Four persons to be honored for their singular achievements
Guest of Honor Ambassador Binaya Srikant Pradhan, Consul General of India at New YorkGuest of Honor US Congressman Tom Suozzi (NY District 3)
February 16, 2024
By Parveen Chopra
HICKSVILLE, NY (TIP): The Indian Panorama is celebrating its 18th year of publication with a Gratitude Gala on February 25 in a grand way. Says its Founding Editor and Publisher Prof Indrajit Singh Saluja, “I want to celebrate community, and say my heartfelt thanks to our readers, friends, supporters, and advertisers for the love and support they have blessed us with all these years.”
Prof. Indrajit Saluja has become synonymous with his weekly newspaper, a labor of love. He is not only an eminent editor but also a well-respected community leader who has forged links across the ethnic and political spectrum. His friends, supporters, and who’s who of the community are set to grace the gala at the glittering Pearl Banquet Hall in Hicksville not only to felicitate The Indian Panorama but also to wish him a long life on his 80th birthday.
Dignitaries
Presiding the delightful event will be Hon. Ruchira Kamboj, India’s Ambassador to the United Nations, the first woman diplomat to hold that position.
The new Consul General of India in New York, Ambassador Binaya Srikanta Pradhan will be offered a welcome toast by the community at the event.
The newly elected Congressman, Hon’ble Tom Suozzi, whom the Indian Panorama endorsed on the first day of his campaign, has promised ‘my loyal friend’ Prof Saluja that he will be there to personally thank Long Island’s Indian community, with whom he has forged bonds over the years.
Honorees
The four eminent people to be honored at the gala with whom The Indian Panorama has had a long association, are:
Dr. V.K. Raju -Life Achievements Honor
Dr V.K. Raju – Life Achievement Honor award. The President and Founder of the Eye Foundation of America, he has a mission to eliminate childhood blindness from the world. He has helped start two eye hospitals in India and held free eye camps in 30 developing countries.
Mrs. Ranju Batra – Excellence in Promotion of Diplomacy Award
Mrs. Ranju Batra – Excellence in Promotion of Diplomacy Award. She is the Chairperson of Diwali Foundation USA which holds the Diwali Stamp – Power of One awards event at the UN every year to honor diplomats. She also led the campaign to get USPS to release the Diwali stamp.
Mr. Harry Singh Bolla – Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award
Mr. Harry Singh Bolla – Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award. He is the Founder and CEO of Bolla Oil Corporation which runs a chain of gas stations and convenience stores in the New York area. Through his Bolla Charity Foundation, he gives back to the community here and extends help to the needy in India.
Mrs. Purnima Desai – Excellence in Culture Award
Mrs. Purnima Desai — Excellence in Culture Award. As Founder and President of Shikshayatan Cultural Center and Sriniketan Foundation, she has been instrumental in encouraging and supporting Indian culture through music and arts training and events. She has also produced and directed over a thousand cultural programs.
Blitz India US launch
Mr. Deepak Dwivedi, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, BlitzIndiaMr. Sandeepp Saxena, CEO, BlitzIndia
The Indian Panorama’s gala event will also get an international sheen. The US edition of Blitz India will be jointly launched by its Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Deepak Dwivedi, CEO Sandeepp Saxena, and Prof Saluja. Blitz India, the country’s first chronicler of development news, has several editions in India and was launched in the UK last year.
Mr. Parveen Chopra, Founder of ALotusInTheMud.com
At the event for the ages, Prof Saluja will also introduce ALotusInTheMud.com, founded by his friend, Mr.Parveen Chopra. Launched at the Indian Consulate in January, 2023, Lotus is a web magazine presenting free content on wellness and spirituality, a first by an Indian American.
The attendees at the gala will also be welcomed and entertained with both traditional Indian and contemporary touches.
About Prof Saluja
Prof. Indrajit S Saluja, Publisher & Chief Editor, The Indian Panorama
For Prof Saluja, The Indian Panorama is an expression and extension of his love for India as well as a platform to project the rich South Asian culture and how our successful community has made a place in the melting pot of America. A trilingual, he has also helped start newspapers in Hindi and Punjabi.
Started 18 years ago in New York, The Indian Panorama also has a Dallas edition now. It reaches the Indian diaspora in the entire US and the world. Its editorial content is the right mix of community news as well as Indian and American current affairs.
Indefatigable Prof Saluja’s spirit and intensity of work belie his years. He came to the US over 20 years ago after having a long career as a Professor of English Literature at leading colleges in India. Alongside, he founded a prominent monthly magazine titled ‘Punjab Beat’.
