Hinduism can reasonably be seen as a long religious tradition that stretched back 3,500 years to the Vedic period and has encompassed many ways of life over the centuries. But much about ancient Hindu traditions, to say nothing of ancient Indian traditions more broadly, is anathema to Hindu nationalists. For example, the people who composed and recited the Rig Veda for centuries were a beef-eating, horse-sacrificing lot. Medieval Hindu rulers desecrated one another’s temples and idols (a practice which inspired similar behavior among Muslim rulers after they arrived in India). I hesitate to even mention Tantric practices, an important part of pre-modern Hindu traditions that few Hindu nationalists would easily embrace today.
Hindu nationalists are often in denial about their ideology being rather modern and, frankly, rather Western in its formulation. This is odd from a historian’s perspective since, after all, Hindu nationalists fall within the broad umbrella of nationalism, a doctrine that only makes sense in the context of the relatively recently-formulated world of nation states. Moreover, early Hindutva ideologues openly modelled their ideology on European fascist movements in terms of methods and objectives.
The Indian subcontinent has a long, rich history, but the Indian nation state has had a quite brief existence to date. When people conflate the two, they lose the bulk of Indian history and end up making nonsensical statements, such as that Shah Jahan, the Mughal king who sponsored the construction of the Taj Mahal, was a traitor. One might ask: A traitor to whom or what exactly? To the modern Indian nation state that was not founded until nearly 300 years after Shah Jahan’s death?
Indian history does not belong to the modern nation state of India. Often in the West we speak of South Asian history, in part, to make precisely this distinction between the region’s past and nationalist claims upon it. Nonetheless, the Indian state is the de facto custodian of the historical sites contained within the nation’s borders, including Mughal monuments. Recent politically-charged statements and actions designed to erode the crucial role of the Mughals in India history raise the question of how much longer the Indian state will serve as a responsible caretaker for monuments that are much beloved across the world.
(Audrey Truschke, Assistant professor of South Asian History, Rutgers University and the author of ‘Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth’)
“Even faraway from our land our efforts and fortunes were inextricably linked to our country and our identity as Indians.Our minds thought for our country and our heart beats for our motherland. We eagerly waited for any way in which we could help, not with arrogance or a condescending patronization but with genuine desire to be an equal shareholder in the progress of our nation. I will not belittle our efforts or my nation by enumerating those instances here. We did it because it was our duty and we loved our country. We did not see it as a favor”, says the author.
While paying tribute to Tom Alter, the American who made India his home (Tom Alter, a Man Who Batted Straight. HT. Oct 7, 2017) Ramachandra Guha in an aside makes some uncalled for and uncharitable comments about Non-Resident Indians.
These acerbic comments are in poor taste, insensitive and reflect an ignorant superficiality that lacks depth; a microcosm of the subliminal prejudice that some Indians wrongly harbor about their expatriate fellow Indians. As an NRI I am compelled to set the record right with a straight bat!
Ramachandra Guha condescendingly avers: “The term NRI stands for Non- Resident Indian. Since these NRIs turned their back on the land that nurtured them, and since so many of them grumble so much about the condition of the country they left behind, they have sometimes been referred to as Non- Reliable Indians. The wealthiest as well as the most unreliable of these NRIs are, of course, those who live in the United States of America. To those kind of expatriates, I would like to juxtapose their exact opposite; Americans who made the reverse journey and settled in this country. These are the ARIs, or Americans Resident in India.”
Let me counter point by point the medley of charges that Guha levels against NRIs to lay bare the vacuity of this libel.
The charge that ‘NRIs turned their back on the land that nurtured them’ is the unkindest cut of all; a stab in the back that is excruciatingly painful and a sweeping generalization that is too simplistic to be taken seriously. The early 60s to the 80s was a difficult time for India and Indians; the country was experiencing the growing pains of a nascent nation that was still mired in extremes of poverty and perpetual need; money was hard to come by and professional careers limited.
Somewhere in our hearts we constantly feel a pinch of guilt for having left our country but you make it appear that we did it willingly, deliberately and gleefully.
I can assure you that we did not leave our land with a sense of euphoria. We left our nation prompted by a variety of reasons, circumstances that were professionally, economically or personally unfeasible. Yes, I will not deny that we sought greener pastures for ourselves abroad.
And the path was not easy. We stood huddled in the cold outside JFK with barely 5 dollars in our pockets (that was all the foreign exchange that was allowed in those days) waiting expectantly, not knowing whether the acquaintance who had promised to pick us up would come or not. Doctors from back home worked as waiters on hourly wages, engineers pumped gasoline late into the night and we did not hesitate to do the most menial of jobs.
We bowed our heads yesterday so that young Indians could walk with their heads held high today.
But in the end, we succeeded. Our doctors are considered one of the best in world, our engineers rule the roost in America’s Silicon Valley and the best American Universities are flush with Indian-Americans. We even count Nobel Laureates amongst our midst.
It is too simplistic and telescopic to deem this as a purely personal venture in isolation. It cannot be dismissed as personal travails and triumphs irrelevant to the broader narrative of India.
When we made a name for ourselves we also made a name for our country as well. And whatever money we earned we shared it unstintingly with our family and friends back home
Even faraway from our land our efforts and fortunes were inextricably linked to our country and our identity as Indians. Our minds thought for our country and our heart beats for our motherland. We eagerly waited for any way in which we could help, not with arrogance or a condescending patronization but with genuine desire to be an equal shareholder in the progress of our nation. I will not belittle our efforts or my nation by enumerating those instances here. We did it because it was our duty and we loved our country. We did not see it as a favor.
True, physically we left our country but we did not turn our backs on our country. No Mr. Guha, we did not abandon our motherland.
Yes, we do grumble at times about the country we left behind. But it is not to denigrate India; neither is it a reflection of a new- found superiority complex. It is because of a genuine desire to see our country do as well as other countries, to be able to see it as a progressive, modern and respectable nation of the world.
To single out NRIs from America is crass, petty and unfair.
Yes, there is no denying that there are a few amongst us whose demeanor is less than complimentary but to paint all of us black with one broad brush is just unacceptable
We have distinguished ourselves as Indian-Americans but that word Indian of that hyphenated phrase holds a lot of significance for us; it is a part without which we are not a whole. Even the worst amongst us (I am not denying that there are few) who constantly bad mouth India hold steadfastly on to a dream of returning home till their last breath knowing fully well the futility of such a hope -an enduring testimony to our love for our country. So please do not trivialize our feelings.
Maybe a piece of paper does give you some additional privileges but morally and emotionally the country that gave birth to us is as much ours as yours. Nothing that you do or say is going to take away from that.
