—more than a quarter of the victims are children.
Sold will also be cut down into a 50-minute educational version that can be shown in schools to help raise awareness.
NEW YORK (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tennis star Sania Mirza and actor Priyanka Chopra are among the probable contenders for TIME magazine’s annual list of the most influential people in the world., says a PTI report
TIME will announce its annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people, ‘TIME 100,’ this month.
While its editors will determine the ultimate honorees, the publication has asked readers to vote from 127 “world leaders, great minds in science and technology, outstanding figures in the arts and other icons of the moment,” on who they think deserves the recognition.
TIME said “Modi remains a powerful voice on the world stage,” and while he saw his domestic agenda “sidetracked by political squabbles” in 2015, his country still leads the world in economic growth.
Modi was named among TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World last year and President Barack Obama had written a profile for him for the magazine.
For Mirza, TIME said India’s best female tennis player secured the number one ranking in the world for women’s doubles “while helping to redefine the role of female athletes in her home country.”
TIME said Chopra, one of the highest paid actors in Bollywood, has “caught Hollywood’s attention” for her role in the drama series “Quantico” and “will continue to do so in the ‘Baywatch’ remake.”
India-born CEOs of the world’s top technology companies, Google and Microsoft, are also among the list of 127 probables for the annual honor.
TIME said Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who is co-founder Larry Page’s “right hand,” now oversees core businesses such as Android and YouTube for the tech giant.
Under Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the publication said, Windows 10 launched “successfully,” the cloud business is “booming” and new technologies like the HoloLens have industry analysts “excited.”
Indian-origin actor Aziz Ansari has also found a place on the list.
The list also includes SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, singer Rihanna, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pope Francis, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
HICKSVILLE, NY (TIP): Spring on the Island had a warm and colorful welcome by India Association of Long Island’s (IALI) colorful Holi festivities. Under the leadership of President Beena Kothari and her Executive Council, this year’s Holi celebration saw varied colors and shower of Talent by young kids and executive members. Over 100 kids exhibited their exceptional talent of dancing, singing, poetry and music followed by a breathtaking elegant Fashion Show by IALI Executive Council. The grand celebrations started with several dance schools, individual participants and committee members showering their talent for over 3 hours. An exotic mix of East and West, Bollywood, Hollywood, Classical (Bharatnatyam, Oddissi, Kuchipudi, Kathak) and several other classical & traditional performances exhibited the unique culture and colors of India. Kids of age groups 3 and above performed with their hearts. Melodious songs and musical instruments were played. Over 27 dance schools and individual choreographers participated in the grand celebrations. The performances were so entertaining that the audience wanted the show go on and on. All kids / participants were awarded with Trophy’s and Appreciation Certificates.
Exquisite performances
Exquisite performances
Exquisite performances
IALI Executive Council
Exquisite performances
The highlight of the show was the Grand Fashion Show! Beautifully choreographed, executed and performed by the Executive Council of IALI, this unique & elegant display of latest fashion, breathed a fresh wave of Spring in the air. The show portrayed the ocean of talent within the members of the organization. Together, the executive committee portrayed the festival significance of the arrival of spring, therebycelebrating a festive day to meet and greet with the aim to fill colors of happiness in the lives of their near and dear one’s.
The presence of Nasrin G. Ahmad, Town Clerk of the Town of Hempstead along with several sponsors and well-wishers and the ongoing support of media and community made the event a huge success. Zaveri Insurance, HAB bank, AHAI, RealtyConnectUSA, Navika Capital, Omni Mortgage, Oberoi & Tur Group, Vas Pipes were some of the sponsorsAudience were thrilled to win several exciting raffle prizes sponsored by executive members and community leaders. The event concluded with sumptuous dinner and desserts.
IALI President, Mrs. Beena Kothari, addressed the audience and thanked various community leaders, media, sponsors, supporters, volunteers and everyone for their tireless dedication to the betterment of the organization and their ongoing support to all the activities of India Association of Long Island.