Robert Frost’s words “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have miles to go before I sleep”, aptly characterize Prof. Saluja’s journey in life.
ISELIN, NJ (TIP): Tanishq, India’s leading jewelry retail brand from the house of Tata, has entered the American market and its first store, in New Jersey’s Little India, was inaugurated by Senator Robert Menendez this week. ”Oak Tree road is the jewelry capital of New Jersey,” Menendez, Chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, told a gathering of jewelers, local businessmen and Indian Americans. While Oak Tree Road has more than a dozen jewelry stores, mostly owned by Indian Americans, Menendez said the arrival of Tanishq at this popular Indian shopping destination is significant and different from others.
”Some people might look at it as another jewelry store …, a new business, but this is different … because of the creativity of the designer … to create very unique pieces,” the Senator said. A Senator inaugurating a jewelry store is very rare in American politics.
The 3750+ square foot, two-story showroom on New Jersey’s Oak Tree Road, offers over 6,500 unique designs in 18 and 22 KT gold and diamond jewelry, as well as solitaires and colored stones, a media release said.
Tanishq said the brand aims to meet the evolving needs of Indian Americans, who comprise 4.35 per cent of the state’s total population and are 387,000 strong. According to the US Census Bureau, jewelry store sales were estimated at USD 33.2 billion in 2020, which was a 25 per cent increase over the previous decade.
Tanishq has been in the US market through e-commerce for over a year and has received positive community feedback.
The store inauguration among others was attended by Randhir Jaiswal, Consul General of India in New York, along with John E McCormac, Mayor Woodbridge, Sam Joshi, Mayor Edison, Wesley Mathews, Choose New Jersey Inc, Vin Gopal, New Jersey State Senator and Congressman Frank Pallone.
Congressman Pallone described jewelry as a ”pride of India”. This brings home the wonder and culture of India, he told the gathering.
The launch is a part of Tanishq’s retail business expansion strategy. It launched its first international brick-and-mortar store in Dubai in November 2020. It now has eight international stores, seven in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the first in the United States of America. ”Tanishq already has a significant online presence in the US market. The high demand and interest shown by the Indian American community encouraged us to have an on-ground presence for them.
”This showroom will have our latest collections and masterpieces designed to suit all jewelry needs of the Indian Americans,” said Kuruvilla Markose, CEO – International Business Division, Titan Company Ltd.
Tanishq said it intends to collectively open 20-30 stores in North America and the Middle East over the next 2-3 years. In India, Tanishq has a presence of 400 plus stores across 240 cities and intends to add another 100 stores in the next year.
”We are on a mission to establish Tanishq as a global brand, and our retail showroom expansion in the United States is a significant step in that direction.
”Tanishq has been balancing the elegance of tradition with the brilliance of modernity for decades and we want to bring it to New Jersey,” said C K Venkataraman, managing director at Titan Company Ltd, the parent company of Tanishq.
India is presently the world’s third largest manufacturer by value*1 and has the lowest manufacturing costs globally. About one in three pills consumed in the U.S. and one in four in the U.K. are made in India*2. However, India’s $42 billion pharmaceutical sector is heavily dependent on China for key active pharmaceutical ingredients or API – chemicals that are responsible for the therapeutic effect of drugs. As per Government of India report. This may be starting to change. Under a government scheme launched two years ago, 35 Aps, beginning to be produced at 32 plants across India in March.This is expected to reduce dependence on China by up to 35% before the end of the decade, according to an estimate by ratings firm ICRA Limited, the Indian affiliate of Moody’s. Thanks for the initiative taken by the Union Minister Mr. Mansukh Mandaviya, the productivity linked incentive scheme*3 was first launched in mid-2020*3 , when military tensions with China were at a high. The PLI program aims to incentivize companies across all sectors to boost domestic manufacturing by $520 billions by 2025. For the pharma sector, the government has earmarked over $2 billion worth of incentives for both private Indian companies and foreign players to start producing 53 APIs that India relies.
Global Indian Trade and Cultural Council, (GITCC)USA is proud to spearhead its 1st annual 2023 U.S-India Healthcare & Business Summit. A prominent group of 100 international business leaders and government officials, from India, US and Arab countries, will headline at this program, sharing their perspectives on issues, factors and considerations that shape healthcare relations between these two spheres. Our team comprised of Mr. H S Panaser, Chairman, GITCC, USA, Mr. Anand Krishnamurthy, CEO, Coolsoft , USA and Mr. T.Srinath, Vice President, Epicminds,India.