NRI Indians and resident Indians are like two sons/daughters of one mother. Just because I chose to move away it does not diminish my love for my mother or my right to her affections.
Finally, with a sense of pique, I must say this: My bond with my country is direct, unconditional and uncompromised by distance and requires no intermediary. Neither does it crave the approval of resident Indians like you and or warrants any official sanction. Nothing that you do or say can ever or even diminish by an iota the love and respect I have for my country. I will always be there for Mother India. And I know that with her expansive heart she will always be there for every one of her children in whichever part of the world they are.
(The author is an Academic and Political Commentator. He can be reached at gumastev@yahoo.com)
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” – Muhammad Ali
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), show that 64,070 people died from drug overdoses in 2016. This represents a staggering 21 percent increase from the year before, and confirm that more Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016 than the number of American lives lost in the entirety to the Vietnam War-which totaled 58,200! Often unnoticed as a silent epidemic on account of the headline grabbing nature of its sensational rivals, drug related calamities cannot be swept under the rug any longer.
The opioid epidemic ravaging the United States is taking a grim and growing toll. Its horrible effects spare no family in America, rich or poor, black or white, and are not restricted by any boundaries. All of us are in this, together. Indeed, last year’s 64,070 drug fatalities far outnumbered:
-The 35,092 motor vehicle deaths in 2015.
-AIDS-related deaths in the worst year of the AIDS crisis, when 50,628 people died in 1995.
-The peak year for homicides in the U.S., when 24,703 people were murdered in 1991.
-Suicides, which have been rising in the U.S. for nearly 30 years and totaled 44,193 in 2015.
Approximately 75% of all drug overdose deaths are now caused by opioids, a class of drugs that includes prescription painkillers as well as heroin and potent synthetic versions, like fentanyl. Data also show that overdoses of synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times stronger than the painkiller morphine, are driving the sharp increases in opioid overdose deaths.
A new report from the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), an independent research organization that focuses on “critical issues in policing,” puts those numbers into context. Statistics point to the fact that the opioid crisis is fueled by the drug industry and Congress’s failure to do enough, as the epidemic continues to spiral out of control. The CDC identified 15,466 deaths from heroin overdoses in 2016, while 20,145 deaths were caused by fentanyl or other synthetic opioids.
Additionally, a survey conducted by PERF of its member police chiefs earlier this year found half of the respondents reported an increase in fatal heroin overdoses in their jurisdiction in 2016 compared to 2015, and 45 percent reported an increase in drug overdose deaths attributed to fentanyl during that time. Twenty-three percent reported an increase in fatal overdoses due to prescription opioid medications.
This is consistent with research suggesting that many people who become addicted to prescription painkillers often become victims to heroin or synthetic opioids when it becomes too difficult to obtain or too expensive to keep obtaining prescription pills.
“60 Minutes” and the Washington Post recently highlighted how an act of Congress helped fuel the epidemic of addiction in a joint investigation recently. Whistleblowers revealed how the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016, which was unanimously approved, derailed DEA efforts to crack down on suspect pharmacies that are distributing millions of pills in ravaged communities.
It is mandatory that law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies, public health departments, drug treatment and social service providers, elected officials, and others, step up and coordinate their efforts to prevent new cases of opioid addiction, while providing addicted persons with medical and social services through the long and difficult process of getting free of the drug scourge.
This is a national crisis which must be addressed immediately!
(The author is a civil rights activist and community advocate. As President of the Baldeo Foundation and Queens Justice Center, he has continued the fight for justice, equal rights, dignity and inclusion in the decision making process. He can be contacted at the Baldeo Foundation: (718) 529-2300)
The deputy prime minister is the main casualty, after being found to have held dual citizenship when he ran for election.
CANBERRA (TIP): Australia’s conservative government has lost its majority after the deputy prime minister was declared ineligible for parliament.
Barnaby Joyce was one of seven politicians affected by a High Court decision which disqualified him because he held dual citizenship when he ran for election last year.
The crisis was related to a previously obscure 116-year-old law barring dual citizens from sitting in parliament.
Mr. Joyce said: “I respect the verdict of the court. “It’s a pretty simple story – we’re off to a by-election.
“I had no reason to believe that, you know, I was a citizen of any other country than Australia. That is the way it is.
“Now I am going to make sure that I don’t cry in my beer.”
The court’s decision means the government loses its one-seat majority in the lower House of Representatives as it awaits the by-election for Mr. Joyce’s seat in December.
Mr. Joyce will be able to stand for re-election, however, having renounced his New Zealand citizenship since the last election. He is expected to win.
Four of the other six senators were also ruled ineligible from sitting in parliament, including government minister Fiona Nash, who inherited British citizenship through her father.
The others were Greens’ Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam and One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts.
All said they had not been aware of their dual citizenship when they ran for election.
The disqualified senators will be replaced by members of their own party without an election, meaning the balance of power will only be affected by Mr. Joyce’s situation.
The saga began for Mr. Joyce in July after media inquiries to his office made him aware he might hold dual citizenship through his father, James Joyce.
The New Zealand High Commission told him he had been a New Zealand citizen in August and he renounced his citizenship after that.
The government had unsuccessfully argued in court that the phrase in the law “is a subject or a citizen…of a foreign power” should only refer to a person who has voluntarily retained that status.
But the court found Mr. Joyce was a New Zealander by descent at the time of his nomination last year.
The two senators allowed to stay in parliament were Matt Canavan, who the court heard might have inherited Italian citizenship from his Australian-born mother through Italian grandparents; and Nick Xenophon, who was born to Cypriot and Greek parents and had checked with both embassies to ensure he wasn’t a citizen of those countries.
He later found he was British because his father left Cyprus while it was a British colony.
NEW DELHI (TIP): The Election Commission (EC) on Oct 25 set the stage for the electoral showdown in Gujarat between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, its principal challenger.
According to the poll schedule for the 182-member assembly, Gujarat elections will take place in two phases—on 9 and 14 December. The first phase of election will see polling in 89 seats while the second phase will be for 93 assembly constituencies.
While the districts including Kachchh, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Surat will go to poll in the first phase, the districts of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Vadodara will go to poll in the second phase.
The Gujarat election results will be declared on 18 December along with Himachal Pradesh.
TWO PHASE GUJARAT ASSEMBLY POLLS ON DEC 9, 14
NEW DELHI (TIP): The Election Commission (EC) on Oct 25 set the stage for the electoral showdown in Gujarat between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, its principal challenger.
