Ingredients
Garlic 8 cloves, roughly chopped, Ginger 5cm piece, roughly chopped, Lamb shoulder 750g, excess fat trimmed, cut into bite-sized pieces (see cook’s notes), Kashmiri chilli powder or mild chilli powder 1½ tsp, Whole dried kashmiri chillies 10, soaked in 400ml of warm water, Vegetable oil 8 tbsp, Onion 4, thinly sliced, Chapattis or naans to serve,m Ghee 3 tbsp, Whole dried red kashmiri chillies 3, Bay leaves 3, Ginger 2cm piece, cut into slivers, Tomato purée 1 tbsp, Lamb stock or water 600ml, Garam masala ½ tsp, Coriander chopped, to serve
Method
– Blend the garlic, ginger and 2-3 tbsp of water to a smooth paste. Put 1 tbsp in a large mixing bowl with the lamb and chilli powder. Mix and leave to marinate for 2-3 hours or overnight.
– Blend the whole chillies to a paste with 3 tbsp of their soaking liquid.
– Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the onions for 45-50 minutes stirring often, until the onions brown evenly. Drain in a sieve and set aside.
– Heat the ghee in a large heavy pan over a medium heat. Fry the whole dried chillies and bay leaves for a few seconds, then add the cooked onions and stir for a minute. Add the lamb and cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring well and scraping the bottom of the pan as you go. Add the ginger slivers and the remaining garlic-ginger paste, along with the kashmiri chilli paste, and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the stock or water, season and add the lamb bones, if using. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
– Add the tomato pure´e and simmer for a further 40-45 minutes over a medium heat with a lid on, stirring halfway through, until the sauce is rich and glossy and coats the lamb. Turn off the heat then stir in the garam masala and finish with coriander sprinkled over. Serve with chapattis or naans for soaking up the gravy.
Mild chicken curry
Ingredients
1-1½ tsp coconut oil (we used Fushi) or sunflower oil, 1 large onion, finely chopped, 2 fat garlic cloves, crushed, 1cm fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp yellow mustard seed, 1 tsp garam masala, ½ tsp ground cumin, 1 x 500g pack chicken pieces (thighs and drumsticks), or thighs, 1 chicken stock cube, 1 cinnamon stick, 250g Greek yogurt, at room temperature, 2 tbsp sultana
Method
– Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan. Fry the onions gently for 5 – 10 mins until soft. Add the garlic, ginger, coriander, mustard seeds, garam masala and cumin and cook for 1 – 2 min allowing the aromas to release.
– Add the chicken and cook for 10 mins over a gentle heat, flipping occasionally and making sure the spices don’t catch. Pour in around 300 ml boiling water until almost covering. Stir in the stock cube and cinnamon stick. Simmer for around 45 mins – 1 hour with the lid off so there is a small amount of thickened sauce at the bottom of the pan. Remove the cinnamon stick.
– Stir in the yogurt and sultanas, heat through gently and serve. Scatter with coriander, if using.
Tag: Indian-Origin
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Food Corner-Rajasthani lamb curry (laal maas)
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Indian-origin frontline workers, artists in UK on the New Year’s Honors List
The majority of awards are for the contributions people have made in their communities, with 14.2 pc of recipients coming from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background
LONDON (TIP): Indian-origin frontline workers, academics, actors and musicians are among 1,239 people recognized for their extraordinary contributions in the UK’s annual New Year’s Honors List released on Thursday. Among the year’s highest honors, Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has been knighted and British actress Sheila Hancock is made a dame in the list released on New Year’s Eve.
The majority of awards are for the contributions people have made in their communities, with 14.2 per cent of recipients coming from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) background.
British Indian television and Bollywood actor Nina Wadia is conferred an OBE for services to entertainment and charity alongside Dipanwita Ganguli, Principal of Sutton College, for services to Adult Education in London.
Professor Partha Sarathi Kar, a Consultant and Endocrinologist at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust gets an OBE for services to people with diabetes and Belfast-based businessman and peer Lord Diljit Rana is being honored for services to business and to the economy in Northern Ireland.
“In a year when so many have made sacrifices to protect our NHS and save people’s lives, the outstanding efforts of those receiving honors today are a welcome reminder of the strength of human spirit, and of what can be achieved through courage and compassion,” said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“The 2021 New Year Honors offer us an opportunity to salute their dedication and recognize many who have gone above and beyond in their contribution to our country. As we begin a new year and continue to come together to fight this virus, may their service and stories be an inspiration to us all,” he said. West Midlands based musician Steven Kapur, known as Apache Indian, becomes a Medallist of the Order of the British Empire for services to music and young people.
Others in the category include Sanjay Jayenedra Kara, Trustee of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha or London’s Neasden Temple for services to community cohesion and public and charitable service in the UK; Charandeep Singh, founder of Sikh Food Bank, for services to charity during the COVID-19 response; and Anand Bhatt, co-founder of Aakash Odedra Company, for services to dance and to the community in Leicester.
The MBEs include Professor Alka Surajprakash Ahuja, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales, for services to the National Health Service (NHS) during COVID-19; Dr Harnovdeep Singh Bharaj, consultant, diabetes and general medicine at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, for services to people with diabetes in the South Asian community; Anita Goyal, for services to diversity and female empowerment; and Bhaven Pathak for services to business and British Hinduism, among others.
Public sector workers make-up 14.8 per cent of the list and include firefighters, medical professionals, teachers, police officers and local government workers — all of whom are being recognized for making a huge individual impact, and in particular in the response to COVID-19.
This year’s Honors List also highlights how Britain’s business sector has stepped up to deliver for the country during the pandemic.
From small business owners diverting their resources or changing business models to support the response effort to supermarket workers making sure all their vulnerable customers were stocked up with essential items, it showcases 111 recipients being recognized for services to business and the economy. The annual list is the result of the UK Prime Minister’s steer to the Main Honors Committee, which sifts through thousands of nominations and is conferred in the name of the Queen. -
Indian American Gitanjali Rao named Faces of Democracy’s 100th face
NEW YORK (TIP): Time magazine’s first ever ’Kid of the Year’, Indian American scientist and inventor Gitanjali Rao has been named by Germany based Faces of Democracy initiative as its ‘100th face of democracy’.
The 15-year-old young, who won the Time honor for developing a device that can warn of lead in drinking water and an app that detects “cyberbullying” on the internet, has described democracy as a “core value for the common good of people.”
“It is how we have been brought up, so it is the core value for the common good of people,” Rao told Sven Lilienström, founder of Faces of Democracy in an interview focused on democracy, educational equality and how science can regain peoples’ trust.
Asked how she felt on learning she had won Time’s 2020 Kid of the Year title over 5,000 competitors, Rao said, “It was a surreal moment. I’m honored, humbled, and beyond excited to be named Kid of the Year!
“There’s something so exciting about being able to share your story and I’m representing kids from all walks of life, no matter their gender, their age, or where they come from,” she said. “I’m hoping that I can prove anyone can be an innovator.”
Time and Nickelodeon, Rao said, “have done an amazing job highlighting optimism, kindness, positivity, especially in these tough times, especially highlighting the work of our generation. Each of us has different talents and we try to light up the community with whatever we can.”
Describing basic human rights such as clean water, clean air as “our biggest problem”, Rao said, “We need to solve the problem of contamination of natural resources by treating, preventing, and detecting them.”
Asked if science needs to become younger and increasingly ‘female’, Rao said, “I believe the ingenuity of youth needs to be harnessed and Universities and Organizations should open up their doors for us.”
“Research labs, internships, and other opportunities to explore should not be limited to adults if we want to encourage a problem-solving mindset,” she said. “Traditional education needs to start incorporating innovation at an early stage.”
“In terms of females, there are several girls in STEM organizations, but the majority of them are introduced to coding and programming,” Rao said. “I believe there needs to be a shift in how girls are introduced to STEM.”
“They need to see a connection to the real world and should be introduced to the latest technologies broadly,” she said. “They can then choose their areas of interest and go deep into it.”
Asked what her generation can change to make education in the US fairer, Rao said, “I recognize there is an inequality in education. Some schools barely have internet access while others have 3D printing labs.”
“My innovation workshops are a small step in sharing with rural schools and other underprivileged schools that you can start anywhere, start with a simple idea, and reach out to mentors who may provide you more access to materials and experts.”
”You need not be limited to what the school provides. If you have a phone, there is no excuse to not reach out or say that we were not given a fair chance,” Rao said.
“I believe science is a fact, but it needs to be communicated well to bring about a social change and a feeling of trust,” she said when asked how science can regain peoples’ trust in these coronavirus times.
“The more we educate and bring awareness to people with facts, causes, and effects, the more it gains trust. For example, when I started researching for Tethys, the lead detection tool, people knew about the lead in drinking water in Flint,” Rao said.
“Just three months into my research, I found that there are several states, communities, and part of the world with the same issue, but it just didn’t gain enough attention.”
“As we try to solve problems using science, bringing awareness to these problems are equally important,” Rao said. “When Universities work on research, I believe awareness should go hand in hand for people to gain trust.” -
Indian -American Raj Iyer to be Pentagon’s Chief Information Officer: Iyer’s ranking is equivalent to three-star general
WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian-American Raj Iyer will take over as the Pentagon’s Chief Information Officer, a new position established in July 2020. Dr Iyer will be the highest ranking Indian-American civilian at the Pentagon equivalent in rank to a three-star general. He will supervise an annual budget of $16 billion for US Army IT operations and over 15,000 civilians and military personnel in over 100 countries.
In his new role as CIO, Iyer will serve as principal advisor to the Secretary of the Army, setting the strategic direction and objectives for information technology and information management.
Previously, Iyer was partner and Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP where he led multiple technology programs supporting government clients.
Iyer, originally a native of Tamil Nadu, grew up in Bengaluru and moved to the US after graduating from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi. He arrived in the US to pursue higher studies with just enough money to pay for tuition and rent for one semester through his father’s lifetime savings, but was soon able to secure a full fellowship to complete all of his graduate education.
Iyer will help the US Army achieve “digital overmatch” against near peer adversaries such as China and Russia. The US Army has committed to leveraging advanced technologies such as cloud computing, robotics and AI for future war fighting through a concept called Multi Domain Operations.
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Indian American Vijay Shaker Nominated by Donald Trump for the position of Associate Judge
Washington (TIP): US President Donald Trump has nominated Indian American advocate Vijay Shanker for the position of Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
In a communiqué to the Senate on Sunday, Trump said the nomination of Vijay Shanker is for a period of 15 years.
If confirmed by the Senate, Vijay Shanker will replace John R Fisher, who has now retired. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is the highest court for Washington DC.
Trump had first announced Shaker’s nomination last June. Currently, he serves as Senior Litigation Counsel in the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, and as Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section.Before joining the Department of Justice in 2012, Vijay Shanker was in private practice with the Washington, DC, offices of Mayer Brown, LLC
Upon graduation from law school, Vijay Shanker served as a law clerk to Judge Chester J Straub on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Vijay Shanker completed his bachelors, cum laude, from Duke University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as a Notes Editor for the Virginia Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. -
Indian American Niraj Antani sworn-in as Ohio State Senator
COLUMBUS, OH (TIP): Indian American Republican Niraj Antani, who was elected to the Ohio state Senate from the 6th District, was sworn-in on Monday, January 4. The lawmaker, who served as a State Representative from January 2015 until now, became the first Indian American State Senator in Buckeye state history.
“I am so grateful to be able to represent the community in which I was born and raised as a State Senator,” the senator said in a statement. “I will continue to work hard every day for each Ohioan so that they can have the opportunity to achieve their American dream. In this uncertain economic and health time, we must diligently strive to enact policies for the benefit of all Ohioans.”
Antani defeated Democrat Mark Fogel in the November election.
The 6th Senate District includes southern, eastern, and northern Montgomery County, which has an Indian American population of more than 87,000.
Antani said on the election night that “to be elected as Ohio’s first Indian American State Senator is a testament to America’s beauty.”
“I thank the voters for entrusting in me with this sacred honor, to be their voice at the Statehouse,” he said.
“As State Senator, I will work hard every day so all Ohioans can have the opportunity to achieve their American Dream.” On December 17, the last day the Ohio House met, Antani thanked the voters and community for giving him an opportunity to serve. “I am so thankful to have been given the privilege to serve the community in which I was born & raised,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Thank you to my voters, supporters, & everyone who has been here along this journey. I look forward to going across the rotunda to the State Senate!”
The senator, who was born and raised in the Miami Township, graduated from Miamisburg High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Ohio State University
In Ohio, a State Senator has a four-year term. -
Indian American Vanita Gupta named associate attorney general
Biden says she is ‘proud daughter’ of immigrants from India.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Vanita Gupta is one of the most respected civil rights lawyers in America and a “proud daughter” of immigrants from India who has fought for greater equity, US President-elect Joe Biden has said as he nominated the Indian-American to be his associate attorney general.
If confirmed by the Senate, Gupta, 46, would be the first woman of color to serve in this role.“As associate attorney general, the number three job at the department, I nominate Vanita Gupta. A woman I’ve known for some time. One of the most respected civil rights lawyers in America,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, as he announced some of the key nominations in the Justice Department on Thursday.
Gupta started her career at the NAACP Legal Defence Fund. She then went on to the ACLU and then to the Justice Department during the Obama-Biden administration, where she led the civil rights division, Biden said.
“At every step, with every case, she fought for greater equity and the right to right the wrongs of a justice system where they existed,” he said.
She has done so by bringing people together, earning praise from across the ideological spectrum for her approach to solving some of the thorniest problems the country faces, he added.
During the Obama-Biden administration, Gupta was put in charge of investigating the abuse of power in police departments in Ferguson, Missouri and other communities torn apart by acts of violence and racial injustice.
Gupta helped institute common sense police reforms to build greater equity, safety, and trust. She was commended for her work by both law enforcement and those advocating for changes in the criminal justice system, Biden said.
“That’s a rare achievement and it speaks volumes about her capacity to unite people in common purpose, which is what this is all about. Uniting the American people. Born in Philadelphia, a proud daughter of immigrants from India, does that sound familiar?” Biden said while looking at Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
“If confirmed, Vanita will be the first woman of colour to serve as associate attorney general. And I’m grateful. I’m grateful that Vanita is leaving her current job, leading one of the premier civil rights organizations in the world as she answers the call to serve once again to ensure that our justice system is even more fair and more equitable,” he said.
In her remarks, Gupta said there were not many agencies in the federal government like the Department of Justice that bears the name of a value.
“By virtue of that name, at that value of justice, we know the department carries a unique charge and north star,” she said.
“At its best, it is the keeper of the sacred promise. Is the promise of equal justice for all, that no one is above the law. And when those promises are pursued with vigor and brings light to our nation and serves as a beacon to the world. But when abandoned, we degrade our democracy, and sew the division that we’ve come to know all too well,” she said.
The first time, Gupta said, she felt the absence of that promise as a four-year-old child would have her earliest memories.
“My appearance will proud immigrants from India,” she said.
An opportunity that was made possible by the civil rights movement and the 1965 immigration and nationality act.
“One day, I was sitting in a McDonald’s restaurant with my sister, mother and grandmother. And as we ate our meal, a group of skinheads at the next table began shouting ethnic slurs at us, throwing food at us until we had to leave the restaurant,” Gupta said, adding that it was an early memory but one that was seared in her mind.
“That feeling never left me of what it means to be made to feel unsafe because of who you are. I kept another feeling with me though too, and that is one that is ingrained that has been ingrained in me by my parents and shared by my husband, whose family fled violence and war in Vietnam and sought refuge on these shores,” she said.
They believed more than anything in the promise of America, loving this country brings with it the obligation to do the necessary work to make it better. Those two feelings for her converge in the work ahead, she said.
The horrific events at the Capitol reminded that American democracy cannot be taken for granted, that the US has a long history of disinformation, white supremacist violence, mob violence, Gupta said.
“It also reminded us that our values and our Constitution, and our democracy do not protect themselves. It is people with courage who do that,” she said, adding that this moment demanded bold leadership.
“The Department of Justice, as it has done throughout its storied history, will have to uncover and reckon with hard truths, hold people, companies, and institutions accountable to our Constitution and laws, drive change where there is injustice and heal a nation that is starving for leadership and decency and hope,” she said.
(Source: PTI) -
Indian American Groups Condemn Attack on US Capitol
“The violent attack on the United States Capitol was disgusting. This act of sedition, stoked by Donald Trump, is a threat to our country and to every American’s rights and wellbeing. It must not be tolerated,” said Ajay Bhutoria, national finance committee member of Biden 2020.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian American groups have strongly condemned the storming of the Capitol Hill by President Donald Trump’s supporters, describing the incident as an assault on the US democracy.
“The violent attack on the United States Capitol was disgusting. This act of sedition, stoked by Donald Trump, is a threat to our country and to every American’s rights and wellbeing. It must not be tolerated,” said Ajay Bhutoria, national finance committee member of Biden 2020, and one of the vice chairs of the Presidential Inauguration Committee. He asserted that the scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect the true America.
“The United States of America built the most powerful economy in the world in no small part due to the stability of our government and the peaceful transfer of power we have enjoyed for generations,” he said.
Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF) in a statement condemned in the strongest terms the assault on the Capitol by “extremists” in a misguided attempt to overturn the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
“Violence has no place in democratic protest. Disinformation intended to sow distrust in our democratic processes has no place in a democracy. We strongly denounce those who encouraged and enabled this violence,” SALDEF executive director Kiran Kaur Gill said.
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) also condemned the violence, chaos, and anarchy that unfolded at the US Capitol building on Wednesday.
It was a sad day for America and for democracy at large, it said in a statement. “Hindu Americans are uniquely attune to the foundations of and threats to democracy, as many of us trace our heritage to the Republic of India, the world’s largest democracy. Hindu values and ideals are American values and ideals and the bonds between our people, our commitment to freedom, equality, and representative democracy remain unshaken,” the HAF said.
The Alliance to Save and Protect America from Infiltration by Religious Extremists and Coalition of Americans for Pluralism in India condemned the presence of Indian tricolor by rioting mobs at the Capitol Hill. -
Indian American Muslim Council asks Modi to stop persecution of Muslims
WASHINGTON (TIP): Alleging that persecution of Muslims in India has “increased beyond one’s imagination,” a leading advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the US has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the violence and save India’s secular constitution. “The Narendra Modi government must demonstrate to all Indians and the international community that the Constitution is still in effect,” Ahsan Khan, president of the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) stated Monday.
“This will require putting a stop to the violence against Muslims by groups affiliated to the larger ideological fraternity of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),” Khan added in a media release.
India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ideologically affiliated with RSS, a Hindu nationalist right wing volunteer organization. IAMC noted that India is set to celebrate its Republic day on Jan. 26 in honor of the day its Constitution came into effect in 1950 “to secure for all its citizens justice, liberty and equality and to promote fraternity among them all, without regard to caste or creed.”
Khan alleged that a series of recent incidents suggested “Indian state legitimized the persecution of Muslims, encouraged, and enabled violence against the largest minority community in the country.”
Condemning the vandalization of the grave of Brigadier Mohammed Usman, an Indian Muslim war hero killed in action during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1947, Khan said it “marks yet another low in India’s rapid descent into fascism.” “The fact that the grave of a true national hero and martyr like Brigadier Usman was targeted shows that the nationalism of Hindutva is not about the nation at all, nor does it adhere to the norms of any religion,” he said.
“Rather, it is a narrow, bigoted creed that does not regard anything as sacred in its naked drive for power and supremacy.” “Be it Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh, there is no limit to persecution of Muslims by the state,” said Khan. “Being a Muslim in India has become a nightmare and that needs to stop.”
Numerous cases of harassment of interfaith couples had been reported in the aftermath of the anti-conversion ordinance issued by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, he said.
Khan noted that over 100 former civil servants from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other branches of the services, declared that the Ordinance turned the state into “the epicenter of politics of hate, division and bigotry.”
These former civil servants including former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and former Adviser to the Prime Minister TKA Nair have urged Adityanath, to withdraw the controversial law.
Mohammad Jawad, IAMC national general secretary, referred to recent attacks on Muslim households and places of worship in Ujjain, following rallies carried out by Hindu right wing groups.
“In Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh on Jan. 31, police razed the house of a daily wager who had built his house over the past 35 years, pushing a family of 19 to the street,” he alleged.
“It was done in a one-sided action by the Police after the local Muslim community resisted vandalism of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha workers who tried to create communal disturbance by chanting Hanuman Chalisa in front of a mosque, and later damaging its minaret,” Jawad said.
Members of right-wing Hindu groups used collection of donations for the construction of Ram temple as a pretext to create fear among Muslims, he alleged.
Claiming that the “agitation for demolition of Babri mosque during the 1990s was turned into a source of majoritarian violence,” Jawad alleged that “Hindutva groups are following a familiar model of violence.”
IAMC said it’s is dedicated to promoting the common values of pluralism, tolerance, and respect for human rights that form the basis of the world’s two largest secular democracies – the United States and India. -
US modifies H-1B visa selection process; gives priority to wages, skill level
- The next H-1B visa filing season is slated to start on April 1
WASHINGTON (TIP): The outgoing Trump administration on Friday modified the selection process for the H-1B visa, giving priority to salary and skills instead of the current lottery procedures.
The notification was published in the Federal Register. It would come into force in 60 days.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
The next H-1B visa filing season is slated to start on April 1.
The notification, which comes with less than two weeks left in President Donald Trump’s tenure, is the latest effort to bar the entry of immigrants to the US. However, it is too early to say how the modification would impact Indian companies as there is a possibility of the incoming Biden administration reviewing the notification.
There was no reaction from any companies or business bodies on the notification so far.
Restricting immigration has been a focus of the Trump administration since its first days when it issued the travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, and it has continued into Trump’s final year in office as the White House uses the coronavirus pandemic as cover.
Last week, Trump extended the freeze on H-1B visas along with other types of work visas and green cards until March 31.
Democratic leader Joe Biden, who will be sworn in as President on January 20, has promised to lift the suspension on H-1B visas, saying Trump’s immigration policies are cruel.
Officials on Thursday said the move is aimed to protect the economic interests of US workers and better ensure the most highly skilled foreign workers benefit from the temporary employment programme.
Modifying the H-1B cap selection process will incentivize employers to offer higher salaries, and/or petition for higher-skilled positions, and establish a more certain path for businesses to achieve personnel needs and remain globally competitive, said US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“The H-1B temporary visa programme has been exploited and abused by employers primarily seeking to fill entry-level positions and reduce overall business costs,” said USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Joseph Edlow.
“The current H-1B random selection process makes it difficult for businesses to plan their hiring fails to leverage the programme to compete for the best and brightest international workforce and has predominantly resulted in the annual influx of foreign labor placed in low-wage positions at the expense of US workers,” he said.
This effort will only affect H-1B registrations (or petitions, if the registration process is suspended) submitted by prospective petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.
It will be implemented for both the H-1B regular cap and the H-1B advanced degree exemption, but it will not change the order of selection between the two as established by the H-1B registration final rule, USCIS said.
The Department of Homeland Security had published a notice of proposed rulemaking on November 2 last year. It carefully considered the public comments received before deciding to publish the proposed regulations as a final rule, USCIS said.
According to the final rule, a version of which was released by Department of Homeland Security, “While administering a random lottery system is reasonable, it is inconsiderate of Congress’ statutory purposes for the H-1B programme and its administration.” Instead, a registration system that faithfully implements the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) while prioritizing registrations based on wage level within each cap will incentivize H-1B employers to offer higher wages, or to petition for positions requiring higher skills and higher-skilled aliens that are commensurate with higher wage levels, to increase the likelihood of selection and eligibility to file an H-1B cap-subject petition, it said.
Moreover, it will maximize H-1B cap allocations, so that they more likely will go to the best and brightest workers, and it will disincentivize abuse of the H-1B programme to fill relatively lower-paid, lower-skilled positions, which is a significant problem under the present selection system, the final rule said.
The changes in this final rule will apply to all registrations, including those for the advanced degree exemption, submitted on or after the effective date of the final rule.As per Congressional-mandated cap, USCIS in one year can issue a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas. It can also issue another 20,000 H-1B visas to those foreign students who have completed higher studies from a US university in STEM subjects.
During the public notice period, the department said, several commenters expressed support for the rule and the need to stop visa fraud, abuse, and flooding of petitions by certain staffing or consulting companies.
One commenter said the proposed rule would disincentivize companies from abusing the H-1B programme and harming US workers. Other commenters said the proposed rule would decrease potential visa abuse by employers and make sure all workers were paid according to their skill set as employers no longer would be able to lower labor expenses by hiring foreign workers.
(Source : PTI) -
January 8 New York & Dallas E-Edition
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Indian Americans in the incoming Biden administration
Jaskiran SalujaNEW YORK (TIP): Joe Biden-Kamala Harris team has nominated a number of Indian Americans to positions in their administration. It is a common knowledge that Indian Americans have excelled in every field. They are CEOs of top Corporations, distinguished professionals and academics, besides doing very well in businesses. In politics, too, they have announced their arrival in a big way. Their administrative acumen is also well recognized.
Here are some Indians Americans whose nominations have already been announced. It is believed, many more Indian Americans will soon be joining the incoming Biden-Harris administration.
- Neera Tanden
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
President-elect Joe Biden nominated Neera Tanden to be the next director of the Office of Management and Budget on November 30, 2020. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she would make history becoming both the first woman of color and the first South Asian American to lead the OMB.
Born in 1970 in Bedford, Massachusetts, obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1992, and a law degree from Yale Law School in 1996.
She worked for the campaign of President Bill Clinton, who was seeking reelection that year. The following year, she landed a job at the White House press office. Later, Tanden joined the White House domestic policy office as an associate director.
In 2000, she served as a policy director and deputy campaign manager for former First Lady Hillary Clinton’s victorious senatorial bid from New York. She went on to work for the newly elected senator as a legislative director from 2003 to 2005. During Clinton’s first presidential run in 2008, Tanden served as a policy director, and in the general election campaign, she worked for Barack Obama as domestic policy director.In the first Obama administration, Tanden was one of the point persons on the Affordable Care Act, as a senior advisor to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
In 2010, she joined the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, as the chief operating officer. In November 2011, she succeeded John Podesta as the organization’s President and CEO.
- Vivek Murthy
Surgeon General of the United States
Vivek Murthy was nominated as the next US Surgeon General, a role he previously held during the Obama administration, by President-elect Joe Biden on December 7, 2020. Currently serving as a member of Biden’s team, as co-chair of the COVID task force, Murthy will reprise the role he held from 2014-2017, albeit with more responsibility.
If confirmed, this time around Murthy will be a part of a team responsible for responding to the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 280,000 Americans and hospitalized millions more.
Murthy could face difficulty in receiving a confirmation from the senate however, given the opposition he faced during his Senate confirmation process in 2014.
Born in England to Indian immigrants, Murthy was raised in Miami after his parents moved to the US to establish their medical practice. After earning his BA in biochemical sciences and graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1997, Murthy received his MD from Yale School of Medicine and his MBA from Yale School of Management. As an 18-year-old freshman at Harvard, Murthy co-founded VISIONS Worldwide, a non-profit organization aimed to raise HIV/AIDs education in the US and India, with his sister Rashmi.
- Vanita Gupta
Associate Attorney General
If confirmed by the Senate, Gupta would be the first woman of color to serve in the role of associate attorney general
Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, as he announced some of the key nominations in the Justice Department on Thursday, January 8, “As associate attorney general, the number three job at the department, I nominate Vanita Gupta. A woman I’ve known for some time. One of the most respected civil rights lawyers in America”.
Gupta started her career at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She then went on to the ACLU and then to the Justice Department during the Obama-Biden administration, where she led the civil rights division, Biden said.
“At every step, with every case, she fought for greater equity and the right to right the wrongs of a justice system where they existed,” he said.
She has done so by bringing people together, earning praise from across the ideological spectrum for her approach to solving some of the thorniest problems the country faces, he added. During the Obama-Biden administration, Gupta was put in charge of investigating the abuse of power in police departments in Ferguson, Missouri and other communities torn apart by acts of violence and racial injustice.
- Bharat Ramamurti
Deputy Director of the National Economic Council
Bharat Ramamurti was nominated as the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council (NEC) by President-elect Joe Biden on Dec. 21, 2020.
He is currently the Managing Director (MD) of the Corporate Power program at the Roosevelt Institute. Ramamurti previously worked as the top economic advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren during her 2020 presidential campaign.
“I’m honored to be joining the Biden-Harris administration as Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. We have much to do to get through this crisis and create a stronger and fairer economy — and I’m excited to get to work alongside this great team,” he tweeted.
He will also be working with Biden-picks Joelle Gamble and David Kamin on the National Economic Council.
After earning his bachelor’s from Harvard College, Ramamurti received his JD from Yale Law School. He then worked as an intern for the Boston Red Sox’s legal department.
Ramamurti currently lives in Boston with his wife and child.
- Vedant Patel
Assistant Press Secretary
Before being named as Assistant Press Secretary, Vedant Patel served as a senior spokesperson of the Biden Presidential Inaugural Committee. During the 2020 general election campaign, he was the Regional Communications Director for the Democratic nominee. During primary campaign, he served as the Nevada and Western Primary-States Communications Director for Biden. Patel has also worked as Communications Director to Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Western Regional Press Secretary at the Democratic National Committee, and Communications Director to former Rep. Mike Honda. Born in Gujarat, India and raised in California, Patel is a graduate of the University of California-Riverside and the University of Florida.
- Vinay Reddy
Director of speechwriting
Before being named as director of Speechwriting, Vinay Reddy served as a Senior Advisor and Speechwriter for the Biden-Harris campaign. During President Obama’s second term, Reddy served as chief speechwriter to Vice President Biden.
Reddy played several roles during the Obama administration, having served as both senior speechwriter at the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services, and as deputy speechwriter for the Obama reelection campaign.
Reddy, who grew up in Dayton, Ohio, also worked as a speechwriter for the Buckeye State Sen. Sherrod Brown.
After leaving the White House, he worked as Vice President of Strategic Communications for the NBA.
Reddy, second of three sons of Indian American parents, studied in Ohio’s public schools from kindergarten through law school. He is an alumnus of Miami University and the Ohio State University College of Law. He currently lives in New York with his wife and their two daughters.
7.Gautam Raghavan
Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential PersonnelGautam Raghavan is a trailblazing Indian American who has served in multiple positions at the White House and on Capitol Hill in the past decade. Prior to being named as the Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel, he worked as the Deputy Head of Presidential Appointments on the Biden’s transition team. Raghavan is one of a number of Obama officials tapped by Biden who has worked with the president-elect. Before joining the Biden transition last year, Raghavan served as Chief of Staff to Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, for roughly two years.
Before that, he was the founding executive director of Indian American Impact Fund, a political advocacy group that encourages and support members of the community that run for elected offices across the country.
Like many Biden officials, Raghavan also has experience working with the president-elect, having served as an Advisor to the Biden Foundation.
Raghavan also worked as the Policy Director of the Gill Foundation, based in Denver, Colorado, one of the oldest and largest private foundations dedicated to the cause of LGBTQ equality.
From 2011 to 2014, Raghavan served in the Obama White House as the president’s liaison to the LGBTQ and the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. He was the first openly gay Indian American official in the Obama administration.
He also served in the White House Liaison Office for the US Department of Defense and as Outreach Lead for the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Working Group.
- Mala Adiga
Policy director Jill Biden
Mala Adiga has been named the policy director to the would-be First Lady Jill Biden in November 2020. Previously, she served as a senior advisor to Dr. Jill Biden, and as one on the Biden-Harris Campaign. Adiga has also served as the Director for Higher Education and Military Families at the Biden Foundation.
During the Obama administration, Adiga served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programs at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. She also served as both Senior Advisor to the Ambassador-at-Large and as Director for Human Rights on the National Security Staff.
Prior to that, she was Counsel to the Associate Attorney General in the Department of Justice. Before entering government service, Adiga worked on the 2008 Obama presidential campaign.
Adiga was a litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago and clerked for US District Court Judge Philip Simon in the Northern District of Indiana before joining the campaign.
Adiga, whose parents are from Udupi in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, grew up in Illinois. She is a graduate of Grinnell College, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and the University of Chicago Law School.
Adiga’s father Dr. Ramesh Adiga, who is the second among three siblings, came to the United States at the age of 25 to hone his skills as a vascular surgeon. Mala’s mother Jaya Adiga had studied medicine in Vellore.
- Aisha Shah
Partnerships Manager, White House Office of Digital Strategy
Aisha Shah, who was born in Kashmir and raised in Louisiana, has been named as a Partnerships Manager in the 12-member White House Office of Digital Strategy. Shah, an Advancement Specialist for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, previously served as a Digital Partnerships Manager for the Biden campaign. Her previous stints include working as an Assistant Manager on the Corporate Fund of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and serving as a Strategic Communications Specialist at Buoy, an integrated marketing firm that specializes in social impact communications. She is a graduate of Davidson College.
- Neera Tanden
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January 1 New York & Dallas E – Edition
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E-Edition
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Key verdicts of Supreme Court of India
The year 2020 was a roller-coaster for the world in many ways. From the raging coronavirus pandemic to India-China border standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh to death of former President Pranab Mukherjee, several key things happened throughout 2020 that impacted the world in many ways. The year 2020 was also an important one from the perspective of the Indian judiciary as the Supreme Court of the country gave several key verdicts, changing the way the nation used to work. So as the year comes to an end, here’s a look at some of the landmark verdicts that were delivered by the Supreme Court in 2020:
‘Freedom of speech constitutionally protected’
In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court in January this year ruled out that expressing views via the internet is an integral part of the fundamental right to speech and expression under Article 19 of the Constitution.
While hearing a plea on internet shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir, the apex court internet stands as the most utilized and accessible medium for the exchange of information in the world and the right of trade and commerce through it is also constitutionally protected.
“We declare that the freedom of speech and expression and the freedom to practice any profession or carry on any trade, business or occupation over the medium of internet enjoys constitutional protection under Article 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression) and Article 19(1)(g) (right to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business),” the court said.
‘Land acquisition won’t lapse if compensation is deposited’
In another major development, the apex court this year said that disputes over land acquisition and payment of fair compensation to owners cannot be re-opened under the 2013 Act if the legal processes have been completed before January 1, 2014.
The court said that Section 24(2) of the Act of 2013 does not give rise to a new cause of action to question the legality of concluded proceedings of land acquisition and it applies to a proceeding pending on the date of enforcement of the Act of 2013.
“It does not revive stale and time-barred claims and does not reopen concluded proceedings nor allow landowners to question the legality of mode of taking possession to reopen proceedings or mode of deposit of compensation in the treasury instead of court to invalidate acquisition,” it noted.
‘Quota policy not meant to deny merit’
In 2020, the Supreme Court also said that “quota policy is not meant to deny merit”. A bench headed by Justice UU Lalit ruled against the idea of “a communal reservation” and said that general category in employment is open to all including reserved category candidates.
“But the converse can never be true and will be opposed to the very basic principles which have all the while been accepted by this Court. Any view or process of interpretation which will lead to incongruity as highlighted earlier, must be rejected,” the three-judge bench of the apex court said this year.
Women officers in Army to be granted permanent commission
The Supreme Court this year also directed the central government to grant permanent commission to women officers in the Indian Army, saying “there will not be any absolute bar on giving them command postings”.
Rejecting government’s argument of “physiological limitations”, the top court said that women have the equal right to get permanent commission and command postings in the Armed Forces and there is a need to change the “mindset” to end gender bias in security forces.
RTI requests for pleadings
In March this year, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which was headed by Justice Banumathi, said that people cannot file right to information (RTI) requests to obtain pleadings. Restricting the application of the RTI Act, 2005, the apex court said that people “must resort to using the procedure established by the Gujarat High Court rules”.
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How world leaders handled the pandemic crisis
2020 was, arguably, one of the toughest years in the history of mankind, and even as it comes to a close, uncertainly over a new coronavirus strain, vaccine distribution and reopening continues to loom over the horizon. Some critics would argue that while living through a pandemic was hard, it was made tougher by the response from leaders of countries across the world. Others, however, would claim that it was precisely because of these leaders that the unprecedented crisis became easier to sail through. Whatever one’s personal opinion, the crisis brought out the best and the worst in world leaders. Here’s how they reacted to one of the gravest crisis humanity has had to face.
Donald Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus has been the most divisive, at least in the United States. In fact, according to reports, his response, or the lack of it for some, might have been one of the significant reasons for his defeat in the November Presidential elections, which saw President-elect Joe Biden win the Presidency. In January, Trump had said that the US administration has the pandemic “totally under control” and that “it’s going to be just fine”. From that statement about a year ago to now, as US reels through increasing virus cases and is the worst-affected country in the world, things have changed rapidly. Trump’s critics blame the pandemic’s effects solely on him, while his supporters insist that he did all that he could.
Xi Jinping
Considering the fact that coronavirus originated in China, Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, has been under considerable pressure to answer uncomfortable questions about the pandemic. But in China itself, reports suggest that the administration has been able to bring the spread of the virus under control using strict and authoritarian measures, which critics have said are anti-democratic in nature. Through this all, the Japan Center for Economic Research has said that China’s economy is on its way to maintaining a positive year-on-year GDP growth rate.
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arguably been one of the more successful leaders to have responded in a timely manner to the pandemic. In March, he declared a ‘Janata Curfew’, which was followed by a nationwide lockdown. Throughout the extensions of the lockdown, and the subsequent reopening process, PM Modi continued to address the nation and meet Chief Ministers of states virtually. His critics have, however, slammed the sudden lockdown announcement and the government’s handling of the migrant crisis, as also the unchecked effects of the government’s moves during the pandemic on economy.
Jacinda Ardern
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been highly praised for her handling of the pandemic in her nation. Ardern had announced Level 4 restrictions in March, when New Zealand had 102 cases. “But so did Italy once,” she had reasoned. The restrictions were unprecedented in the country’s history, with police forces and military personnel being deployed to ensure that they are followed. While cases were reported in August after months of the nation going virus-free, the pandemic has been under control in New Zealand, and for her efforts, Ardern was named as one of the world’s 100 most powerful women in 2020 by Forbes.
Boris Johnson
The new strain of coronavirus and the fresh set of crises brought forth by it for the United Kingdom apart, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hasn’t been viewed too positively for his handling of the pandemic, if reports are to be believed. In March he had said that he is shaking hands “continuously” and that he did, in fact, shook hands “with everybody” at a hospital with coronavirus patients. By the end of that month, he had tested positive for the virus, and was hospitalised in April. Ever since, 2020 has been a year of intermittent lockdowns for the UK, with the latest lockdown being imposed after a fast-spreading variant of coronavirus was detected.
Jair Bolsonaro
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been perhaps the most criticised leader on this list for his handling of the pandemic. He has called coronavirus “little flu” and “fantasy” among other adjectives, which doesn’t make his response to it hard to imagine. Moreover, even as the death numbers soared, he had said, “… You can’t stop a factory because of traffic deaths”. Brazil now has the third highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, and it remains one of the few countries to have never imposed a nationwide lockdown since according to Bolsonaro it ends up affecting the economy. Now he has said that he won’t be taking the vaccine since that’s his “right”.
Tsai Ing-wen
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has been credited with controlling the pandemic in Taiwan successfully without actually imposing any lockdown. According to reports, this was due to a quick response which was assisted by effective monitoring and tracing of contacts. Travelling to Taiwan now requires a negative COVID-19 test result taken three days before boarding a flight to the country, not to mention 14 days of quarantine. Forbes called Tsai one of the 100 most powerful women in 2020.
Vladimir Putin
The Russian President has claimed that Russia’s handling of the pandemic has been better than the US’, and while that is up for debate, some critics have said that the top Russian leadership is unaware about the pandemic’s scale on the ground. Although cases have been rising, Putin had in October said that the country won’t be going into a lockdown again (Russia had imposed a nationwide lockdown from March to May), though certain restrictions will continue to be in place. (Source: Moneycontrol)
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Meet the richest in 2020
The richest people on Earth are not immune to the coronavirus. As the pandemic tightened its grip on Europe and America, global equity markets imploded, tanking many fortunes. When we finalized this list, Forbes counted 2,095 billionaires, 58 fewer than a year ago and 226 fewer than just 12 days earlier, when we initially calculated these net worths. Of the billionaires who remain, 51% are poorer than they were last year. In raw terms, the world’s billionaires are worth $8 trillion, down $700 billion from 2019.
METHODOLOGY
The Forbes World’s Billionaires list is a snapshot of wealth using stock prices and exchange rates from March 18, 2020. Some people become richer or poorer within days of publication. We list individuals rather than multigenerational families who share fortunes, though we include wealth belonging to a billionaire’s spouse and children if that person is the founder of the fortune. In some cases we list siblings or couples together if the ownership breakdown among them isn’t clear, but here an estimated net worth of $1 billion per person is needed to make the cut. We value a variety of assets, including private companies, real estate, art and more. We don’t pretend to know each billionaire’s private balance sheet (though some provide it). When documentation isn’t supplied or available, we discount fortunes.
#1 Jeff Bezos
Net Worth: $113 B
Age: 56
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Amazon
Industries: Technology
Jeff Bezos founded e-commerce colossus Amazon in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle. He remains CEO and owns a nearly 11.2% stake. He divorced his wife MacKenzie in July 2019 after 25 years of marriage and transferred a quarter of his Amazon stake to her. MacKenzie Bezos’s 4% slice of Amazon makes her one of the world’s richest women. In 2018, Amazon had $230 billion in revenues and a record $10 billion in net profit, up from $3 billion the prior year. In March 2020, Amazon announced it would hire 100,000 workers to meet increased demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Bezos owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company that is developing a rocket for commercial use.
#2 Bill Gates
Net Worth: $98 B
Age: 64
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Microsoft
Industries: Technology
With his wife Melinda, Bill Gates chairs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private charitable foundation. In February 2020, the Gates Foundation said it would spend up to $100 million to improve detection and treatment of the novel coronavirus. Gates has sold or given away much of his stake in Microsoft — he owns just over 1% of shares — and invested in a mix of stocks and other assets. In mid-March, Gates said he’s stepping down as a board member of Microsoft, the software firm he founded with Paul Allen (d. 2018) in 1975. The foundation works to improve global health and to create equal opportunity for people around the globe. To date, Gates has donated $35.8 billion worth of Microsoft stock to the Gates Foundation.
#3 Bernard Arnault & family
Net Worth: $76 B
Age: 71
Country/Territory: France
Source: LVMH
Industries: Fashion & Retail
One of the world’s ultimate taste-makers, Bernard Arnault oversees an empire of 70 brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. In November 2019, LVMH struck a deal to buy American jeweler Tiffany & Co for $16.2 billion, believed to be the biggest luxury brand acquisition ever. LVMH spent $3.2 billion in 2019 for luxury hospitality group, Belmond, which owns or manages 46 hotels, trains and river cruises. His father made a small fortune in construction; Arnault got his start by putting up $15 million from that business to buy Christian Dior in 1985. Four of Arnault’s five children work in corners of the LVMH empire: Frédéric, Delphine, Antoine and Alexandre.
#4 Warren Buffett
Net Worth: $67.5 B
Age: 89
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Berkshire Hathaway
Industries: Finance & Investments
Known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time. Buffett runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns more than 60 companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen. The son of a U.S. congressman, he first bought stock at age 11 and first filed taxes at age 13. He’s promised to give away over 99% of his fortune. In 2019 he donated $3.6 billion, much of it to the foundation of friends Bill and Melinda Gates. In 2010, he and Gates launched the Giving Pledge, asking billionaires to commit to donating half their wealth to charitable causes.
#5 Larry Ellison
Net Worth: $59 B
Age: 75
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Software
Industries: Technology
Larry Ellison cofounded software firm Oracle in 1977 to tap into the growing need for customer relationship management databases. He gave up the Oracle CEO role in 2014 but still serves as chairman of the board and chief technology officer. Oracle has grown in part through steady acquisitions of software companies, the biggest of which was $9.3 billion for Netsuite in 2016. In May 2016, Ellison pledged $200 million to the University of Southern California for a cancer treatment center. In 2012, Ellison spent $300 million to buy nearly all of Hawaiian island Lanai; so far, he has built a hydroponic farm and a luxury spa there. Ellison joined Tesla’s board in December 2018, after purchasing 3 million Tesla shares earlier that year.
#6 Amancio Ortega
Net Worth: $55.1 B
Age: 84
Country/Territory: Spain
Source: Zara
Industries: Fashion & Retail
Amancio Ortega is one of the richest men in Europe, and the wealthiest clothing retailer in the world. A pioneer in fast fashion, he cofounded Inditex, known for its Zara fashion chain, with his ex-wife Rosalia Mera (d. 2013) in 1975. He owns about 60% of Madrid-listed Inditex, which has 8 brands, including Massimo Dutti and Pull & Bear, and 7,500 stores around the world. Ortega typically earns more than $400 million in dividends a year. He has invested his dividends primarily into real estate in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Chicago, Miami and New York.
#7 Mark Zuckerberg
Net Worth: $54.7 B
Age: 35
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Facebook
Industries: Technology
Facebook. the social network Zuckerberg runs, has become a go-to communications tool during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, his philanthropic and advocacy arm, announced it would help quadruple the Bay Area’s COVID-19 testing capacity. Zuckerberg started Facebook at Harvard in 2004 at the age of 19 for students to match names with photos of classmates. He took Facebook public in May 2012 and still owns about 15% of the stock. In December 2015, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook stake over their lifetimes.
#8 Jim Walton
Net Worth: $54.6 B
Age: 71
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Walmart
Industries: Fashion & Retail
Jim Walton is the youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. He gave away $1.2 billion in Walmart stock in June 2019, but remains the richest Walton in part thanks to an estimated 44% stake in Arvest Bank. Jim sat on Walmart’s board for more than a decade before yielding the seat to his son, Steuart, in June 2016. Collectively, he and other heirs of Sam Walton own about half of Walmart’s stock. Jim and sister Alice are spearheading a program that will issue $300 million in bonds to help charter schools invest in facilities.
#9 Alice Walton
Net Worth: $54.4 B
Age: 70
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Walmart
Industries: Fashion & Retail
Alice Walton is the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. She has focused on curating art, rather than working for Walmart like her siblings, Rob and Jim. In 2011 she opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in her hometown, Bentonville, Arkansas. Crystal Bridges features works from the likes of Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell and Mark Rothko. She and brother Jim are spearheading a program that will issue $300 million in bonds to help charter schools invest in facilities.
#10 Rob Walton
Net Worth: $54.1 B
Age: 75
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Walmart
Industries: Fashion & Retail
Rob Walton is the eldest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. He took over as Walmart’s chairman upon his father’s death in 1992. Walton retired as chairman in June 2015 and was replaced by his son-in-law, Greg Penner. He still sits on Walmart’s board. He and other heirs of Sam Walton collectively own about half of Walmart’s stock. After a deadly mass shooting at one of its stores, Walmart said in September 2019 it would limit ammunition sales and discourage ‘open carry’ of guns.
#11 Steve Ballmer
Net Worth: $52.7 B
Age: 64
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Microsoft
Industries: Technology
Steve Ballmer is the high-wattage former CEO of Microsoft, who led the company from 2000 to 2014. He joined Microsoft in 1980 as employee No. 30 after dropping out of Stanford’s MBA program. Ballmer oversaw Microsoft at a difficult time, after the first dot-com crash and through efforts to catch Google in search and Apple in mobile phones. The same year he retired from Microsoft he bought the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion. He has ramped up his philanthropy since 2014, putting over $2 billion into a donor-advised fund, with a focus on lifting Americans out of poverty. In 2018, he invested $59 million in Social Solutions, which makes software for nonprofits and government agencies.
#12 Carlos Slim Helu & family
Net Worth: $52.1 B
Age: 64
Country/Territory: Mexico
Source: Telecom
Industries: Telecom
Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim Helu and his family control America Movil, Latin America’s biggest mobile telecom firm. With foreign telecom partners, Slim bought a stake in Telmex, Mexico’s only phone company, in 1990. Telmex is now part of America Movil. He also owns stakes in Mexican construction, consumer goods, mining and real estate companies and 17% of The New York Times. His son-in-law Fernando Romero designed the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City, home to Slim’s extensive, eclectic art collection.
#13 Larry Page
Net Worth: $50.9 B
Age: 47
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Google
Industries: Technology
Larry Page stepped down as CEO of Alphabet, the parent of Google, in December 2019 but remains a board member and a controlling shareholder. He cofounded Google in 1998 with fellow Stanford Ph.D. student Sergey Brin. With Brin, Page invented Google’s PageRank algorithm, which powers the search engine. Page was CEO until 2001, when Eric Schmidt took over, and then from 2011 until 2015, when he became CEO of Google’s new parent company Alphabet. He is a founding investor in space exploration company Planetary Resources and is also funding “flying car” startups Kitty Hawk and Opener.
#14 Sergey Brin
Net Worth: $49.1 B
Age: 46
Country/Territory: United States
Source: Google
Industries: Technology
Sergey Brin stepped down as president of Alphabet, parent company of Google, in December 2019 but remains a controller shareholder and a board member. He cofounded Google with Larry Page in 1998 after the two met at Stanford University while studying for advanced degrees in computer science. Google went public in 2004 and changed its name to Alphabet in 2015. Brin has been absent from public Alphabet events for much of 2019; he spends his time on Alphabet’s moonshot research lab X. Brin is reportedly funding a high-tech airship project.
#15 Francoise Bettencourt Meyers & family
Net Worth: $48.9 B
Age: 66
Country/Territory: France
Source: L’Oreal
Industries: Fashion & Retail
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is the richest woman in the world and the granddaughter of L’Oreal’s founder. Bettencourt Meyers and her family own 33% of L’Oreal stock, which recorded its best sales growth in more than a decade in 2019. She has served on L’Oreal’s board since 1997 and is chairwoman of the family holding company. She became France’s reigning L’Oreal Heiress in 2017 when her mother Liliane Bettencourt, then the world’s richest woman, died at age 94. Bettencourt Meyers serves as the president of her family’s philanthropic foundation, which encourages French progress in the sciences and arts. Together, L’Oreal and the Bettencourt Meyers family agreed to donate $226 million to repair Notre Dame cathedral following the April 2019 fire.
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8 Indian AmericansHonored at ASEI Awards
CHICAGO (TIP): American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) has recognized four engineering achievers and four service excellence and contributors to ASEI with Lifetime Achievement award going to Naveen Jain. Amit Kumar, Consul General India in Chicago, at ASEI’s 33rd Annual National Convention focusing on Global Engineering & Technologies (GET-2020), held virtually on Dec 5 and 6 presented the awards.
Kumar emphasized the importance of Indian American engineers and scientists pooling their talents to help India at the finale session anchored by ASEI Board Member Dr Thomas Abraham, Chair Awards Committee, according to a media release.
The ASEI awardees are:
ASEI Lifetime Achievement – Naveen Jain
ASEI Entrepreneur of The Year – Jyoti Bansal
ASEI Engineer of The Year (Mech/Solar) – Dr Yogi Goswami
ASEI Engineer of The Year (Industrial Operations and Product Management) – Deval Desai
ASEI Service Excellence Award – Rakesh Patel
Hari Bindal ASEI Founders Award – Vatsala Upadhyay
Leadership and Contribution to ASEI – Rakesh Guliani and Sunita Dublish
Dr Neeraj Bindal, son of ASEI Founder the Late Dr. Hari Bindal paid a moving tribute to his father as he presented the Founder’s award to Vatsala.
Lifetime Achievemen awardee Jain, a former Microsoft executive now based in Bellevue, WA, is the Founder & CEO of Viome, a wellness company. He is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of Moon Express, which is developing a robotic lunar lander to explore and mine the moon.
Jain’s first entrepreneurial venture was InfoSpace, which he founded in 1996, after leaving Microsoft. He rode the dot-com bubble’s rise through the next several years, becoming a billionaire in 2000 when stock prices hit their highest mark, with his personal wealth alone totaling around $2.2 billion.
The ASEI convention started with a welcome by the organization’s President Jwalant Lakhia.
In the first session emceed by Anu Gopalakrishnan, keynote speaker Deval Desai, VP Magna Int. spoke about Contributions of Indian Technologists weaving the storyline from mythology to history to modern era.
In the first technical session on Quantum computing by Dancing with Qubits, keynote speaker Dr Robert Sutor, VP Quantum, IBM Research, said Quantum promises to tackle classically challenging problems across a variety of industries. Prof. Solomon Darwin, known as the “Father of Smart Village Movement”, spoke about agricultural innovations that have the potential to make villages smarter with minimal resources.
In the session on User Experience Design (UXD), Urmila Kashyap, Senior User Experience Designer with VMware, talked about UX design systems for enterprise products based on her 10+ years of UXD experience working with large companies like Moody’s & VMware.
Surbhi Kaul, GM and Head of Product at Juniper Networks, sharing from her own experience of building and launching products over two decades at Netflix, Cisco, YouTube, Google and Juniper Networks discussed why UXD is critical to a product’s success.
In the session on Artificial Intelligence in the Enterprise, Jeff Hannah, Director, NA SBD Automotive and Akshay Desai, Associate Partner, McKinsey tried to separate fact from fiction about autonomous cars.
Desai focused on the future for autonomous vehicle adoption and the changing AV mobility market. Convention Co-Chair Bhavesh Joshi moderated the session. Nidhi Mathihali, Jyoti Rani and Isha Jagadish were declared the three top winners of the Youth Technology Exposition (YTE) conceived and coordinated by the Conference Content Chair and President of ASEI-Silicon Valley Piyush Malik.
In a keynote on Leadership in turbulent times, Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist & Technology Fellow, Haliburton, applied ancient Indian wisdom from Hanuman Chalisa to talk about a framework to face disruption in tumultuous times.
In the session on Career Management in a Disrupted Economy, Dilip Saraf, an IIT alumnus who has reinvented himself five times to be a Career and Life Coach, spoke about better career management by developing resilient options.
Piyush Malik, SVP SpringML, and Naveen Jain, CEO Viome & Founder/Chairman – Moon Express discussed Exponential Technologies for Humanity’s Grand Challenges.
Solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges lie at the intersection of these exponential technologies ranging from artificial intelligence (AI)to computing systems, robotics, and autonomous vehicles, they said.
In the session on Cybersecurity: Opportunity of Threat? Anand Oswal, SVP and GM at PaloAlto Networks, talked about the three concurrent mega transitions in enterprise IT that are impacting network security viz. Rise of a mobile workforce, Shift to hybrid cloud and Direct to app architectures.
He was joined in conversation with popular cybersecurity strategist and influencer Matthew Rosenquist who is currently the Chief Information Security Officer at Eclipz.
In the session on Innovation in the Enterprise, Manoj Prasad, VP & Global CTO, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Prakash Kota, CIO Autodesk discussed issues like how this pandemic will change the pace of innovation in enterprise technology.
Speaking on Robotics and Space, Space scientist Dr Sreeja Nag who also happened to be a Robotist at Nuro, shared her experiences on autonomous robots that work on earth as well as in the space.
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Indian Americans Gautam Raghavan and Vinay Reddy named in Biden team
NEW YORK (TIP): US president-elect Joe Biden has named two more Indian Americans to plum appointments in the post-Trump world: Gautam Raghavan is coming in as Deputy Director in the Office of Presidential Personnel and Vinay Reddy will be the Director of Speechwriting, according to a statement on Tuesday, December 28, from the transition team. Already, at least eight Indian-Americans have snagged headline grabbing appointments in the incoming government: Vivek Murthy is US Surgeon General nominee, Atul Gawande and Celine Gounder are on the coronavirus task force, Neera Tanden is nominated for Office of Management and Budget lead, Vedant Patel will be White House assistant press secretary and Mala Adiga has been chosen as policy director for First Lady Jill Biden.
Below is the full text of the introductory notes on the two new appointees from the Biden-Harris team: Gautam Raghavan, Deputy Director, Office of Presidential Personnel: Raghavan serves as Deputy Head of Presidential Appointments on the Biden-Harris Transition. Prior to joining the transition, Raghavan served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Previously, Raghavan served as an Advisor to the Biden Foundation, and as Vice President of Policy for the Gill Foundation, one of the oldest and largest private foundations dedicated to the cause of LGBTQ equality. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Raghavan served in the White House as the liaison to the LGBTQ community as well as the Asian American & Pacific Islander community, and in the White House Liaison Office for the U.S. Department of Defense and as Outreach Lead for the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Working Group. A first-generation immigrant, Gautam was born in India, raised in Seattle, and graduated from Stanford University. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his husband and their daughter. Vinay Reddy, Director of Speechwriting: Vinay Reddy serves as a speechwriter on the Biden-Harris Transition and served as Senior Advisor and Speechwriter for the Biden-Harris Campaign. He previously served as chief speechwriter to Vice President Biden in the second term of the Obama-Biden White House, after which, he worked as Vice President of Strategic Communications at the National Basketball Association. During the Obama-Biden Administration, he also served as senior speechwriter at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services, deputy speechwriter for the Obama-Biden reelection campaign, and speechwriter for his home state Senator, Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Reddy grew up in Dayton, Ohio, the middle of three sons in an immigrant family and is a product of Ohio public schools from kindergarten to Miami University to The Ohio State University College of Law. He currently lives in New York with his wife and their two daughters.
(Source: IANS)
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Indian-Origin Aisha Shah named to Biden-Harris digital strategy team
WASHINGTON (TIP): President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have named yet another Indian American to their team as a member of the White House Office of Digital Strategy. Born in Kashmir and raised in Louisiana, Aisha Shah, was named as Partnerships Manager in a 12-member digital team headed by Rob Flaherty, Director of Digital Strategy. She will join at least ten other persons of Indian descent named to senior posts in the incoming Biden-Harris administration, including Neera Tanden as Director of Office of Management and Budget and Vivek Murthy as US Surgeon General nominee. Shah, who served as a Digital Partnerships Manager on the Biden-Harris Campaign, currently serves as an Advancement Specialist for the Smithsonian Institution.
“A reflection of the critical role digital strategy plays in reaching the American people, the Biden-Harris White House will feature a robust digital team,” the transition announced Monday.
“In addition to amplifying and engaging users online through traditional measures, the White House Office of Digital Strategy will develop partnerships that are focused on extending the president-elect’s reach beyond his own social platforms,” it said. Shah earlier worked as an Assistant Manager on the Corporate Fund of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, supporting the first-ever expansion of a presidential memorial.
Shah also served as a Strategic Communications Specialist at Buoy, an integrated marketing firm that specializes in social impact communications, as well as Spitfire Strategies, where she enabled nonprofits to use pop culture as a tool for social change. Shah is a graduate of Davidson College.
“Communicating transparently and honestly with the American people is one of the most important responsibilities of a President,” said Biden. “This team of diverse experts has a wide range of experience in digital strategy and will help connect the White House to the American people in new and innovative ways.”
“They bring a shared commitment to building our nation back better, and I am thrilled to have them on our team,” he added. “Digital communities and online spaces have taken on even more importance in the wake of the pandemic,” said Harris. “We’re building a team to speak to the lived experiences of all Americans.”
“With much of our lives online, it is critical for this administration’s digital efforts to be inclusive and extensive,” she said. “Digital outreach will be a key pillar of the Biden-Harris Administration’s engagement with the public,” said incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. “By bringing a talented team of digital strategists to the White House, we will ensure a robust dialogue with the American people, wherever they are,” he said. These diverse, accomplished, and talented individuals demonstrate that the president and vice president-elect are building an administration that looks like America and is ready to deliver results on day one, the transition announcement said.
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Indian American Suyash Mehta named full- time NBA’s referee
NEW YORK (TIP): Indian Americans have been making their mark in the National Basketball Association (NBA) scene lately. Now Suyash Mehta has become the first Indian American official to be named a full-time NBA referee. Mehta, whose parents are from India, had been named to the league’s officiating staff for the first time for the 2019-20 season, according to NBA.com. He was promoted with two other referees, Simone Jelks and Andy Nagy. “We are pleased to welcome Simone [Jelks], Suyash and Andy [Nagy] to our full-time staff,” said Monty McCutchen, NBA Senior Vice President, Head of Referee Development and Training. “They have demonstrated through the growth and the quality of their performance, they warrant working NBA games on a regular basis,” he added. In the previous campaign, Mehta was inducted to the NBA’s officiating staff for the first time. He officiated in 13 games and was one of six to be named under the title of ‘non-staff officials’. He has also officiated five seasons in the NBA G League. Mehta’s parents moved to the US in the 1980s from India. The Baltimore resident also has coaching experience at various collegiate levels including the Atlantic 10, Big South, Colonial Athletic Association, Conference USA, NCAA Division III. But Mehta is not the first person of Indian origin to be in a prominent role in the NBA. Satnam Singh Bhamara was picked by the Dallas Mavericks in 2015, which made him the first Indian-born to be offered a contract by an NBA outfit. Boston’s Sonia Raman became the first Indian American woman coach when she was hired by the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.
Vivek Ranadive, another Indian American, holds a majority stake in the Sacramento Kings. In 2013, Mumbai-born Ranadive, along with Ronald Burkle and Mark Mastrov, reached an agreement with the Maloof family to purchase 65 per cent stakes in the Kings for approximately $348 million. Before that, he had to sell his stake in Golden State Warriors which he acquired in 2010.
NBA’s academy in India has also produced several stars recently who have received offers from USA, including Riyanshu Negi, Jagshaanbir Singh, Pranav Prince, Amaan Sandhu and Princepal Singh, according to NBA.com.
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Weekly Predictions (January 4 – January 10, 2020 )
Shree Ganeshaya Namah
Aries
Ganesha says, your week will be full of experiences as you will meet new people and make new bonds. Although most of them will bring you closer to your success, some of them will try to drag you down. Don’t let anyone decide for you and don’t welcome opinions. Try to take your own decisions and make sure you stick to the. The first half of the week will be a little bit challenging as you will have to make swift movement work and home. Second half of the week will be easy and smooth. You will welcome some technical advancement at your work place this week. In the end of the week, your consciousness will be open to higher vibrations, perhaps resulting in greater self-awareness or even psychic perception.
The second half of the week will be accented on your health and wellness. You do not need to worry as you will be totally alright but your mental wellness will need some attention. Try not to make any hasty decisions and keep calm while working. You don’t owe answers to anyone but only yourself.
Taurus
This will be week of waiting for you. you will have to wait more for the results you were expecting this week Also, task you complete this week will show results late. The financial arrangements you make will take some time.Your relationships with your family will improve this week. You will get lot of support to enhance your financial and personal growth. Students will be able to see visible progress this week. People involved in jobs will be able to gain attention of their superiors. This week You can exposeaenigmas through study and research, or through analysing and questioning others. Profound detections are possible. You may realize something very significant about yourself, from deep within your soul.
On romantic fronts, you will be able to impress your partner by giving them gift and making them feel special. This week is the right time to talk about marriage and kids. People dealing with legal matters will have to be extra careful this week. As you will make your moves in terms of business, make sure you only negotiate with people you already know.
Gemini
Gemini you have always been Jack of all trades but master of none. You try to explore everything and leave it in the middle and end up jumping to another. This week, Lord Shiva will bring you focus and persistency. Also, Moon is in your favour so you will be able to stay on one thing and take it forward. Your legal battle will get ugly if you don’t decide to lay low. You are the person of value but manipulation by someone will make you cross the thin line between right and wrong. This week you will be able to bring people closer to you who were driven away by your aggressive nature.
The starting of week may be difficult for you to deal with as your children or spouse will head you to hospital over minor injuries. You will be able to build your much thought financial backup and by the end of the week your blueprint will be in on paper works. Whatever you do, don’t forget Lord Ganesha as he will drive you to your destination. As we look upon the middle of the week, your partner will help you think rationally and make wise decisions about your career. Be grateful and make the best out of these seven days.
Cancer
For you, starting of the week will be all about being alert, being warned as your competitors and your enemies will keep their eyes upon your loss and loopholes. Try to cover your tracks if you implement your masterplans. For people indulged in artistic field, you will be able to catch eyes of some influential people this weekend. For people indulged in regular jobs, you may have complaints about your monotony but you will also see your name on promotional and appraisal list real soon.
Talking about your health, well you will find it hard to get indulge in physical workout and meditation regularly as work pressure will mount you down but at least try to eat healthy as this week, your Rahu will be weak. Your romantic fronts look complicated as you will not be able to clear the misunderstanding between you and your partner. Try to find ways to please them and you will be fine.
Leo
Make sure you make the best out of this week as your planetary positions and stars are in very favourable position this week. You can expect nothing but good news from people around you. On professional fronts, first two days will go smooth but next three days will create issues of adaptability as some changes might appear regarding your work. On romantic fronts, the answer you have waiting for will arrive and fortunately, positive. Married couple will find time to k now each other better and will enhance physical connection. On legal fronts you can expect the good news from a lawyer and if you were looking for a right time to get indulge in any legal matter well, now is the time as Mercury is sending positive energy.
This week will be overwhelming for you as you will advance on many fronts you will not be able to count your happiness on fingertips. Make sure you learn so many things when you are blessed with creative insight this week. You should think about buying that dream property this week as your loan is likely to get approved. Make sure you don’t hurt anyone’s sentiments and keep your feet grounded.
Virgo
Your week will start with surprises as unexpected guests will visit you. Things will not go wrong but may not go the way you expect it to. In the second half of the week, you will make many mistakes so be careful. Jupiter will not only bless you with opportunities but will also bring good fortune to purchase real assets and property. On professional fronts, people involved in business related to clothing and manufacturing will earn more profits. People involved in I.T will have a hard time. These seven days will best for you making a proposal and spending time with your soulmate. Your health concerns will be on back seat as you will feel fine. Don’t delay your diet plan. Start it from this week itself.
Virgo, your spiritual faith is wavering a lot and you have stopped trusting God’s planning and you want to be the one who holds all the control. You are God’s special child and his plans may not come faster in action but will be better and healthier for you. This week he will show you how your patience and his planning can do wonders in your life.
Libra
You have been holding yourself back because you are too afraid to move forward into a new situation. This week, Mercury will bless you with energy to fight your fears. Stick to reality and don’t get pulled away by illusions this week. If you were going to ask for favours from anyone, Thursday would be the right day. Someone will suggest you new approaches to boost sales and you must listen to opinions carefully. You will be able to negotiate good deals in the starting to the week. People involved in monotony job, this week will be hectic for you as you won’t be able to cope with time and work. Your confidence and promotional methods will bring you appreciations.
In the second half of the week, you will be able to bring positivity to your relationship. Your relationship will be fine in general but some efforts will make your partner feel more attracted towards you. You will be able to have a nice time with your family this week. Don’t let your children get involved in any arguments this week. Your health will be alright but you will need to take your respiration issues seriously.
Scorpio
You will be receiving the results of past investments this week and they will be promising indeed. You will stay active towards securing funds. You will be able to gain attention of people at your workplace and also you can expect support from your family. You will flourish your creative insight this week. Your consciousness will regain the enlightenment it supposedly lost in last few days as you will meet someone influential. It’s a good time to preach lessons of values to your children. Your health is likely to get weaker in the second half of the week as you will feel uneasy and pain in joints and back will bother you. Your expenses will also decrease in the second half of the week. Doing charity at the weekend will bring you good fortune. Take out the last day of the week to plan new business ventures with people you keep your trust in. This week, your spiritual faith will put to test. Don’t lose your temper and make sure you keep your beliefs intact.
Sagittarius
You will have to deal with confrontations this week. You are not good at it, but this is the only way you can get rid of what is burdening you. Lord Ganesha will bless with courage to face things. you are likely to visit far places for work as your planetary positions suggests. The first phase of the week is filled with expenditures but the second half will be filled with profits. The weekend will be good time to make financial investments. You will have to deal with dominating people and you will get into power struggle with someone at your workplace. in the mid of the week, you are likely to get caught up in some negative energies which will make you do things against your ethics.
On romantic fronts you will be able to take significant turns. Despite efforts you will not be able to strengthen the bond. It is advisable to let some time go and let your partner perceive things going on in their life. Your health will not be matter of concern as you will feel alright physically and mentally. You may feel melancholic at the end of the week but practising meditation will help you.
Capricorn
Capricorns are ambitious, warm and big dreamers. This week will bring you potential to take step forward to accomplish those dreams. You will be able to the larger picture and will oversee the issues rather than getting into details which will save your time. You will also incline towards spirituality this week. You will sign contracts in the first half of the week. Things will change in your existing romantic relationship and it will have greater impact for longer time. Happiness will knock the doors of your married life as you will get over long time issues and love will once again bloom.
Expecting too much will bring you disappointments this week. Your children will feel confused and will be taken aback from what they are on to, try to support them in whatever they do. Your health will be needed to look upon as you will have complaints regarding your vision and eye issues. Make sure you don’t get late in consulting your doctor.
Aquarius
Aquarius, this is the week of disclosure and acknowledgement for you. You will be able to express yourself so well this week that you will attract people who will offer opportunities you have been waiting for. You will be pushed to take new routes to reach your planned destinations this week, this route may not be as easy as you expected but don’t worry as Venus is in your support. You will leave your soft land and walk an extra mile of experience.
Second half of the week will bring you good news regarding your relationship. Your partner will come up with the solutions of the problems you were worried about. It’s a good time to build physical connection. You will also bring luxury home in the second half of the week. Your health will be alright and you need not to worry about anything serious this week. About minor hurdles at your workplace, you will be blessed with coping capacity.
Pisces
This week is bringing you abundance of peace and advancement. You will feel more confident and valiant this week. You are likely to plan a short trip in the first part of the week. You are likely to establish amiable relationship with your family members. Planetary movements are pointing fingers to few challenges regarding work in the later part of the work but you will be able to take bold steps towards expansion. You are likely to medical health care regarding one of your family members but don’t worry there won’t be anything serious. Your children will be able to make peace with what they have lost lately. Taking some risks this week will be okay and there’s nothing to worry about.
You can rely on your intuitions and inner voice this week. You will be able to find answers to the occult which bothered you earlier. You will not only be able to gain clear perceptions but also your creative insight will come to your rescue. The end of the week will bring cooperative attitude in the market which will help you win easily. Let your courage drive you this week and enjoy the ride. God has his plans, better than yours.
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December 18 New York & Dallas E-Edition
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December 11 New York & Dallas E-Edition
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Government of India continues to play its game to derail farmers movement
By Prof. Indrajit S Saluja Continuing with their tactics of delaying acceptance of the demands of farmers to repeal the farm laws enacted in June, 2020, government of India has once again engaged the agitating farmer leaders in an exercise in futlility. It is quite clear that government, as usual, believes the agitators will get tired and will turn against their leaders spearheading the struggle for securing justice for the farming community, and also for the consumers of farm products across the country. It is well known how government of India is well versed in the art of dividing people. One can discern it in their characterization of the struggle as a Sikh or Punjabi struggle which is so untrue. It is struggle of all farmers regardless if their faith. Again, government is trying to project it as a struggle of a people of a region- Punjab. A blatant lie. It is a struggle if farmers of all regions in India. I know the farmers’ leaders leading the struggle are a mature people. But I must remind them that they must not fall to the machinations of the government which is hell bent on failing the people’s movement , the like of which no government has witnessed in more than half a century, since the movement under Jai Prakash Narayan during Indira Gandhi’s emergency days.
It should remind this government which is so insensitive to the people of the country that no government is strong enough to face the onslaught of the collective power of a united people. Hope, better sense will prevail with the power drunk government of India before it is too late.
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December 4 New York & Dallas E-Edition
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