JAMAICA, NY(TIP): The third-annual Vaisakhi 5K race, scheduled for April 24, 2016, has increased its runner capacity to 1,000 runners. The success of last year’s race-which had a capacity of only 500 runners-and the announcement of celebrity runner Fauja Singh’s appearance have created a spectacular demand for the 2016 race. The top three finishers in each category will have the opportunity to meet and greet with Fauja Singh.
Dr. Avtar Singh Tinna, president and founder of the race, has been receiving a persistent stream of e-mails and phone calls since January inquiring about registration. “People in the community see pictures and hear from last year’s runners, and they don’t want to miss another opportunity to get involved,” Dr. Tinna explained.
In order to accommodate the increased demand, Vaisakhi 5K has allocated new and improved customer service resources. Last year, runners had the opportunity to register online or at tristate area Gurdwaras and community centers every Friday evening and Sunday morning. In addition to these two points-of-registration, this year’s runners can also register over the phone by calling (844) VAISAKHI. Phone lines will be active seven days a week, from 9:00am to 8:00pm. Registrations are live until April 22, or until the 1,000-runner capacity is reached. To streamline race-day check-in and BIB distribution, runners will not be able to register on the morning of the race. The Vaisakhi 5K staff is excited to provide additional information booths and volunteers on-site to ensure the satisfaction of all runners.
(Dallas, Texas – March 30, 2016) Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently appointed Arun Agarwal, CEO of Nextt, the Dallas-based leader in the U.S. home textile industry, to the Product Development and Small Business Incubator (PDSBI) Board for a term set to expire on February 1, 2019. This is the first time an Indian American has been bestowed this honor in the state’s history. The PDSBI is a revolving loan program, administered by the Office of the Governor, and overseen by a nine-member board appointed by the Governor. The PDSBI Fund provides financial aid for the development, production and commercialization of new or improved products and to foster the growth of small businesses in the State of Texas.
“It is such a huge honor for me to serve on one of the Governor’s boards,” said Agarwal. “As global business owners, it is our responsibility and civic duty to help other local small businesses survive and thrive in this global economy, and I am excited to do my part.”
Nextt is a $500 million revenue, privately-held company that provides textiles to all of the major U. S. retailers including Dillard’s, Belk, Wal-Mart and Kohl’s. Nextt also has a robust portfolio of leading celebrity brands, such as Beautyrest, Ellen Tracy, Jessica McClintock and Royal Sateen. The company was recently awarded the patent for “alpha cotton,” a luxurious fabric that will make sheets 30 to 40 percent cheaper than 100 percent cotton.
Nextt CEO Arun Agarwal was awarded “NRI of the Year” by TIMES NOW and ICICI Bank in 2015 and was selected as a 2014 Minority Business Leader by the Dallas Business Journal, while Agarwal’s company was ranked 17th in the 2014 Dallas 100 list of fastest growing companies selected by the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship of SMU.
Nextt has its headquarters and distribution facilities in Dallas, while also operating a state-of-the-art design studio and showroom in New York.
NEW YORK (TIP): An Indian-American Harvard University graduate has come up with a new series of seven dolls that represent common girls with ethnic diversity and celebrate them for their brains, talents and leadership.
Neha Chauhan Woodward, 29, has given each of the seven dolls unique personalities, which girls can relate to.
The doll collection created by her startup toy company Willowbrook Girls and story series is based on the similarly ambitious childhood friends she grew up with on Willowbrook Road.
“The toys I played with had such an impact on me, but they weren’t a great reflection of me or my friends, who were so smart and so diverse in their interests and backgrounds. I knew we needed to do better,” said Ms Neha, who now lives in Manhattan.
Ms Neha said the idea came to her while she was a Stanford MBA student – a degree she pursued after studying economics at Harvard and then working as an investment banking analyst at JPMorgan.
“Next door to the coffee shop I studied in was a very popular doll store,” she said, declining to name the shop.
“The emphasis on appearances, with these doll hair salons and doll tea parties that parents were expected to bring their kids to really upset me. If anything, this company had a huge opportunity to empower girls,” a local newspaper quoted her saying.
