The Indian Panorama

Category: Biden Administration

  • Biden: Quad plan to make 1 bn Covid vaccines in India on track

    Biden: Quad plan to make 1 bn Covid vaccines in India on track

    September 24, 2021

    TIP Special Correspondent

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The first in-person summit of Quad nations opened in Washington on Friday, September24, with PM Narendra Modi hoping that it would be a force for global good by ensuring prosperity and peace in the Indo-Pacific and the world.

    The summit, hosted by US President Joe Biden at the White House, saw all four leaders noting that the grouping had made excellent progress since its first summit held virtually six months ago.

    None of the leaders mentioned China in their opening statements though some spoke of an Indo-Pacific free of coercion. Known to forget names, Biden introduced PM Modi as “my friend from India” just as he had referred to Australian PM Scott Morrison as “my friend from Down Under” while announcing AUKUS security treaty a week ago. PM Modi noted that the four countries had come together for the first time in 2004 to extend support to the Indo-Pacific region that had been hit by tsunami.

    “Today, the world is grappling with the pandemic and we are meeting once again as Quad and working for humanity,” he said, observing that the Quad initiative to produce one billion vaccines in India would greatly help countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

    The Quad, he hoped, would move forward to find answers to wide-ranging issues such as supply chains, global security, climate action, Covid response and technology.

    Biden described Quad as a group of democratic partners, sharing the same world view and a common vision of the future, coming together to take on key challenges. “`We are making excellent progress,” he said while announcing fellowships for students from Quad countries to pursue advanced degrees in STEM and said the plan to manufacture one billion vaccines in India was on track.

    The four major democracies of the world, he declared, “know how to get things done and are up to the challenge”.

    Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a trusted and secure cyberspace and addressing supply chain problems should be Quad’s priorities. Its collective strength, he hoped, would lead to an Indo-Pacific where disputes were settled peacefully in accordance with international law.

    Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga wanted Quad to discuss new areas, such as infrastructure and clean energy and promote people-to-people exchanges in science and technology.

    Visit www.theindianpanorama.news  for more stories on PM Modi’s US visit

  • PM Modi and US Vice President Kamala Harris discuss bilateral ties, Indo-Pacific

    PM Modi and US Vice President Kamala Harris discuss bilateral ties, Indo-Pacific

    September 23, 2021

    TIP Special Correspondent

    WASHINGTON, DC (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, September 23, described India and America as ”natural partners” as he held the first in-person meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House during which they decided to further cement the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed global issues of common interest, including threats to democracy, Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific.

    ”India and America are natural partners. We have similar values, similar geopolitical interests,” Modi said in a joint media appearance with Harris, the first-ever person of Indian origin to be elected as the vice-president of the United States.

    Noting that India and the US are the largest and oldest democracies, Modi said the two countries share values and their coordination and cooperation are also gradually increasing.

    This is the first meeting between the two leaders. Harris had earlier spoken with Modi over the phone in June during the COVID-19 crisis in India.

    ”You are the source of inspiration for so many people across the world. I am completely confident that our bilateral relationship will touch new heights under President Biden and your leadership,” Modi told Harris.

    The two leaders were wearing masks as they both spoke in front of a battery of pool reporters from both India and the US.

    Modi invited the 56-year-old Democratic leader and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff to visit India.

    ”Both President Biden and you assumed office at a time when our planet faced very tough challenges. In a short time, you have had many achievements to your credit be it COVID-19, climate change or the Quad,” Modi said.

    In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said the two leaders exchanged views on recent global developments, including in Afghanistan and reaffirmed their commitment towards a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

    The two leaders discussed the COVID-19 situation in their countries, including ongoing efforts to contain the pandemic through expedited vaccination efforts, and ensuring supply of critical medicines, therapeutics and healthcare equipment, it said.

    ”As relates to the Indo-Pacific, the US stresses on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Harris said, amidst China’s aggressive moves in the strategically vital region.