We started our campaign to meet the top leaders in academe Industry and bureaucrats of the healthcare verticals covering Pharmaceuticals, Medical devices, IT, Research and Education segments. Our firstvisitwas the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar, (Mohali),which is the topmost pharmaceutical education andresearch institute in India, under India’s Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. It’s important to remember Professor Emeritus Harkishan Singh, Padma Shri awardee who had a dominant role in establishing NIPER. His Vision and farsightedness of this concept has borne fruits. NIPER produces high quality pharmaceutical manpower for fast expanding drug industry and profession. We hadseparate meetings with Director, Prof. Dulal Panada, Prof. Paramal Tiwari and Prof. Anand Sharma of Niper, Board Advisor Dr T R Bhardwaj, Ex.Vice Chancellor, Baddi University, HP, and is a well-known personality in Pharmaceutical education and research, He was also the Dean, University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences Pharmaceutical department of Chitkara University, Punjab We shared an updated Pharma Presentation for further discussion including Pharma-IT education including AI and ML prospects. We have talked about their participation to US India Healthcare Summit 2023 and to initiate student exchange programs between US and India.
with Director, Prof. Dulal Panada, Prof. P. Tiwari and Prof. A. Sharma of Niper.Dr T R Bhardwaj, Ex.Vice Chancellor, Baddi University and . Prof Inderbir Singh, Prof and HOD, Chitkara University.
In Ahmedabad, our team met Dr. H.G. Koshia, Commissioner, FDCA – Gujarat and his team of Experts Drug Inspectors & Senior Drug Inspectors. We discussed about the pharmaceutical industry and its growth in both generic and API segment in Gujarat. We also met Mr. Manoj Agarwal. IAS, Ad. Chief Secretary, Govt of Gujarat about working for initiating AI and ML application for data safety and e-governance and other healthcare innovations and working relationship between US and India.
H S Panaser with Dr H G Koshia, Commissioner, FDCA, Gujrat.
We had a very constructive meeting with Mr. Biswajit Mitra, CMO. Mr. Jawed Zia , CEO and Mr. A K Sharma, President, Cadila Pharmaceuticals at their HQ in Ahmedabad. Cadila is presently in all regulated markets of the USA, Europe and Japan and Africa. With strategic collaborations and operations in over 100 countries, Cadila has more than 9000 employees including over two hundred people outside India in Africa, CIS, Japan and USA.
Mr. B Mitra , CMO, Cadila with Mr Panaser, Mr. Jawed Zia, CEO Cadila with Mr Panaser and Anand.
We talked about different verticals of US India Pharmaceutical market and the importance of Cyber Security, data protection with AI and ML applications. The increasing competitive manufacturing landscape could mean that we will see not only the well documented strategic partnerships, but also, the pre-booking of reserve capacity in advance of any needs. From a contractual point of view, this means we will see both deeper supply chain partnerships for suppliers, as well as the ability to demand longer contracts and more favorable terms.
In continuation to promote US India Healthcare relations, the GITCC team including, President, Mr. H S Panaser and Mr. Anand Krishnamurthy visited Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd, an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Vadodara and met Mr. Mitanshu Shah Sr VP, Finance and Mr. R. Joshi, Dy. GM. Alembic is involved in manufacture of pharmaceutical products, pharmaceutical substances and intermediates. It is also termed to be a market leader in macrolides segment of anti-infective drugs in India. With about 9000 employees. the company now sells more than 100 products in the United States, representing more than 400+ SKUs under its own label.Alembic intends to launch 15 to 20 products each year over the next 3 years. In addition, Alembic now have fully operational oncology injectable facility. In total, Alembic has 100+ ongoing projects, which include targets in dermatology, injectable, and ophthalmic.
With Mr. M Shah VP, Finance, Alembic.
In Ahmedabad,we also visited Indian Pharmaceutical Leading companies top leadership to be the part of this new initiative, Zydus Lifesciences Limited, formerly known as Cadila Healthcare Limited, is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company, which is primarily engaged in the manufacture of generic drugs. It featured in the Fortune India 500 list in 2020.Cadila was founded in 1952 by Ramanbhai Patel (1925–2001), formerly a lecturer in the L.M. College of Pharmacy, and his business partner Indravadan Modi. It evolved over the next four decades into an established pharmaceutical company. Zydus today is a Leader in Pharmaceuticals manufacturing as a Billion-dollar company. Me along with my advisors on board had meeting with Dr. Keyur Parekh, Sr. VP and Lead Strategist. we had an opportunity to visit their center of science and innovation as well.
with Dr. Keyur Parekh, Sr. VP, Zydex.