According to the poll schedule for the 182-member assembly, Gujarat elections will take place in two phases—on 9 and 14 December. The first phase of election will see polling in 89 seats while the second phase will be for 93 assembly constituencies.
While the districts including Kachchh, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Surat will go to poll in the first phase, the districts of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar,Vadodara will go to poll in the second phase. The Gujarat election results will be declared on 18 December along with Himachal Pradesh.
The face off is a key battle for the Congress and the BJP. While the Congress is the incumbent in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP is aspiring for a record fifth term in office. The poll has acquired an extra edge as the Congress will be led by Rahul Gandhi who is poised to takeover the party leadership and for the BJP by Prime Minister Narendra Modi—the former three-term chief minister of Gujarat.
In the 2012 Gujarat elections, the ruling BJP had won 115 seats with 47.8% vote share while the Congress, had won 61 seats with 38.9% vote share in the 182 member state assembly.
The ruling BJP has set a target of Mission 150-plus in Gujarat.
Modi has already organized at least five road shows and public meetings in the state, while Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has also held a series of public meetings in the state. Both sides have staked claim to the promise of development, thereby making it a central issue in the upcoming poll. Addressing a press conference A.K. Joti, chief election commissioner (CEC), said voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPATs) will be used in the Gujarat elections.
“After the February-March poll in Goa which saw the use of 100% VVPATs in all 40 constituencies, same will be done for Gujarat. All 50,128 polling stations will have VVPATs. Moreover, slips of one randomly chosen polling station will be counted to generate voter trust in the system,” he said.
The CEC also responded to charges levelled by a section of the opposition, including the Congress, over the delay in announcing the poll dates.
“Whenever EC takes decision to finalize dates many factors need to be considered. The issue here was unprecedented rainfall in July and August. The chief secretary of Gujarat had written to us that 7 districts of Gujarat were severely affected and 229 people had died in the floods. This only shows magnitude of the situation. We were requested to make schedule in a way that relief work doesn’t get affected,” Joti added.
Interestingly, the state has witnessed social unrest with protests by sections of the dominant Patel community, Dalits and other backward classes (OBCs). Normally the BJP has retained the majority share of votes of all these social groups.
The Gujarat elections is likely to figure in discussions during the winter session of Parliament, which is expected to start in November and continue till December.
Analysts say that for the first time in two decades Gujarat is seeing a resurgent opposition.
“Congress did not have much of a political will to fight after Narendra Modi took over as the chief minister of Gujarat. However, since Modi has moved to the Centre, Congress has got its first fighting chance. The party is also attempting a new caste alliance of the Patidhars, Kshatriyas and Scheduled Castes. There is discontent in the state but it is to been seen whether the Congress can capitalize on it,”said Amit Dholakia, professor of political science at Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara. Source: Livemint
WASHINGTON (TIP): “The American public expects — and deserves — its Government to provide as much access as possible to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records (records) so that the people may finally be fully informed about all aspects of this pivotal event. Therefore, I am ordering today that the veil finally be lifted”. Donald Trump thus decreed, on October 26, 2017, the release of documents concerning John F. Kennedy’s assassination, setting off speculation about new information on an assassination that had shaken the American nation on November 22, 1963.
However, all records have not been ordered to be released yet. The 26th October order says, “At the same time, executive departments and agencies have proposed to me that certain information should continue to be redacted because of national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns,” he wrote. “I have no choice — today — but to accept those redactions rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to our Nation’s security.”
Still, he warned that agency heads should be “extremely circumspect” in asking for further postponing the release of any of the documents, saying: “The need for continued protection can only have grown weaker with the passage of time.”
President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Photo courtesy Newseum / PRNewsfoto file
Trump “wants to ensure there is full transparency here,” a senior administration official said at a briefing. He is “expecting agencies to do a better job in reducing conflict within redactions and get this information out as quickly as possible.”
The National Archives published nearly 3,000 previously sealed or censored documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Thursday, but the White House said it was delaying the release of others.
Under a 1992 law inspired by the conspiracist movie “JFK,” the National Archives was supposed to have released all of the remaining records by midnight ET — unless President Donald Trump objected on national security grounds.
In the end, the president allowed the release of 2,891 of at least 3,140 documents, with the rest subject to a 180-day review of redactions from objecting agencies. The White House said later that the remaining records would be released “on a rolling basis in the coming weeks.”
About 200 pages of the new batch are expected to delve into the six-day visit that Oswald, a onetime Marine who had defected to the Soviet Union, made to Mexico City just before Kennedy’s assassination. One of the juiciest stories is likely to be that of June Cobb, a CIA spy working in Cuba and Mexico, who reported that Oswald had been spotted in Mexico City.
Cobb, born Viola June Cobb in Ponca City, Oklahoma, died Oct. 17, 2015, in New York, where she was living in a Manhattan senior center, an official there and her former sister-in-law told NBC News.
As journalists, scholars and assassination buffs began scouring the thousands of pages Thursday night, it remained to be seen whether the document dump would satisfy the many people who still dispute the finding of the Warren Commission that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he gunned down Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963.
NEW YORK (TIP): When Srinu Maddula, an 18-month old baby from West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh with defective eyesight was brought to a Rotary Club eye camp in Vijayawada in 1980s, the ophthalmologists diagnosed a rare disease that had affected t
For his tremendous contribution in the field of prevention of avoidable blindness among children the world over, Dr. V.K. Raju has been honored and awarded profusely. Recently, in August 2017, he was honored with President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement during the 2017 West Virginia State Medical Association Healthcare Summit. His other major awards include American Medical Association Foundation’s Dr Nathen Davis International Award in Medicine and Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman. He was also inducted into University of Toledo’s Global Medical Mission Hall of Fame earlier this year.
he kid’s cornea. The doctors suggested corneal transplant as the only solution to prevent complete blindness.
When the attending ophthalmologists conveyed this to the organizer of the health camp that was held in Vijayawada – Dr VK Raju now Clinical Professor, Department of Ophthalmology at West Virginia University and Founder-President of the Eye Foundation of America in Morgantown, West Virginia, he lost no time in shifting the baby and his parents to the US.
Dr Raju arranged for the corneal transplant to be performed on Srinu at General Hospital in Morgantown West Virginia – spending his money on the investigation, hospitalization and surgery.
Srinu Maddula stayed back in the US with his family and completed his Pharm. D (Doctor of Pharmacy) from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Now he is the great supporter and a roving ambassador of The Eye Foundation of America helping thousands of children across the globe.