After years of working for successful e-commerce sites like Blue Apron and Diapers.com, Ms Neha turned her tech marketing experience into a concept for a doll company that would more accurately entertain the modern girl: one who will lead businesses, make medical breakthroughs, build apps and reform policies.
“You have to see something to know that you can be it.” When fully funded, each doll will have a corresponding book about their endeavors. The first one is about the Willowbrook girls starting a business at their school. The stories will give further depth to the characters, Ms Neha said.
Growing up as an Indian-American, Ms Neha also wanted to make sure the dolls appeared diverse.
“It was something lacking in the toys she grew up with, and hasn’t gone unnoticed by young people of color,” she said.
“A lot of girls I spoke to said that they wanted dolls that looked like them,” she said. “They wanted characters that were relatable. You have to see something to know that you can be it.”
Though Willowbrook Girls dolls aren’t for sale yet, Ms Neha is nearing the end of her ‘Kickstarter Campaign’ to raise money for the first doll, Cara, a half-Latina with brown eyes and long blond hair. After that, Cara will be sold online.
Ms Neha hopes that sales from that and other sources will enable her to release more of the dolls.
“I’ve always had a very entrepreneurial spirit, and this was a mission that I cared about,” she said. “This was the right time to do it, and it’s something that I really wanted to see happen.”
Other dolls include Bailey, who wants to be a math teacher and dreams of education reform, and Maya, who wants to be a neuroscientist.
NEW YORK (TIP): Famous Bollywood entertainers Shankar Mahadevan, Richa Sharma, Sunidhi Chauhan, Aditya Narayan and Indian Idol Juniors, are all set to take the delegates by storm during the 34th annual convention organized by the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) at the Marriott Marquis, Time Square in New York from June 30-July 4, 2016.
“In addition to live entertainment by famous Bollywood stars, the 2016 AAPI Annual Convention & Scientific Assembly offers an exciting venue to interact with leading physicians, health professionals, academicians, and scientists of Indian origin,” said Dr. Seema Jain, President of AAPI. “Physicians and healthcare professionals from across the country will convene and participate in the scholarly exchange of medical advances, to develop health policy agendas, and to encourage legislative priorities in the coming year.”
Shankar Mahadevan and Richa Sharma will perform live at the much anticipated AAPI’s annual convention. An accomplished musician in Tamil cinema, Shankar is a part of the Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio team that provides music to Bollywood films. Though a software engineer by profession and having worked with Oracle Corporation, Shankar’s interest in music made him venture into the field of music. He got his first award as a playback singer in Chennai film music, collaborating with A. R. Rahman and winning a National Film Award for his song in Kandukondain Kandukondain. Since then, he has given hundreds of enchanting numbers to the Bollywood world. The grand finale of the AAPI convention will be by Shankar Mahadevan and his team, who will take the audience to the memory line of Bollywood music on the final night, before a packed audience.
Richa Sharma was eight years old, she was invited to sing before religious congregations in and around Delhi. She got herself enrolled in the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. Under the tutelage of Pandit Aaskaran Sharma, Richa went on to get proper training in Indian classical and light music, and thus making her voice reach out to more and more people in a variety of sounds.
She made her debut in Bollywood with Sawan Kumar’s SALMA PE DIL AA GAYA in 1996 and followed it up by a number of films until the big hit came by in the form of TAAL where she sang for AR Rahman. Her melodious voice has touched the hearts and souls of millions around the world.
Sunidhi Chauhan, the young and talented artist behind the hit evergreen numbers like ‘Dhoom machale dhoom’, ‘Sheila ki jawaani’, ‘Beedi jalaile’ and many more, will be performing live on Friday, July 1st. Chauhan had lent her voice to over 350 songs. She made her International debut with the song Heartbeat, a collaboration with Enrique Iglesias.