    India, the US and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military maneuvering in the region.

    China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea.

    Harris said the world is more interconnected and more interdependent than ever before. “And the challenges that we face today have highlighted that fact. COVID-19, climate crisis and the importance of our shared belief in the Indo-Pacific region,” she said. “Both sides acknowledged the importance of collaborative action on climate change. Prime Minister spoke about India’s push for increasing renewable energy and the recently launched National Hydrogen Mission. He also emphasized the importance of lifestyle changes to promote environmental sustainability,” the statement said.

    Modi noted that he had the opportunity to speak to Harris after she assumed the Vice Presidency. ”One of our interactions happened when India was battling a very tough wave of COVID-19 infections. I recall your kind words of solidarity that time,” Modi said.

    India was confronted with the second wave of the COVID 19 pandemic. A very difficult time for India, he said. “Like a family, the sense of kinship and so warmly, you extended a helping hand, the words that you chose when you spoke to me, I will always remember that, and I’d like to thank you from the bottom of my heart,” the prime minister said.

    ”Like a true friend, you had given a message of cooperation, and were very full of sensitivity and immediately after that we found that the US government, the US corporate sector and the Indian community, all came together to help India,” he said.

    Modi said that the US Government, companies based in the USA and the Indian diaspora were very helpful when India was fighting a tough wave of COVID-19 infections.

    Both leaders acknowledged the vibrant people-to-people linkages as the bedrock of the mutually beneficial education linkages and the flow of knowledge, innovation and talent between our two countries.

    Modi said that four million people of Indian origin are acting as a bridge of friendship between the two countries.

    Harris described India as a ”very important partner” to the US and welcomed New Delhi’s announcement that it will soon resume vaccine export.

    India stopped the export of COVID-19 vaccines after the second wave of the pandemic hit the country in April this year.

    On Monday, India said that it will resume export of surplus COVID-19 vaccines in the fourth quarter of 2021 under the ”Vaccine Maitri” programme and to meet its commitment to the COVAX global pool. On the issue of the climate crisis, she told Modi that the US working together with India can have not only a profound impact on people of nations but around the world itself.

    Harris said that it is incumbent on the two nations to protect democracies in the best interests of people of the two countries.

    ”As democracies around the world are under threat, it is imperative that we defend democratic principles and institutions within our respective countries and around the world. And that we maintain what we must do to strengthen democracies at home and it is incumbent on our nations to of course protect democracies in the best interests of people of our countries,” she said.

    Their meeting comes a day ahead of the maiden bilateral meeting between Modi and President Joe Biden and the Quad Leaders’ Summit at the White House on Friday.

    Since taking office, Harris has met with or spoken to over 30 world leaders, promoting US interests on issues ranging from global health to climate change to cyber threats.

    PM Modi later tweeted:

    Narendra Modi

    @narendramodi

    Glad to have met

    @VP

    @KamalaHarris

     Her feat has inspired the entire world. We talked about multiple subjects that will further cement the India-USA friendship, which is based on shared values and cultural linkages.

     

    Visit www.theindianpanorama.news for more stories on PM Modi’s US visit

  • Indian-Origin Raj Panjabi is Global Coordinator for Biden’s Malaria Initiative

    Indian-Origin Raj Panjabi is Global Coordinator for Biden’s Malaria Initiative

    WASHINGTON (TIP): US President Joe Biden has appointed Indian-origin Raj Panjabi to lead his Malaria Initiative, which is mainly in African and Asian countries.

    “After being sworn in this morning, I’m honored to share that I’ve been appointed by” Joe Biden as the president’s Malaria Coordinator to lead the US president’s Malaria Initiative, Raj Panjabi said on twitter. “I’m grateful for this chance to serve,” he added.

    Born in Liberia, Raj Panjabi and his family fled the county during its civil war and arrived in the United States as refugees in the 1990s.