Srinu Maddula is among the whopping two million out patients from around the globe who were treated for various major eye ailments thanks to the grand vision and foresight of a noble Indian-American physician Dr VK Raju who has dedicated his life to cure child blindness not only in Andhra Pradesh but across the globe. He has performed eye surgeries free of cost on 300,000 patients in four decades that includes 25,000 children. He visualized a world without childhood blindness.
Dr Raju is being honored for his lifelong dedicated service in eradicating blindness among children at a one-day conference “Prevention of Blindness in Childhood and beyond,” to be held at Hotel Fortune Murali Park in Vijayawada on October 27.
What started a make-shift rural eye camp by Dr VK Raju in Vijayawada in 1977 with the help of Rotary Clubs has now grown into a mass global non-profit healthcare movement with free eye surgeries being performed in 25 countries with over 250 camps in Vijayawada alone. . Initially, alone, he then got a band of devoted colleagues and gradually, a network of dedicated doctors and para medical staff to take care of the growing number of patients. Dr. Raju is a firm believer in an African saying “IF YOU WANT TO GO FAST, YOU GO ALONE. IF YOU WANT TO GO FAR, GO WITH OTHERS”.
This doctor has set his sight far. He and his team have performed 300,000 surgeries. Two Eye Institutes have been established with the collaboration of others.
The three guiding principles Dr. Raju has chosen for the Eye Foundation of America are Service, Teaching and Research; and the motto- WORLD WITHOUT CHILDHOOD BLINDNESS.
A distinguished American Professor of Ophthalmology and a pioneer in restoring lost vision of hapless children and preventing new born and infants from blindness, Dr Raju is totally dedicated to the noble cause and all his vacations in India -thrice or four times a year- are spent only in the dingy rooms of the eye camps in rural areas.
When he decided to conduct the eye camp in Vijayawada in 1977 he was in the US and came to India on a vacation. Noticing high incidence of preventable blindness in children, he enlisted the support of Rotary Clubs in realizing his dream.
There was no equipment then to perform cataract surgeries on children and he decided to import an instrument from the US called Ocutome in 1979 at the cost of $25, 000 by borrowing money from the banks. The instrument had just come into the US market and no such tiny cutting and aspiration equipment existed before for safe surgery on children. That proved to be a turning point in the lives of thousands of children affected by plethora of eye diseases such as cataract and corneal damage.
What started as a makeshift rural eye camp 40 years ago has now spread as a global mission to restore eye sight in 25 countries spanning across three continents – thanks to the vision of one person – Dr. Raju of making a world without blindness. Several donors joined hands with him and that led to the formation of The Eye Foundation of America, a US registered non-profit of which he is the President to fund projects across the globe. He has also conducted free eye camps in Dharavi, world’s largest slum in Mumbai.
A team player who never takes individual credit to the achievements, Dr Raju has roped in professionals, policy makers, motivators, para-medical staff, NGOs and non-medical volunteers as stake holders in realizing his dream. “Ophthalmologists alone can’t eradicate blindness,” he avers.
Towards this end, he launched two eye institutes in Kakinada and Goutami Eye Institute in Rajahmundry in 1993 and 2005 respectively to bring in world class teaching, training and outreach programs.
What distinguishes Dr Raju from other practitioners is his vision and ability to foresee problems in healthcare. He realized with the help of a study that infusing overdose of oxygen on premature babies at childbirth causes blindness of the new born. Dr Raju launched a campaign to check the eyes of all the new born in neo-natal care wards in both government and private hospitals to prevent blindness.
A specially trained team of trained technicians trooped out to various hospitals under the instructions of Dr Raju and checked the eyes of over 1500 infants and found at least 100 are affected. Along with the local doctors, treatments are provided, and the infants are saved from total blindness.
He specializes in and has given priority to preventing blindness in infants and children as he feels that their contribution to the society may last 70 to 75 years as compared to treating an adult who is 40 or 50 years old. But there is no denying of treatment to any adult if his vision is affected. By eradicating blindness among infants and children, we are building a strong and healthy India and the world, and the future generation is protected,” he says.
The Eye Foundation of America plans to touch the lives of 100,000 people in India as a part of its ongoing efforts to eliminate avoidable blindness. The campaign is focused on those in rural India who suffer from diabetes and are at risk for, or may already be suffering from, diabetic retinopathy — a condition that often leads to blindness if left untreated.
He says more than 61 million people in India have diabetes, 55% of Indians with diabetes live in rural areas, 96,000 children in India have Type 1 diabetes, up to 20 percent of India’s rural populations are affected by diabetes and 52% of people with diabetes don’t realize they have it and India has a health care worker shortage of 515,000 professionals.
Dr. Raju was the recipient of the President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement during the 2017 West Virginia State Medical Association Healthcare Summit this past August. The inaugural award recognized him for his lifelong commitment to the advancement of science, medicine and public health. The citation said he continues to have a meaningful impact on the lives of scores of individuals across the globe by helping eliminate blindness and positively impacting the rural and remote areas of developing countries where there is no medical care or where the cost of medical is prohibitive.
Dr. Raju has been honored and awarded profusely. He is a recipient of American Medical Association Foundation’s Dr Nathen Davis International Award in Medicine and Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman. He was also inducted into University of Toledo’s Global Medical Mission Hall of Fame only recently.
He received his medical degree at Andhra University in India, and then traveled to the University of London to complete an ophthalmology residency and fellowship. In the U.S., Dr. Raju completed an anterior segment surgery fellowship at Louisiana State University. Dr. Raju’s extensive accomplishments continue as he is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and of the American College of Surgeons.
The eye doctor also currently serves as a clinical professor of ophthalmology at West Virginia University where he has been teaching since 1976. Before that, Dr. Raju spent two years teaching at the Royal Eye Hospital of London. He is also the director of the International Ocular Surface Society, the director of the Ocular Surface Research and Education Foundation, and the medical director and past president of the Eye Foundation of America.
Hollywood veteran, Catherine Zeta-Jones, who worked with Harvey Weinstein in ‘Chicago’, has revealed that she was ‘shocked and disgusted’ by all the sexual allegations against the studio mogul.
The 48-year-old actress also shared that she is really ‘proud’ of the women who came forward with all these claims. The ‘RED 2’ actress feels lucky to have not been among the many actresses allegedly harassed by Weinstein or throughout her years in Hollywood.
She said, “No and I’m blessed because it happens to so many women all the time.” She called Weinstein’s behaviour the “ultimate abuse of power.” Zeta-Jones took the stage and remarked that it is dominating the headlines around the world.
“It’s hard to think that in 2017 we are still talking about this and that it’s the lead story on the international news, but it is right that it is there. It should be the lead story,” noted Zeta-Jones.