We are in continuation to our meetings for the 2023, US India Healthcare Summit and understanding the companies visited Vadodara HQ of Sun Pharmaceuticals. Already the world’s third-largest manufacturer of medicines by volume, India has one of the lowest manufacturing costs globally. About one in three pills consumed in the U.S. and one in four in the U.K. are made in India. However, India’s $42 billion pharmaceutical sector is heavily dependent on China for key active pharmaceutical ingredients or API — chemicals that are responsible for the therapeutic effect of drugs.
The 2014 acquisition of Ranbaxy made Sun Pharma the largest pharma company in India, the largest Indian pharma company in the US, and the 4th largest specialty generic company globally. It’s having a revenue of $5 billon with 37,000 + employees. Me along with Anand Krishnamurthy and team talked about usage of AI and ML in Pharmacovigilance, cyber security, and data protection. We also talked about the applications for sales and marketing, supply chain, manufacturing and its usage in drug development process and its command and control. We met Mr. A.S. Sajam, Head Administration along with others including representation from FDAC.\
Meeting with Mr. A.S. Sajam, Head, Adm and team at Sun Pharma.
In continuing our efforts to meet the top Indian Pharmaceutical manufacturers for GITCC USA for US India Healthcare Summit 2023. Mr. H S Panaser and Mr. Anand Krishnamurthy and T. Srinivas visited Hyderabad. We met Mr. T Srinivas CFP, Bharat Biotech, a 700 plus employee company The company has been responsible for developing COVAX whichis a whole inactivated virus-based vaccine 19 developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research – National Institute of Virology and a naturally attenuated strain derived Rotavirus vaccine called ROTAVAC.They were one of the first to develop vaccines for viral diseases like Chikungunya and Zika. The company also produces vaccines for Japanese Encephalitis.[13] Bharat Biotech has biosafety level 3 (BSL3) laboratories.
With Mr. T Srinivas, CFO, Bharat Biotech.
Hetero Drugs and had a meeting with their Chairman Dr. B P S Reddy, also the Member of Parliament, India and the Managing Director Dr. V K Reddy.Today, Hetero has Asia’s Largest API SEZ manufacturing complex for APIs – with 1,000+ reactors and spread over 500 acres. Hetero has over 36 strategically located, manufacturing facilities catering to diverse market requirements on demand – including India, USA, China, Russia, Egypt, Mexico, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
With Mr. B P S Reddy, MP, Chair Hetro Pharma and with Mr. V K Reddy, MD, Hetro Pharma.
NEW YORK (TIP): Indian-origin technology executive Arvind Krishna took charge as the new Chief Executive Officer of American IT giant IBM on April 6. As a business leader and technologist, he has led the building and expansion of new markets for IBM in artificial intelligence, cloud, quantum computing, and blockchain. He has also played a significant role in the development of innovative IBM products and solutions based on these emerging technologies.
Over his 30-year career at IBM, Arvind led a series of bold transformations and delivered proven business results. He most recently drove the successful $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat – the largest software acquisition – that has defined the hybrid cloud market. Together, IBM and Red Hat give clients the unique ability to build mission-critical applications once and run them anywhere.
Arvind previously was Senior Vice President of Cloud and Cognitive Software, where he pioneered the company’s hybrid cloud business, transformed IBM’s entire software and services portfolio and offerings for cloud, and grew the business. He also headed IBM Research, where he drove innovation in core and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain, cloud platform services, data-driven solutions, and nanotechnology. In 2016, Wired magazine selected Arvind as “one of 25 geniuses who are creating the future of business” for his foundational work on blockchain.
As general manager of IBM Systems and Technology Group’s development and manufacturing organization, Arvind led the strategy for data-centric systems and the widespread industry adoption of open and collaborative technology standards. He also grew the IBM Information Management business by 50 percent.
At IBM, Arvind has been an outspoken advocate for learning at every stage of one’s career. He has made scientific contributions in a number of technical fields, including wireless networking, security, systems, and databases. In addition, he founded IBM’s security software business and helped create the world’s first commercial wireless system.
Arvind has an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a recipient of distinguished alumni awards from both institutions.
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