Aditya Narayan, an actor, television host, music composer and singer, made his first screen debut with Ram Gopal Varma’s Rangeela in which he also got an opportunity to sing with Asha Bhonsle. He was last seen hosting the singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs 5. Aditya Narayan, who was born in Mumbai, was raised into a musical family as his father, Udit Narayan, the famous playback singer and mother Deepa Narayan. Aditya Narayan and Indian Idol Juniors Group will entertain the participants at the AAPI Convention on July 2nd. Fashion Show by talented young artists from across the country will cake walk on July 3rd.
Dr. Seema Jain, who assumed charge of this premier ethnic organization representing 100,000 physicians and residents, gave credit to the support of AAPI executive committee, hard work of local Chapter members, and the organizing committee chaired by Dr. Rita Ahuja. “Success of credit goes to the entire national organizing committee, AAPI executive committee, and Board of Trustees and all the AAPI members,” she said.
AAPI is a forum to facilitate and enable Indian American Physicians to excel in patient care, teaching and research and to pursue their aspirations in professional and community affairs. For more details, and sponsorship opportunities, please visit: www.aapiconvention.org and www.aapiusa.org
WASHINGTON (TIP): A team of Indian scientists from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School has made an important breakthrough by developing a nano-technology which will help monitor the effectiveness of cancer therapy within hours of treatment.
“We have developed a nano-technology, which first delivers an anticancer drug specifically to the tumor, and if the tumor starts dying or regressing, it then starts lighting up the tumor in real time,” said Shiladitya Sengupta, a principal investigator at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH).
“This way you can monitor whether a chemotherapy is working or not in real time, and switch the patients to the right drug early on. One doesn’t need to wait for months while taking a toxic chemotherapy only to realize later and after side effects that the drug hasn’t worked,” Mr. Sengupta, a co-corresponding author of the breakthrough research published online this week in ‘The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’, told news agency PTI.
The first author of the paper is Ashish Kulkarni, who comes from a small village in Maharashtra. A junior faculty at Harvard, Kulkarni trained as a Chemical Engineer at ICT Mumbai, then did a PhD in chemistry at the University of Cincinnati.
Mr. Kulkarni said by using this approach, the cells light up the moment a cancer drug starts working.
“We can determine if a cancer therapy is effective within hours of treatment. Our long-term goal is to find a way to monitor outcomes very early so that we don’t give a chemotherapy drug to patients who are not responding to it,” he said.
“We’ve demonstrated that this technique can help us directly visualize and measure the responsiveness of tumors to both types of drugs,” Mr. Kulkarni said.
Other members of the research team are Poornima Rao, Siva Natarajana, Aaron Goldman, Venkata S Sabbisetti, Yashika Khater, Navya Korimerla, Vineethkrishna Chandrasekara and Raghunath A Mashelkar. Except Goldman, all are Indian researchers.
“Current techniques, which rely on measurements of the size or metabolic state of the tumor, are sometimes unable to detect the effectiveness of an immunotherapeutic agent as the volume of the tumor may actually increase as immune cells begin to flood in to attack the tumor,” Mr. Kulkarni said.
He said reporter nanoparticles, however, can give “us an accurate read out of whether or not cancer cells are dying”.
The technology developed by the group can be used for monitoring the effectiveness of immunotherapy, a report said.
Using a nanoparticle that delivers a drug and then fluoresces green when cancer cells begin dying, they were able to visualize whether a tumor is resistant or susceptible to a particular treatment much sooner than currently available clinical methods, said a statement from BWH.
Mr. Ashok Kumar Garg, Chief Executive of Bank of Baroda speaks with The Indian Panorama about the bank’s innovative approaches and strengths which set the Bank of Baroda apart from many others
At a time when majority of foreign banks in USA are struggling to cope with federal regulations, Bank of Baroda is forging ahead with innovative programs to help its customers. Not many banks can claim as Ashok Kumar Garg, the Chief Executive of Bank’s US Operations, claims, “Bank of Baroda’s latest innovation can be experienced while doing online remittance to India”, he said, “Our online remittance tool allows money transfer to India from USA within minutes.