Adding, “That big old dinosaur of people who think a man is able to get away with that behavior and has been getting away with it for years, is extinct as of now.” She won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2003 for the musical ‘Chicago,’ which was distributed by Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s Miramax.
Actress Angelina Jolie is on board for a new Disney movie titled ‘The One and Only Ivan’.
Jolie, 42, has lent her voice to a key character named Stella in the upcoming adaptation of Katherine Applegate’s eponymous children’s book. The actress is also co-producing theproject, which will be directed by Thea Sharrock and has Mike White as its script writer. The book is going to be adapted into a live-action hybrid movie.
The plot follows a silver back gorilla named Ivan who lives in a cage in a shopping mall along with an elephant named Stella and a stray dog called Bob. Ivan does not remember life before the mall, but when a baby elephant named Stella enters and Ivan finds himself taking care of her, he begins to rediscover his previous life and makes a plan to take the baby elephant away from their abusive owner.
Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon has opened up about being sexually assaulted by a director when she was just 16.
According to a report, the 41-year-old star hoped the Harvey Weinstein scandal will encourage women to speak up about harassment.
“This has been a really hard week for women in Hollywood, for women all over the world, and a lot of situations and a lot of industries are forced to remember and relive a lot of ugly truths,” Witherspoon said during her speech at an event in Hollywood. Dozens of women have come forward to allege Weinstein, a heavyweight Hollywood studio head, of sexual assault and in some cases rape.
Sharing her story, Witherspoon said, “I have my own experiences that have come back to me very vividly and I find it really hard to sleep, hard to think, hard to communicate a lot of the feelings that I’ve been having about anxiety, honest, the guilt for not speaking up earlier. “(I feel) true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16-years-old and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment.
And I wish that I could tell you that was an isolated incident in my career, but sadly it wasn’t. I’ve had multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault and I don’t speak about them very often.”
Witherspoon said reading about stories of other brave women convinced her to finally “speak up and speak up loudly because I actually felt less alone this week than I have ever felt in my entire career.”
After the success of her last film, ‘Judwaa 2′ , Jacqueline Fernandez will now play the protagonist in Ribhu Dasgupta’s Hindi adaptation of Paula Hawkins’s 2015 novel, the psychological thriller ‘The Girl On The Train’. The book has been adapted into a Hollywood film featuring Emily Blunt. Ribhu has the official adaptation rights of the book and the film. “I have just finished the script. Jackie has come on board as the protagonist. While the novel had an ensemble cast, our film will revolve around her character. I have been looking forward to working with her and this seemed like a perfect project to collaborate. You get together to make a film when people think alike in many ways and when I had met her I discovered we were on the same page,” informs Ribhu, whose last directorial was the 2016 thriller ‘Te3n’, featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in pivotal roles. Source: TOI
Bollywood dancing diva Madhuri Dixit is all set to make her debut in a Marathi film. The 50-year-old actor, whose career in Hindi films spans over three decades, is set to feature in a slice-of-life Marathi movie that revolves around the self-realisation journey of a woman with a dash of humour attached to its narrative style.
Talking about the project, Madhuri said,”It is a story of every household yet it has a silver lining. It not only gives you hope and inspiration but also encourages you to live life in the true sense. The most fascinating factor for me to choose it is that it is going to carve a niche in everyone’s heart.”
The yet-to-be-titled film will be directed by Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar, who has co-written the script along with Devashree Shivadekar. On what took her a long time to take up a Marathi project, the ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ actor said it was the right script for her.
“Marathi cinema is evolving so beautifully and seeing such incredible stories being told makes me beam with pride. I have received a number of scripts over the years since doing a Marathi film was always something I was open to. But the scripts didn’t excite me as this one did. When I read this script, it stood out and with the amazing team behind it, I knew that this is what I wanted to be a part of,” she said.
ISLAMABAD (TIP): Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law were indicted on Thursday by an anti-graft court in a corruption case related to the Avenfield property in London.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had registered three cases of corruption and money laundering against 67- year-old Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the accountability court in Islamabad on September 8.
The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal.
The accountability court indicted Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference even though Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country.
Sharif is in London with his ailing wife Kulsoom, who is suffering from throat cancer and has undergone three surgeries so far. Maryam and Safdar were present in the court during today’s hearing.
All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to a court official. Dar has already been indicted and his trial has begun. Sharif and his sons — Hassan and Hussain — are likely to be indicted in the other two references later today.
At the start of the hearing by Judge Muhammad Bashir, the defense filed application to postpone the indictment as Sharif was absent due to illness of his wife.
The defense team also argued that head of Sharif ’s legal team Harris was out of country due to an emergency and in his absence Sharif should not be indicted. But the court rejected the application after hearing the argument.
The second lawyer from Sharif ’s legal team, Ayesha Hamid, filed an application seeking a delay in the indictment until the apex court decides on a petition filed by Sharif against the filing of multiple corruption references against him by NAB.
The court rejected this application as well. Sharif ’s legal team then filed a third application in the accountability court and asked that all three cases should be changed into a single case.
The court has reserved its decision on the application. During the proceedings, the judge thrice stopped hearing and went to his chamber to contemplate on the different applications.
Sharif ’s family alleges that the cases are politically motivated.
Maryam, in informal chat with reporters, said that it was for the first time that “Sicilian mafia” was appearing in the court. She was referring to a term used against Sharif and his family by the Supreme Court Bench which disqualified him. “It is for the first time that first decision was given (about disqualification of Sharif) and now trial is being held,” she said. Sharif, his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and independent lawyers had objected to the use of phrase by the Supreme Court, saying mafia groups are seldom held accountable or appear before courts with free will.
Maryam said that one day there would be accountability of the accountability process her family is going through. “Injustice and atrocities cannot continue together,” she told reporters outside the court. She said that her party is still united despite the differences of opinion.
Sharif was re-elected as the president of the PML-N on October 3 and immediately demanded that those who disqualified him should respect the people’s mandate. Maryam said the government is an institution which should be respected. “Each institution should do its job.” Heavy security arrangements were made to deal with any untoward situation. Unlike the previous hearing on October 13 when lawyers created chaos, the situation was totally different, peaceful and smooth.
Judge Bashir was set to indict Sharif and his family on October 13. However, after the violent clash between the PMLN lawyers and police, he had postponed the indictment until today.
During the hearing on October 9, the court had decided to separate the trial of Sharif ’s sons – Hussain and Hassan — from Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law.
It had also ordered to start the process of declaring Sharif ’s sons proclaimed offender for failing to appear before the court. The anti-graft body NAB had frozen the bank accounts and seized properties of Sharif and his family members to put pressure on them to appear before the court.
A steel tycoon cum politician, Sharif had served as the Prime Minister for the first time from 1990 to 1993.
During his first tenure, Sharif developed serious differences with conservative president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who dissolved the National Assembly using his powers in April 1993. In July, Sharif resigned under pressure from the army.
His second term as Prime Minister from 1997 ended in 1999 when then powerful Army Chief Pervez Musharraf carried out a bloodless coup.
Sharif, who leads the country’s most powerful political family and the ruling PML-N party, successfully managed to swim through all the tsunamis since he assumed power for the third term in June 2013, but the Supreme Court ruling against him in the Panamagate case struck a heavy blow to his career. His political future has been hanging in balance since then. Source: PTI
MUMBAI (TIP): A month after Thane police arrested Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar in a case of alleged extortion, the ministry of finance has issued an auction notice seeking bids for six properties belonging to the underworld don in Mumbai and Aurangabad.This is part of the government’s continuing efforts to curb Ibrahim’s operations in India.
The properties include flat numbers 18-20, 25,26 and 28 of the Damarwala Building, and houses 34-40 on Pakmodia Street and Yakub Street, where Iqbal Kaskar and his late sister Haseena Parkar used to reside. The properties are up for auction at a reserve price of Rs 1.55 crore. Another property listed by the government is the Shabnam Guest House, a double-storied building on Yakub Street with a reserve price of Rs 1.21 crore.
The finance ministry had listed Hotel Raunaq Afroz on Pakmodia Street for auction at a reserved price of Rs 1.18 crore, and put it under the hammer along with seven other properties in 2015. A former journalist raised the highest bid of Rs 4.28 crore, but was unable to deposit the sum in the requisite time frame.
In September, Iqbal was asked to vacate two dilapidated buildings in Mumbai on the grounds that they were illegally acquired. A notice under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act-1976, asking tenants to vacate the premises, was pasted outside the Damarwala building.
Various agencies have tried to auction Ibrahim’s properties three times in nearly two decades (2001, 2013 and 2015), but found no takers. The dearth of buyers largely stems from their fear of the gangster, who is now said to be in Pakistan.
Ibrahim is the main accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case in Mumbai. The British government had earlier frozen his UK assets. Source: HT
RAMPUR (TIP): Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan on Oct 18 said he fears the Taj Mahal would meet the same fate as Babri Masjid, while retorting to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vinay Katiyar’s statement describing the Taj Mahal as a “Hindu temple”.
“If Babri Masjid can be destroyed, then any building in the country can be pulled down. In such a situation, it will be no surprise if the Taj Mahal is also destroyed some day. If Babri Masjid was demolished in the name of Ram Mandir, then these people can do anything,” Azam Khan told ANI.
If Babri Masjid was destroyed as people believed there was a temple, then no place of worship in the country was safe, he said. “During the temple-mosque issue at that time, there was a High Court and the Supreme Court stay, but still the mosque was destroyed. I firmly believe that the Taj Mahal is set to meet that same fate. But because there is so much international attention on the issue, the monument is still standing, ” Khan said, referring to the 1992 destruction of the 16th-century mosque built on Mughal Emperor Babur’s orders. Katiyar courted controversy on Wednesday when he claimed that the Mughal mausoleum, Taj Mahal, was a Hindu temple and that its name should be changed. He said that the Taj Mahal was known as Tejo Mahal and had a ‘Shivlinga’, which was later removed from the monument.
Katiyar’s statement comes a day after, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave a clear snub to BJP MLA Sangeet Som for stirring the Taj Mahal controversy, stating that “it does not matter who built it and for what reason; it was built by blood and sweat of the Indian labourers”. Source: ANI
LUCKNOW (TIP): Grand Diwali celebrations at Ayodhya in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and senior BJP leaders was a step toward the construction of the Ram Temple, the saints of Ayodhya felt.
“It is certainly the first step…we are sure a grand Ram Temple will come up at Lord Rama’s birthplace in Ayodhya,’’ said Mahant Suresh Das, a prominent saint associated with the Digambar Akhara.
Suresh Das was among the saints with whom Adityanath held deliberations during his visit to the temple town.
Adityanath paid obeisance at the makeshift Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya on Thursday and hit out at his critics over the grand celebrations.
“The programme was organised with the help of the people,” he said after the opposition leaders accused him of using public money for holding the grand show.
He added that his faith in Lord Rama was a “personal matter” and no one had the right to question it.
Yogi had also announced schemes worth hundreds of crores for the development of Ayodhya during his visit.
A host of cultural programmes was organised in the temple town on Wednesday. The entire town was decked up to welcome Adityanath and his cabinet.
Colorful processions, the lighting of earthen lamps on the bank of Saryu river marked the celebrations this year.
The celebrations in Ayodhya is being viewed in the political circles here as an attempt to keep the Ram Temple issue in the limelight ahead of Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
The visit also assumed significance in the wake of remarks by some senior BJP leaders that the temple construction would begin in 2019.
The temple issue had been in the limelight since Adityanath had assumed charge of the state. Truckloads of stones continue to arrive at Ayodhya from Rajasthan.
Adityanath had made it clear that the government did not intend to ban the transportation of stones as there was no legal bar on it. Source: DHNS
NEW DELHI (TIP): The CBI said on Wednesday that it would look into the “facts and circumstances” of the Bofors scam mentioned by private detective Michael Hershman, who alleged that the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government had sabotaged his investigation.
Hershman, who is the president of the US-based private detective firm Fairfax, claimed in television interviews recently that Rajiv Gandhi was “furious” when he had found a Swiss bank account ‘Mont Blanc’”.
Hershman alleged that the bribe money of the Bofors gun scandal had been parked in the Swiss account. He was in New Delhi last week to address a conference of private detectives.
“The agency has learnt of the matter pertaining to the Bofors aired on certain TV channels containing interview of Michael Hershman,” CBI information officer and spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.
“Facts and circumstances as mentioned in the interview will be looked into as per due process by the CBI,” Dayal said.
Hershman was quoted as saying that Rajiv Gandhi got very upset when “our work was uncovered”. He then established a SC commission to look into the circumstances surrounding then finance minister VP Singh’s hiring of Fairfax.
In the interviews Hershman has expressed his willingness to testify and help Indian agencies on the Rs 64 crore Bofors gun pay-off scandal but the effort has to be a credible. The development comes even as the CBI recently told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that it has informed the SC of its willingness to continue a probe into the Bofors scandal.
SRINAGAR (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Oct 19 (Thursday) celebrated Diwali with troops posted along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gurez sector and lauded the soldiers for their penance and sacrifice saying he considered them his family.
In an unannounced visit, Modi arrived at Gurez on Thursday morning to celebrate Diwali with the army and BSF soldiers posted along the LoC, officials said.
He spent two hours with the soldiers in Gurez valley, which is shouting distance of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and has witnessed many gunfights with infiltrating militants in the past 27 years.
This is the fourth successive Diwali that the Prime Minister has celebrated with jawans on the border.
Chief of the Army Staff Gen BS Rawat and other senior Army officers were present on the occasion. Modi offered sweets and exchanged greetings with the jawans, the officials said. Addressing the jawans, he said like everyone else, he too wished to spend Diwali with his family.
Therefore, he had come among the jawans of the armed forces, whom he considered to be his “family”, he said.
Modi said he got new energy when he spent time among the jawans and soldiers of the armed forces and appreciated their penance and sacrifice, amid harsh conditions.
The Prime Minister said he had been told that the jawans present at the gathering regularly practised yoga. He said this would definitely enhance their abilities, and give them a sense of calm.
He said jawans, who left the armed forces after completing their duty tenure, could become excellent yoga trainers subsequently.
The Prime Minister spoke of the new resolve that each Indian citizen must make for 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence.
He also encouraged the jawans to innovate, so that their routine tasks and duties became easier and safer and mentioned how best innovations were now being recognised and awarded at the Army Day, Navy Day, and Air Force Day.
Modi said the Centre is committed to the welfare and betterment of the Armed Forces, in every way possible.
In this regard, he mentioned the implementation of One Rank, One Pension, which had been pending for decades.
Protecting the motherland, far from your loved ones, displaying the highest traditions of sacrifice, all soldiers at the nation’s borders, are symbols of bravery and dedication, Modi said.
“I have an opportunity to spend the festival of Diwali with you. The presence of brave soldiers at the border, on this festive occasion, lights the lamp of hope, and generates new energy among crores of Indians,” the Prime Minister wrote in the visitors’ book.
“To accomplish the dream of ‘New India’, this is a golden opportunity for all of us to work together. The Army too is a part of it,” he added. Source: PTI
NEW YORK (TIP): Zee TV has launched Those Who Made It, directed by Mayank Tripathi, which is a series that features an Indian American entrepreneur and philanthropist every episode. The show follows the individuals as they recount their path to success and share stories from their personal and professional lives. The series premiered on October 14.
The first episode followed Sheela Murthy, a successful lawyer who founded the Murthy Law Firm to help other immigrants like herself to maneuver through the complicated legal process. Her firm is ranked as one of the world’s leading U.S. immigration law firms. The upcoming episodes will relay the tales of Sant Chatwal, Frank Islam, AJ Khubani, Suri Sehgal, Javad Hassan and Mafat Patel – all of these enterprisers are an inspiration to South Asian immigrants who are pursuing their own American dream. Those Who Made It proves that as long as you believe and work hard, you can achieve success!
Zee TV, airing programs primarily in Hindi, made its debut in Hollywood by launching the first ever English language South Asian reality television show Made In America. It is no surprise that the largest Indian television network in the world is the first Indian channel to produce content targeting international audiences. Selecting six girls from a pool of 6,000 applicants, Made In America followed the contestants for 10 weeks as they competed in various challenges, displayed their individual talents and trained with different coaches. The reality show, which only features second generation South Asians, is hosted by Nina Davaluri, the first ever Indian American to be crowned Miss America. The finale of the reality show aired on October 12.
Sameer Targe, CEO of Zee TV America said, “We realized that there was a need in the marketplace to reach a younger South Asian audience who have an enormous desire to be in the glamour world. Zee TV is the flagship television network for South Asians in the US, we decided to launch ‘Made In America’ to fulfill their Hollywood dreams, and create a platform for them to be able to showcase their talents.” You can follow Zee TV USA’s new original programming at zeeoriginals.com.
ABOUT ZEE TV:
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited is one of India’s leading television media and entertainment companies. It is amongst the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi programming in the world, with an extensive library housing over 222,000 hours of television content. With rights to more than 3,818 movie titles from foremost studios and of iconic film stars, ZEE houses the world’s largest Hindi film library. Through its strong presence worldwide, ZEE entertains over 1 billion viewers across 172 countries.
MINEOLA, NY (TIP): Acting state Supreme Court Judge Terence Murphy of Nassau County unsealed a grand jury indictment that charged Beckerman, 48, with five counts of tax fraud and one count of repeated failure to file income and earnings taxes. She pleaded not guilty. Her physician husband, Adam Beckerman, 56, was charged with four counts of tax fraud and one count of failure to file taxes. He also pleaded not guilty.
The couple was arrested in April on criminal charges after prosecutors said they had not filed state tax returns from 2010 to 2014 despite having income of more than $4.5 million in that period. Prosecutors said the couple owes $243,865 in back taxes. If convicted, the Beckermans face a maximum of 5 to 15 years in prison.
Mayor Beckerman declined to comment as she left the courthouse in Mineola.
Her Garden City attorney, Brian Griffin, said, “Ms. Beckerman has met her tax obligations and the records proving this are clear. She not only intended to pay her taxes, she did pay her taxes. We have produced these records to the district attorney but yet they continue to move forward on a case that should never have been brought.”
The district attorney’s office said in a statement that “we reviewed all records submitted by Ms. Beckerman before proceeding with this case.”
Robert Altchiler, the Manhattan attorney for Adam Beckerman, said his client “did absolutely nothing wrong.”
The state Department of Taxation and Finance discovered the alleged failure to pay taxes. A spokesman with the agency said anyone found to be delinquent on tax payments is given warnings and an opportunity to pay before law enforcement is contacted.
Beckerman in April said she had no plans to leave her elected office, telling Newsday after a village board meeting that “I stand by the job I’ve done here for more than a decade.”
Her 4-year term expires in 2018.
Beckerman was first elected mayor of the upscale North Shore village in 2006 and was most recently re-elected in 2014 on the slate of the Concerned Taxpayers Party.
The indictment unsealed Wednesday lists the same four counts of criminal tax fraud that were made in April. All are felonies. The indictment also charges Mayor Beckerman with an additional count, of criminal tax fraud in the fifth degree, a misdemeanor.
In April, Beckerman was charged with three counts of felony repeated failure to file personal income and earnings taxes. The indictment that supersedes that charge includes only a single count of felony repeated failure to file income and earnings taxes, for tax years 2010 through 2012.
Event features Basement Bhangra’s DJ Rekha, cooking workshops, dance lessons, Indian handicrafts, and much more
FLUSHING, NY (TIP): Flushing Town Hall will celebrate on Sunday, October 29, the Festival of Lights with its third annual Diwali Festival. An added attraction of the event is Diwali Dance Party, featuring DJ Rekha and Abha Roy in a mash-up of Bhangra and Kathak music and dance styles, with cooking workshops, dance lessons, traditional foods, and family-friendly activities such as a jewelry workshop and henna painting. The event will provide a rare opportunity to see DJ Rekha perform once more after her final Basement Bhangra performance in August.
The Diwali Festival is supported by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Mayor Bill de Blasio; The National Endowment of the Arts; The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Con Edison; and The New York Community Bank Foundation
The three-hour celebration features master artists: master Indian dancer Abha B. Roy with Sarika Persaud, and the Srijan Dance Center; and for one day only DJ Rekha returns to the stage for a Bhangra dance party. Join us for henna painting, rangoli (decorative design) workshops, a dance workshop, and cooking workshops led by The League of Kitchens’ Yamini. This season, Flushing Town Hall is opening its doors to teenagers – for FREE. Under the “Teen Access Program”, all 13- to 19-year-old boys and girls (whether a member or not) will be welcomed to attend any performance for free. The program is designed to appeal to students and help foster a greater love in the arts and culture.
Additionally, Flushing Town Hall will hold two school shows for grades four to eight on Friday, October 27th at 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM. To make reservations, call (718) 463-7700 ext. 241 or email education@flushingtownhall.org.
Delicious Indian foods and handmade Indian jewelry also will be for sale during the lively event.
The event runs from 1:00 to 4:00 PM at Flushing Town Hall, located at 137-35 Northern Blvd. Flushing, Queens. Tickets—$20/$15 Members/$10 Students & Children—are available at www.flushingtownhall.org.
Flushing Town Hall is accessible by car, bus, train and foot – located a short distance from the 7 train – at 137-35 Northern Blvd., in Flushing, Queens.
For Tickets & More info:www.flushingtownhall.org (718) 463-7700 x222 137-35 Northern Blvd. Flushing, NY 11354
GARDEN CITY, NY (TIP): It was a joyous occasion for the Indian community of New York. The AAPI-QLI Annual Diwali celebration at Akbar restaurant here was attended by over 400 physicians and their spouses as attendees including various community leaders.
The highlight of the Oct 13 event was the announcement by Hersh Parekh and Joanne Choi from State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office declaring October 19 as official Diwali Day for the State of New York.
AAPI-QLI is the largest chapter of National AAPI, and represents all the Indian origin physicians from Queens and Long Island. Dr Rakesh Dua is its current President.
WASHINGTON (TIP): 3M and Discovery Education have named 11-year-old Indian American Gitanjali Rao from Lone Tree, Colo., the winner of the 2017 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge. Gitanjali is working to develop Tethys, a sensor-based device that can detect lead in water faster than other current techniques.
Rather than using expensive equipment for testing, Gitanjali’s cost-effective approach to water safety uses a mobile app that populates the water’s status almost immediately. Tethys is designed to be portable and easy to use, allowing individuals to test water safety whenever needed. She hopes to solve the water contamination crisis and decrease long-term health effects from lead exposure.
A seventh-grader at STEM School and Academy, Gitanjali competed alongside nine other finalists during a live competition at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minn. She was awarded the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist” as well as a $25,000 prize.
During the past three months, Gitanjali and the other finalists had the exclusive opportunity to work directly with a 3M scientist to develop their innovations as part of a unique summer mentorship program. Gitanjali was paired with Dr. Kathleen Shafer, a 3M research specialist who develops new plastics technologies that have real-world applications in dentistry and other fields.
Another Indian American student Rithvik Ganesh, an eighth-grader at C.M. Rice Middle School from Plano, Texas, received second place. Rithvik built upon existing research to conduct tests and identify one lead molecule from Apigenin, a compound found in fruits and vegetables, that could potentially be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Looking forward, Rithvik hopes to take his findings through in vitro and in vivo testing and improve thousands of lives affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
During the final competition, the finalists presented their inventions to an esteemed panel of 3M scientists, school superintendents and administrators from across the country. In addition to presenting their prototypes, the ten finalists paired up to compete in two additional challenges through which they combined multiple 3M technologies to solve real-world problems.
The remaining nine finalists received $1,000 and a variety of prizes from Discovery Education and 3M. The second, third and fourth runners-up also received a trip to a taping of a show on Discovery’s family of networks.
MILLBURN, NJ (TIP): The Universal Society of Hinduism welcomed news that Millburn Township Public Schools in New Jersey has added Nov. 7 to its 2018-19 draft holiday calendar.
The date recognizes the Hindu festival Diwali (festival of lights), which falls on Nov. 7 in 2018.
In a statement from Nevada Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism urged the Millburn Township’s Board of Education to unanimously approve this Diwali holiday to its holiday calendar when it meets Oct. 9. The board should respect the feelings of Hindus in the 5,000 student school district who have pushed for the Diwali holiday for many years, he said, which would bode well for a school district that reportedly has 99 percent of graduating seniors going on to attend four-year colleges.
The Hindu community is rapidly growing in New Jersey, Zed said. Three public school districts have reportedly declared the Diwali holiday this Oct. 19, the date on which Diwali falls in 2017. Glen Rock Public Schools, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, and Piscataway Township Schools all close schools and school district offices for Diwali.
In neighboring New York, six school districts have declared Diwali a school holiday, Zed said. East Meadow School District, East Williston Union Free School District, Half Hollow Hills Central School District, Herricks Union Free School District, Hicksville Union Free School District and Syosset Central School District.
The Mineola Union Free School District has also announced that no homework or examinations would be given on Diwali.
“The remaining 674 public school districts and private-charter-independent schools in New Jersey should seriously look into declaring Diwali as an official holiday, thus recognizing the intersection of spirituality and education,” Zed said. “The awareness about other religions thus created by such holidays like Diwali would make New Jersey students well-nurtured, well-balanced, and enlightened citizens of tomorrow.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, New Jersey State Board of Education President Arcelio Aponte and New Jersey Department of Education Commissioner Kimberley Harrington, should work towards adding Diwali as an official holiday in all the public school districts in the state, and persuading the private-charter-independent schools to follow, Zed said.
Signup to our Newsletter!
Don’t miss out on all the happenings around the world