    My family and I arrived in America 30 years ago after fleeing civil war in Liberia. A community of Americans rallied around my family to help us build back our lives. It’s an honor to serve the country that helped build back my own life as part of the Biden-Harris Administration.

    “In the face of unprecedented crises, I am humbled by the challenges our country and our world faces to build back better. But as I have learned in America: we are not defined by the conditions we face; we are defined by how we respond,” Raj Panjabi said in a series of tweets.

    As a doctor and public health professional who has cared for patients alongside the staff of the President’s Malaria Initiative and its partners USAID and Center for Disease Control, Raj Panjabi said: “I’ve been inspired by how they’ve responded to fight malaria, one of the oldest and deadliest pandemics, and saved lives around the world.”

    He said this mission is personal for him. “My grandparents and parents were infected with malaria while living in India. As a child in Liberia, I fell sick with malaria, and as a doctor serving in Africa, I have seen this disease take too many lives,” he said.

    “I’ve seen how” the Malaria Initiative and its partners have responded with resolve in the countries where it operates.

    “I’ve seen the relief on the faces of parents whose children survived malaria because they were treated with medicines and by health workers backed by its support,” he said.

    Raj Panjabi fled Liberia during the country’s civil war at age nine, becoming a refugee in the US. He returned to Liberia as a medical student and in 2007, co-founded Last Mile Health. He has served as an assistant professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School, an associate physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the CEO and co-founder of Last Mile Health, according to his profile on LinkedIn.

    Raj Panjabi and the Last Mile Health team played a key role in the 2013-16 West Africa Ebola epidemic, helping train over a thousand frontline and community health workers and support the government of Liberia to lead its national Ebola Operations Centre. Raj Panjabi delivered testimony on the Ebola epidemic at the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee.

    In response to COVID-19, he led Last Mile Health to support governments in Africa to train frontline health workers. He served as the advisor to former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in her role as the co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response at the World Health Organization (WHO). Raj Panjabi has cared for patients with COVID and urgent care needs.

    He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, trained in internal medicine and primary care at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and received a master’s degree in public health in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins. He has served as a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School.

     

  • Indian American Lawmaker Re-Elected Chairman of Subcommittee on Asia Pacific

    Indian American Lawmaker Re-Elected Chairman of Subcommittee on Asia Pacific

    WASHINGTON (TIP):  Indian American Congressman Dr. Ami Bera has been re-elected as chairman of a key congressional subcommittee that plays a major role in the policies relating to Asia, Pacific, Central Asia, and non-proliferation.

    Ami Bera, 55, who is the longest-serving Indian American in the House of Representatives, has been elected again to serve as chairman of the influential House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia and Non-proliferation for the 117th Congress.

    “I am honored to be elected to serve again as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Non-proliferation. Asia continues to be the most consequential region for American foreign policy, as our economy and national security are intrinsically linked to this region,” Ami Bera said in a statement.

    There are many pressing challenges that Congress must work to address, from an authoritarian China and a provocative North Korea, to the receding of democracy and human rights across the region, he said, listing out the priorities as the head of this key congressional subcommittee.

    “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the subcommittee and the Biden administration to tackle these problems, restore American global leadership, and rebuild our alliances in Asia and the Pacific,” Ami Bera said.

    Other Democratic members who will serve on the subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and non-proliferation for the 117th Congress include Brad Sherman, Dina Titus, Andy Levin, Chrissy Houlahan, Andy Kim, Gerry Connolly, Ted Lieu, Abigail Spanberger, and Kathy Manning.

    Ami Bera will also serve on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights for the 117th Congress. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Korea and previously chaired the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.

  • Indian American gets Top Job in US Homeland Security Department

    Indian American gets Top Job in US Homeland Security Department

    WASHINGTON (TIP): US President Joe Biden has appointed Indian American doctor Dr. Pritesh Gandhi as Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Homeland Security.

    In this role, Mr. Gandhi serves as principal adviser to the Department of Homeland Security secretary, assistant secretary for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office and the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, a media release said.