Speaking with The Indian Panorama, Mr. Garg claimed that his bank offers a very competitive exchange rate to customers of online remittance.
“We are determined to provide a very friendly service to our customers. You can be rest assured of individualized attention while dealing with our staff either offline or online”, he said in his chamber overlooking Park Avenue in New York City.
Mr. Garg said that Bank of Baroda offers free of charge Indian rupee remittance to Bank of Baroda accounts in India. There is a nominal fee for remittance to other banks. Customers must register to take advantage of this service.
Mr. Garg, who has been serving Bank of Baroda since 1979, is a world traveler. While at Kampala, he served in high profile positions in the banking sector of Uganda. He was the Chairman of Baroda Capital Markets Ltd. and a Director on the Board of Uganda Securities Exchange (USE). His accomplishments in banking and accounting brought numerous awards and recognition for him. Mr. Garg was the only banker in Uganda who was conferred with Pearl of Africa Lifetime Achievement Award by public opinion.
Bank of Baroda practices a manifold approach to support community activities. A typical Delhiwala Mr. Garg believes in developing close relations with customers and colleagues alike. He enthusiastically supports community activities that promote Indian traditions and culture in USA. “Bank of Baroda is fully dedicated to the welfare of our communities. As a banking organization our primary motive is to succeed financially. At the same time,we fully understand the importance of connecting with the community. That is why we support various events and activities that are focused on Indian culture and traditions”, said Mr.Garg.
Mr. Garg receives the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Prime Minister of Uganda
During the past 36 years of his service in Bank of Baroda he acquired rich experience of diverse Banking operations, a thorough knowledge of Project Management, Compliance functions, Training and Development, Risk Management, Financing of Retail, SME, Wholesale, Agriculture and International Trade.
Mr. Garg holds a Master’s Degree in Commerce besides a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from Delhi University. He is an alumnus of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. He is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (CAIIB). Mr. Garg started his career as a Probationary Officer in Bank of Baroda in 1979.
WALES (TIP):Scotland and Wales are in preliminary talks to split away from the UK and form a new country if Britain votes to leave the European Union in June.
The extraordinary proposal has been discussed by members of the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Government, and it is being taken seriously by the UK Government.
The Independent can reveal the plans today after it was passed redacted documents by a Cabinet Office whistle-blower.
Under discussion are designs for a bridge or tunnel linking the two countries directly via the Isle of Mann, with the “Celtic Union” among a number of name suggestions that would ultimately be decided at a second referendum.
Dubbed a “joint cessation”, the plans come amid concerns among Welsh and Scottish leaders that they will be pulled out of the EU against the wishes of their people.
Downing Street has tasked civil servants with compiling a list of the most dramatic possible outcomes in the event of a British exit.
Documents leaked from the resulting Cabinet Office committee meeting on “Brexit consequences” suggest David Cameron’s senior advisors are aware of the ongoing behind-the-scenes talks.
The files include redacted minutes from meetings where the idea of the “new nation” was discussed, as well as a map drawn up by civil servants to show how a proposed direct link between Scotland and Wales would work. They suggest the project would cost around £7 billion, and could be funded at least in part by the EU.
The Government is understood to be particularly concerned at the prospect of people passing into the new union being required to use passports.
And the committee also heard from a Bank of England expert who suggested splitting the country in two would result in “a prolonged period of stagnation” for both economies.
The Independent attempted to acquire details of the proposal through a Freedom of Information request, but this was turned down by Cabinet Office officials.
Following the refusal, a set of documents was physically removed from Whitehall offices by the whistle-blower.
The Independent has agreed to protect his identity since the decision to remove official papers may have serious consequences for him. He has fled the country with the aid of transparency campaigners, and is currently safe in an undisclosed location in Moscow.
The fact that the full extent of consequences for Brexit has been kept under wraps by the Government will raise serious questions for Number 10.
Despite redactions it seems clear the committee, which has met at least three times in the past month, was preparing to brief ministers about secretive discussions between Welsh Assembly members and MSPs.
The Scottish National Party has already indicated that a vote to leave the EU would reignite the independence question, assuming that a majority of Scotland’s population votes to remain inside the EU. It is now apparent that Welsh Assembly members are considering similar moves.
One member is minuted as querying whether cessation by Scotland and Wales would require a name change for the UK, left as an English and Northern Irish rump, including the idea of dropping the “Great” from Great Britain. It is unclear whether Northern Ireland’s Assembly at Stormont has been party to the Scottish and Welsh negotiations.
CYPRUS (TIP)The man suspected of hijacking an EgyptAir flight and redirecting it to Cyprus has appeared in court and said he acted in a bid “to see his wife and children”.
Seif Eldin Mustafa, 59, flashed “v” signs for victory as he left the court in Larnaca following a short hearing, where he was remanded in custody for eight days on suspicion of hijacking, abduction, threatening violence, terrorism-related offences and two counts related to possession of explosives.
Police said the latter charges would relate to Mr Mustafa’s alleged claim that he had a bomb vest, even though Cypriot officials later said the “explosives” were in fact iPhone covers bound together with cloth.
It has previously been reported that the hijacker made a range of demands after the plane from Alexandria landed at Larnaca airport with 72 passengers and crew on board.
After a six-hour stand-off, the suspect identified by Egyptian and Cypriot authorities as Mr Mustafa walked off the plane and handed himself in to police.
In a statement to Cypriot police, Mr Mustafa said: “When someone hasn’t seen his family for 24 years and wants to see his wife and children, and the Egyptian government doesn’t allow it, what should one do?”
The suspect allegedly commandeered the aircraft 15 minutes after takeoff from Alexandria. He approached a flight attendant and showed off the belt, attached to a remote control he held in his hand, investigating officer Andreas Lambrianou told the court.
“The suspect asked all passengers and crew to hand in their passports, then gave two messages to a member of the crew, asking that the pilot be informed that he was a hijacker and wanted to land at an airport in Turkey, Greece or Cyprus, but preferably Cyprus,” Lambrianou said. “In a note, he stressed that if the airplane landed on Egyptian territory he would immediately blow the plane up.”
In Cyprus, Mustafa dropped an envelope on the runway addressed to a Cypriot woman, later ascertained to be his ex-wife. In the letter, the suspect demanded the release of 63 female prisoners held in Egypt.
SEOUL (TIP): North Korea has fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea on Friday, a news report said, hours after US President Barack Obama urged closer security ties among its Asian allies and increased cooperation with China to discourage Pyongyang from further advances in nuclear weapons.
A projectile believed to be a ballistic missile flew into waters off the North’s east coast, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unidentified military official. It had no further details.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it couldn’t immediately confirm the Yonhap report.
The launch, if confirmed, is the latest in a series of weapons launches the North has carried out in an apparent response to ongoing military exercises between the United States and South Korea. North Korea views the drills as an invasion rehearsal.
This year’s drills, set to run until late April, are the biggest ever, and come after North Korea’s nuclear test and long-range rocket test earlier this year.
In Washington, Obama met with the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China in Washington on Thursday ahead of a nuclear security summit and discussed ways to discourage Pyongyang from further pursuing nuclear weapons.
“Of great importance to both of us is North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, which threatens the security and stability of the region. President Xi and I are both committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Obama said at the start of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said the country was ready to implement in full the latest economic restrictions imposed by the U.N. Security Council against Pyongyang.
On Tuesday, North Korea fired a short-range projectile that crashed into land in the North’s northeast, according to South Korean defense officials. The launch prompted media speculation in South Korea that Pyongyang may have tested a land target to test the accuracy of its weapons because the country has usually launched missile, artillery shells and rockets into the sea in the past.
Earlier this month, North Korea fired its first medium-launch missile into the sea since early 2014.
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Mr. Garg said that Bank of Baroda offers free of charge Indian rupee remittance to Bank of Baroda accounts in India. There is a nominal fee for remittance to other banks. Customers must register to take advantage of this service.