    He will lead on issues related to natural disasters, border health, pandemic response, acts of terrorism and other human-caused disasters.

    Mr. Gandhi was a Democratic Congressional Candidate last year in the 10th Congressional District of Texas. He lost in the primaries.

    A public health trained and board-certified internal medicine specialist, Mr. Gandhi most recently served as the Associate Chief Medical Officer and Director of Adult Medicine at People’s Community Clinic, an Austin-based federally qualified health center, which provides care to over 20,000 uninsured and medically underserved Central Texans.

    He is a Fulbright Scholar, Schweitzer Fellow, National Health Service Corps Scholar, and was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar in 2018.

  • Indian American Bhavya Lal Appointed Acting Chief of Staff of NASA

    Indian American Bhavya Lal Appointed Acting Chief of Staff of NASA

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian American Bhavya Lal was appointed by NASA as the Acting Chief of Staff of the US space agency on Monday.

    Ms. Lal served as a member of the Biden Presidential Transition Agency Review Team for the agency and oversaw the agency’s transition under the administration of President Joe Biden.

    In a statement, NASA said Ms. Lal brings extensive experience in engineering and space technology, serving as a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) from 2005 to 2020.

    There, she led analysis of space technology, strategy, and policy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and National Space Council, as well as federal space-oriented organizations, including NASA, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community.

    Ms. Lal is an active member of the space technology and policy community, having chaired, co-chaired, or served on five high-impact National Academy of Science committees.

    She served two consecutive terms on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Federal Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing and was an External Council member of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Program and the Technology, Innovation and Engineering Advisory Committee of the NASA Advisory Council.

    Before joining STPI, Ms. Lal was president of C-STPS LLC, a science and technology policy research and consulting firm. Prior to that, she was the director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Studies at Abt Associates, a global policy research consultancy based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    She co-founded and is co-chair of the policy track of the American Nuclear Society’s annual conference on Nuclear and Emerging Technologies in Space (NETS) and co-organizes a seminar series on space history and policy with the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

    For her many contributions to the space sector, she was nominated and selected to be a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, the statement said.

    Ms. Lal earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in nuclear engineering, as well as a Master of Science degree in technology and policy, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and holds a doctorate in public policy and public administration from George Washington University. She is a member of both the nuclear engineering and public policy honor societies.

     

  • Indian American Neera Tanden’s confirmation hearing to lead OMB scheduled for Feb 9

    Indian American Neera Tanden’s confirmation hearing to lead OMB scheduled for Feb 9

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The confirmation hearing of Indian American political consultant Neera Tanden, who has been nominated by President Joe Biden as his budget director, would be held next week on February 9, a Senate panel announced on Tuesday. Tanden, 50, if confirmed by the Senate, would be the first woman of color and first Indian-American to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which serves the President of the United States in overseeing the implementation of his vision across the executive branch.

    Specifically, the OMB’s mission is to assist the President in meeting his policy, budget, management and regulatory objectives and to fulfill the agency’s statutory responsibilities.

    Her nomination hearing by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, experts said, is likely to be one of the most contentious confirmation battles of the Biden administration.

    Republican senators allege that she deleted more than 1,000 tweets, including criticism of Republicans.

    Soon after Biden announced her nomination, influential Senator John Cornyn, who is also co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, described Tanden as the worst nominee of Biden so far and said: “I think in light of her combative and insulting comments about many members of the Senate, mainly on our side of the aisle, that it creates certainly a problematic path to confirmation.”

    Announcing her nomination, Biden described Tanden as “a brilliant policy mind with critical practical experience across government.”

    “She was raised by a single mom on food stamps, an immigrant from India who struggled, worked hard and did everything she could for her daughter to live out her American dream. And Neera did just that. She understands the struggles that millions of Americans are facing,” Biden had said.

    Tanden was a close ally of Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, and helped pass the Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama.