The Indian Panorama

Tag: Maryland

  • GOPIO Cosponsors First Successful Health Fair

    GOPIO Cosponsors First Successful Health Fair

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Healthcare is a big issue for new immigrants, especially elderly people. While Medicare is available to virtually all citizens, starting at age 65, immigrants legally present in the U.S. for less than five years are not eligible and private insurance companies generally do not offer health insurance plans for those over 65. Although there are health insurance options, but these are usually catastrophic traveler’s insurance.


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    Organizers. From L to R: Sam Mukherjee, Mayur Modi, Zafar Iqbal, Dr. Surinder Singh Gill


    They usually have a very high deductible and they are very expensive. In view of these harsh realities facing elderly community members from the Subcontinent, the Masjid Gulzar E Madina of Islamic Center Millford Mill Road, Pikesville, Maryland took a bold initiative to organize a first health fair on Sunday 23rd November2014. A number of area community organizations, such as the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) – Metropolitan Washington, Philippines Nurses Association, Chinese Culture and Community Center, Muslim Community Clinic Inc., Silver Spring, Capital Region Telugu Society, Kerala Cultural Organization and Hindu Seva, co-sponsored this event.

    A large number of physicians, nurses, and healthcare workers volunteered their resources and worked tirelessly to provide their services for a large number of attendees covering a wide range of ages. An easy access to physicians of diverse specialties under one roof provided convenient consultation for wide range of medical issues. In addition to primary care, the medical specialties available for free consultations in a privacy setting included primary care, endocrinology, gastroenterology, hematology-oncology, otolaryngology, orthopedics, rheumatology, and medical ID cards for the community.

    Colgate-sponsored dental van provided dental consultation for children ages 1 to 12. Maryland Physicians Care Van made nutritional healthy food, Amerigroup sponsored Moon Bounce for children, and Columbia Lite House Van did eye sight screenings. The health fair also provided massage therapy and yoga enthusiasts displayed their skills and love for healthy living. Besides yoga sessions on site, there were diabetes and cancer prevention education vendors, healthy living demos and advice booths.

    Mental and behavioral health information, often a taboo topic, was sensitively offered by Counselors Helping South Asians/Indians (Chai). The Samar Group obtained bone marrow sign ups and the Washington Regional Transplant enrolled organ donor. Volunteers from a local Farm Market gave a wide range of fresh vegetables to all attendees. “The outstanding accomplishments of the day were made possible by the cohesive and dedicated collaboration of the Health Fair planning team, physicians, allied medical personnel, county and state health agencies, voluntary charitable organizations countless volunteers, Masjid management, and the Health Fair Advertising team as well as the support of the local organizations,” said Dr. Zafar Iqbal, President GOPIO DC Chapter.

    This successful event was coordinated by Mayur Mody and the management of Islamic Center thanked him for providing excellent leadership with efficient and indefatigable energy. The logistics for medical team was coordinated by Dr. Surinder Singh Gill and Dr. Alif Manijwala, and Dr. Sukhpal headed the team of volunteers. The health fair was open to people of all different ethnic, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds and over 400 people were able to get medical consultation.

  • Murmurs in US: Secret Service lapses deliberate

    Murmurs in US: Secret Service lapses deliberate

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland was at the grocery store the other day when he ran into an elderly black woman who expressed growing concern about President Obama’s safety. Why, she asked, wasn’t he being better protected by his Secret Service agents?

    The furore that led to this week’s resignation of the director of the Secret Service resonated deeply among blacks, outraged that those supposed to be guarding the first black president were somehow falling down on the job — and suspicious even without evidence that it may be deliberate. “It is something that is widespread in black circles,” said Representative Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri, who like Cummings is an African-American Democrat who has been approached by voters expressing such a concern. “I’ve been hearing this for some time: ‘Well, the Secret Service, they’re trying to expose the president.’ You hear a lot of that from African-Americans in particular.”

    Both Cummings and Cleaver said that they did not believe the Secret Service lapses reported recently had anything to do with Obama’s race and that they had tried to dispel the notion among their constituents. But the profound doubts they have encountered emphasize the nation’s persistent racial divide and reflect an abiding fear for Obama’s security that has unnerved blacks still mindful of the assassinations of Malcolm X and the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

    It is a longstanding fear. Colin Powell’s wife urged him not to run for president in 1996 out of fear that he might be targeted. And when Obama took office in January 2009, the Secret Service recorded an alarming surge in threats against him. The threat level since then has actually fallen back to a rate more typical of previous presidents, officials said, but potential racial animosity persists in risk calculations by the Secret Service as it seeks to protect Obama.

    The Secret Service does not discuss the nature of threats against Obama in much detail, but said the agency was fervently devoted to his security. “The Secret Service is committed to protecting the first family and the president at all costs,” said Ed Donovan, an agency spokesman. “We recognize that protecting the president is a sacred trust we have with the US public and that they place in us. It’s never mattered to the service who the president is because we recognize that trust.”

  • US GURDWARAS ENDORSE THE CAMPAIGN TO CHANGE PERCEPTION OF SIKHS AND PLEDGE FINANCIAL BACKING

    US GURDWARAS ENDORSE THE CAMPAIGN TO CHANGE PERCEPTION OF SIKHS AND PLEDGE FINANCIAL BACKING

    WASHINGTON (TIP):
    Gurdwaras across the country convened in Washington D.C. August 16-17for an unprecedented grassroots meeting called by the newly formed National Sikh Campaign (NSC) to shape the Sikh image in America. Over 100 Representatives from Gurdwaras from all over the United States pledged their support to the National Sikh Campaign’s plan to engage top US political operatives and media firms for presenting the community positively.

    During the strategy session, Geoff Garin of Hart Research, who served as Hillary Clinton’s former top political strategist and Isaac Baker of AKPD Message and Media, President Obama’s media firm, outlined a roadmap of how Sikhs can change perceptions in the United States and how crucial the campaign will be to the future of Sikhs. Mr. Garin, also gave the meeting’s participants an exclusive update on the National Sikh Campaign’s groundbreaking messaging research that will underpin the effort and inform the community how it can effectively communicate to the American public.

    Gurwin Ahuja, Executive Director of the National Sikh Campaign, while welcoming the Sikh leaders, said, “The Sikh community in US has never been more educated, more wealthy, and more successful than today and we’ve also never had this many Gurdwara leaders together in a room. We have never been more primed to do something big. This is perhaps the first time a thorough scientific data will be made available to the community within and without to set the next path of our campaign.”

    After hearing from the strategists, the meeting held a closed door strategy session, which lasted several hours and focused on specific action steps to make lasting change in the United States. Sikh Leaders worked together to create a realistic region by region breakdown of US Gurdwaras and fundraising strategies were also discussed and approved to reach an overall target of $5 Million USD.

    Dr. Rajwant Singh, President of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education and Senior Advisor to NSC, who facilitated the discussion among the Gurdwara leaders, said, “The consensus was that there is a critical need for this kind of media strategy for the Sikh community. Secondly, all possible efforts need to be made to include as many Gurdwaras as possible in the network as partners.

    Thirdly, our goal is to keep the focus on introducing Sikhism and the Sikh identity while showing the positive contribution of the community in the media.” He added, “Almost every person said that this type of campaign should have been launched long time ago and would have prevented many hardships that many members of the community have had to face since 9/11.” Dr. Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, President of the Oak Creek Gurdwara from Wisconsin, said, “As I understood the aim of the campaign is to counteract the negative image and perceptions Americans have about Sikhs and Sikhism and create a positive image of Sikhs and our faith.

    We are 100% behind this campaign. It is well conceived and planned and I am sure it will also be well executed by the team. This is about taking a proactive approach, or as in medicine we would say, a preventative approach– ‘Prevention is better than a cure’ approach. Hopefully that will prevent future tragedies for our people.” Sikh representatives came from the following states: Illinois, Connecticut, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Indiana, Delaware, and over 70 people joined from others states over the phone.

    In addition, 30 youth from high school and college age held their separate meeting as part of the organizing for this campaign. Gagan Kaur, an active leader at Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, who attended the meeting said, “I think what stuck with me the most about this conference was watching the transformation in people’s perceptions and attitudes by the end of the conference.

    It was obvious that the organizers had done their homework as everyone left feeling excited and ready to do their part for the campaign in their respective states and organizations.” She continued, “We have waited long enough- now is the time to stop the victim mentality and become proactive in how we are perceived. I urge all Sikhs to take this campaign seriously and make sure that our voice is heard.”

    Another attendee from the Sikh Religious Society in Chicago, Jasvir Kaur Singh, said “I was honored to be a part of the strategy session. It’s long overdue that Sikh organizations and Gurdwaras work together to take a proactive approach to the challenges Sikhs face in America. This was the first time I’ve attended a Sikh event where we hoped to check our egos at the door and have a candid conversation about the lack of progress we’ve made despite our attempts and personal, professional successes.”

    Dr. Inderpal Singh, President of the Gurdwara in Atlanta, GA said: “This Campaign will provide research-based solutions to the awareness crisis facing the Sikh community in America and all over the world. We have a story to share about the Sikh values, which are American values. The National Sikh Campaign is our hope and aspiration for a better world through awareness and collaboration.”

    Swaranjit Singh Khalsa of the Sikh Sewak Society International based in Connecticut stated “The National Sikh Campaign will not only educate our fellow Americans about Sikhism but I think this will also provide a common platform to all Sikhs institutes to work together and show their unity.” Surinder Singh, treasurer of NSC, said, “Each moment in which something happens is the right moment. It is relevant to our current effort, no matter how belated. There is unity of purpose and now we have to create harmony of actions. This will be relevant to our collaborative effort and participation by the entire community.”

    Jivan Singh Achreja, the National Strategy Director who facilitated the fundraising strategy, said, ” Although the task of raising 5 million dollars seems difficult, looking at the overwhelming response we have seen since this campaign was launched in March 2014, this task seems surmountable. A large section of the community will be tapped through Gurdwaras and online sources in a creative fundraising strategy that will involve all levels of the community.”

    Dr. Manjeet Kaur of North Carolina said “I am so pleased to see that Gurdwaras and representatives from throughout the world showed that they are willing to come together and work on this project with full enthusiasm for the future. Only by working together can we achieve lasting change in this country. This cause is too vast to be done alone, only through the combined effort of the US sangat (community) can we make this a reality.” Charandeep Singh from Sikh Channel in the UK left the meeting saying, “The National Sikh Campaign has marked a historically important first step in changing the American perception of the Sikh identity.

    A clear, transparent and achievable funding structure has been developed requiring support from the global Sikh Diaspora. This endeavor is imperative for the future of the American and ultimately global Sikh community.” The meeting also heard presentations from Gurwin Singh Ahuja, the Executive Director, Dr. Rajwant Singh, Senior Adviser, Jivan Achreja, National Strategy Director, and Surinder Singh, Treasurer. The event was organized by Misha Kaur, Nuri Kaur, Sehejneet Kaur, Hana Kaur, Jagjot Kaur, Jasraj Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Maninder Singh, and Harpreet Singh.

  • US anthrax probe reveals new bird flu mishap, widespread safety lapses

    US anthrax probe reveals new bird flu mishap, widespread safety lapses

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Federal health officials on July 12 disclosed a new safety breach at a high-security US government laboratory involving dangerous avian flu, a lapse that came to light as they investigated the potential exposure of researchers to live anthrax bacteria. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said an internal probe found multiple failures by individual scientists and a lack of agency-wide safety policies led to the potential exposure of more than 80 lab workers to live anthrax at its Atlanta campus last month. Researchers in a high-security bioterror lab sent samples of what they thought were inactivated bacteria to colleagues in a lower-security lab, with fewer protections.

    Investigators also discovered a previously unreported incident: Workers at a separate high-security CDC influenza lab sent samples containing a dangerous strain of bird flu to counterparts at the US department of agriculture in March. Mishandling avian flu could have far graver consequences than anthrax does, though no one has been found to have been infected in either case. The two incidents represent the latest in a series of breaches at the CDC in the last decade that are drawing fresh scrutiny from Congress, including questions about the agency’s ability to oversee potentially dangerous research.

    The CDC said its findings provide a “wake-up call” to overhaul the standards governing experiments with deadly pathogens nationwide. Biosecurity has focused on “how to keep bad guys out of the lab,” Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota and a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, which advises the federal government, said in a telephone interview. “One of the critical issues we need to focus on is the good guys who just forget to do it safely.”

    The CDC’s director, Dr Thomas Frieden, called the bird flu incident “the most distressing,” in part because it occurred six weeks ago but was not reported to senior agency leadership. “I learned about it less than 48 hours ago,” he told reporters in a teleconference, adding that the events likely “have people questioning government.” “We need to look at our culture of safety throughout all of our laboratories,” Frieden said. “I’m upset, I’m angry. I’ve lost sleep over it and I’m doing everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Frieden also pointed to the discovery this month of six vials of smallpox in an unused room at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland, near Washington.

    Frieden disclosed on Friday that two of the vials dated from 1954 contained live smallpox virus, a global scourge for centuries. The CDC’s anthrax report does not name any of the responsible individuals. Frieden said the CDC would discipline any staff who knowingly violated research procedures or failed to report a lab breach. “These repeated safety failures raise grave concerns about the CDC’s ability to ensure strict procedures, protocols and training are followed,” said representative Tim Murphy, chairman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee that has called Frieden to testify on July 10.

    The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is also pressing US department of health and human services, which oversees the CDC, for answers, according to a letter to HHS secretary Sylvia Burwell. An HHS spokesman said the CDC has outlined “corrective actions” to prevent future mishaps at its laboratories. “Dr Frieden is leading those efforts,” the spokesman said. CDC is suspending any transfers inside or outside the agency of biological materials, including infectious agents and even inactivated specimens, from high-biosecurity labs. Both the CDC bioterror lab that handled the anthrax bacteria and the agency’s influenza lab are closed pending further study of what happened.

    Bird flu concerns
    Outside experts agreed that shipping what CDC scientists believed were samples of a fairly benign form of influenza but which were mixed with the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu was even more alarming than the anthrax incident. “The last place you want to be mixing up samples is in influenza,” said Osterholm. “The ability for that to jump from the lab bench to the community is substantially greater.” H5N1, although highly lethal, is not easily transmitted from one infected person to another, which would limit its spread in case of a lab-acquired infection or an escape from a lab.

    Other scientists raised alarm over the CDC disclosure that the same lab responsible for the anthrax incident had a similar lapse in 2006, when researchers transferred what they thought was inactivated bacteria to another facility. “That the same kind of incident can recur shows that the CDC does not learn from its own mistakes,” molecular biologist Richard Ebright of Rutgers University and an expert on biosafety said in a telephone interview. Just a year earlier, the CDC published recommendations on how to prevent shipments of what scientists believe to be inactivated anthrax but which are in fact viable.

    The anthrax probe
    In the anthrax case, investigators found that the scientists failed to follow an approved study plan that met safety requirements and lacked standard procedures to document when microbes are properly inactivated. The researchers were not aware of the most recent scientific literature on how best to inactivate the bacteria. Once CDC officials were alerted to the breach, their response also fell short. For instance, CDC scientists in other labs first learned of the event not through official communication but “by witnessing CDC closing and/or decontaminating laboratories,” the report said.

    deficiencies noted in the report included inconsistent decontamination procedures in the affected labs and a lack of clear command for handling the incident in the first week after it occurred. To prevent future mishaps, CDC is creating a “lead laboratory science” position to be accountable for safety and setting up an external advisory committee on biosafety. Rutgers’ Ebright suggested that an outside agency should oversee CDC’s work with dangerous pathogens. “Without removing the responsibility for oversight from the very organization that carries out the work, it’s hard to think that the recommendations will really be implemented,” he said.

  • We bring to the readers of The Indian Panorama brief profiles of the distinguished honorees.

    We bring to the readers of The Indian Panorama brief profiles of the distinguished honorees.

    Prof. Arvind Panagariya, Padma Bhushan Excellence in the field of Global Economics.

    Arvind Panagariya is the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy in the Department of International and Public Affairs and of Economics at Columbia University, NY. He was formerly a professor of economics and co-director of the Center for International and Public Affairs at the University of Maryland and the Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank. He has been an advisor the World Bank, IMF, WTO, and UNCTAD in various capacities and is the front runner to be appointed as the Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi. Prof. Panagariya has written or edited more than a halfdozen books, including The Economics of Preferential Trade Agreements with Jagdish Bhagwati (1996).

    In addition, Prof Panagariya writes a monthly column in the Economic Times, India’s top financial daily. He has also written guest columns in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, India Today, and Outlook. Prof. Panagariya holds a BA from Rajasthan University (1971) and a PhD in Economics from Princeton University (1978). He was awarded India’s third highest civilian honor, the Padma Bhushan by the President of India in 2012.

  • An unnoticed fact: the RSS, India’s biggest NGO, too, gets foreign funding

    An unnoticed fact: the RSS, India’s biggest NGO, too, gets foreign funding

    In 2002, a citizens’ report documented how a US-based charity was funneling funds to Sangh entities in India.

    By Naresh Fernandes : Amidst the debate about non-profits, one fact seems to have gone largely unremarked upon: India’s biggest NGO, one that played a crucial role in installing Modi as prime minister, also receives foreign funds. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which has an estimated 2.5 million members, created an army of panna prabharis to help Modi during the election campaign.

    Each prabhari was entrusted with contacting voters on a single page of the electoral rolls and getting them to the polling booth. As Scroll.in has reported, this strategy paid rich dividends. Modi’s wariness of foreign-funded NGOs evidently does not extend to the RSS, of which he has been a member since 1971.

    In 2002, a report titled The Foreign Exchange of Hate: IDRF and the American Funding of Hindutva, put together by a group called The Campaign To Stop Funding Hate, documented how the India Development and Relief Fund, a charity based in the US state of Maryland, was funneling funds to Sangh institutions in India.

    It claimed that the IDRF had sent more than $3 million to Sangh institutions in the seven years before the report was published. With NGOs being put under the scanner, this may be a good time to officially scrutinize the funding of the Brotherhood in Saffron.

  • White House hails undocumented Delhi girl as ‘Champion of Change’

    White House hails undocumented Delhi girl as ‘Champion of Change’

    WASHINGTON: New Delhi-born Pratishtha Khanna, who came to the US illegally at the age of ten, is one of ten local “Champions of Change” honoured by the White House for their exemplary leadership in their communities. All the ten honoured on Tuesday were what are called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients under a programme initiated by President Barack Obama through a memo signed on June 15, 2012.

    The programme requires the US immigration authorities to defer removal action for certain undocumented young people who came to the US as children and have pursued education or military service here.

    They are also often referred to as “DREAMers” as most of them meet the general requirements of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act “These DACA recipients serve as success stories and role models in their academic and professional spheres,” the White House said.

    Khanna from Laurel, Maryland for one, is currently a senior at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and will graduate in May with a BS in Biology. She is an active member of the API Youth Convening-DACA Collaborative planning committee and the Maryland Dream Youth Committee (MDYC). She is also a member of Dreamers for DREAMers student organization at UMBC.

    After graduation, Khanna will be working (thanks to DACA) as an Emergency room medical scribe and will pursue a Certified Nursing Assistant Programme at Howard Community College. She hopes to attend medical school in fall 2017.

    “These champions distinguished themselves through their community involvement and the hard work they put into helping other members of their academic and professional communities succeed,” White House said. The White House event was intended to “showcase these inspirational young leaders and highlight the importance of providing talented young people with the opportunity to realize their full potential”.

  • NYC Comptroller urges raising minimum wage to $13.13 per hour

    NYC Comptroller urges raising minimum wage to $13.13 per hour

    OVER ONE MILLION NEW YORK CITY RESIDENTS WOULD SEE WAGES RISE BY $100 A WEEK

    NEW YORK CITY (TIP): Raising the minimum wage to $13.13 in New York City would benefit nearly 1.2 million City residents by an average of $100 a week, according to an analysis released June 16, by Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. “New York City deserves the ability to set its own minimum wage,” Comptroller Stringer said. “We are falling behind other states and cities when it comes to the minimum wage, despite the fact that this is the most expensive city in which to live in the nation.

    There is no one size fits all when it comes to the minimum wage; raising it to $13.13 would make an enormous difference for more than one million New York City residents.” Currently, New York State’s minimum wage is $8.00/hour, and is set to rise to $8.75/hour in 2015 and $9.00/hour in 2016. These small increases are not sufficient to make a substantial impact on the lives of lowwage workers.

    Comptroller Stringer supports a State bill co-sponsored by Assemblymember Carl Heastie/Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Senator Adriano Espaillat/Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (A8343A/S6518A) which would raise the minimum wage in New York State to $10.10/hour by December 31, 2015 and allow cities and counties to establish local minimum wages of up to 30% above the state minimum, or $13.13. This local flexibility is particularly important for New York City, where the cost of living is 80% higher than in Buffalo, 70% higher than in Rochester, and 60% higher than in Albany. Not only is New York City’s cost of living the highest in the State, it is also the highest in the country.

    Because of this, low-wage workers rely on public programs to subsidize their incomes. The Comptroller’s estimate shows the greatest number of beneficiaries of a raised minimum wage would be in Brooklyn, with 376,000 people seeing a raise in their wages, followed by 348,000 in Queens, 220,000 in the Bronx, 194,000 in Manhattan and 31,000 on Staten Island. When adjusted for cost-of-living, the City’s current minimum wage is the lowest of any major city in the nation.

    Many cities across the country have recently increased their municipal minimum wages, helping millions of working families in the process. San Francisco’s is $10.74; San Jose’s is $10.15; Santa Fe’s is $10.51; and Washington D.C.’s is set to rise to $11.50 by 2016. And just this month, Seattle enacted the nation’s highest minimum wage of $15.00/hour. Many states have also hiked their minimum wages in recent months.

    In March, Connecticut enacted an increase up to $10.10/hour and in May, Maryland followed suit. In addition, Vermont enacted a $10.50/hour wage and the Massachusetts Senate voted to raise the Commonwealth’s minimum wage to $11 by 2017. “New York City should be a leader, not a follower, when it comes to raising the minimum wage. The time has come for the Big Apple to pay its workers a wage that works for employees and employers,” Stringer said.

  • INDIA GOT 93,000 US WORK VISAS IN 2013

    INDIA GOT 93,000 US WORK VISAS IN 2013

    CHENNAI (TIP): US President Barack Obama was not too far off the mark when he told students at Maryland recently that Americans would have to compete against Indians and Chinese for good jobs in the present and near future. Consider this: India is slated to get nearly 60 per cent of all H-1B work visas that the US issues worldwide. India alone got 93,000 H-1B visas out of an estimated 1,48,000 visas issued worldwide by the US in 2013.

    The Chennai Consulate General alone issued 37,000 visas, which means just one consulate in India is issuing nearly 24 per cent of all H-1B visas issued worldwide, top officials of the US Consulate General said. The rest 55,000 visas were shared by scores of other countries competing with India. The other consulates in India taken together issued the rest 56,000 visas.

    This means around 30-32 per cent of all visas issued in India come from the Chennai consulate alone, indicating the enormous number of people waiting to travel to the US. The IT sector is strong in Southern India which explains the demand. While 65,000 H-1B visas is the worldwide limit approved by the US Congress, the number of visas actually issued shoots up because there are H-1B visas that do not fall under the 65,000 cap and because hundreds of visas come up for renewal, consulate officials said.

  • Indian-Americans basis for transformation of India-US ties: Ambassador Jaishankar

    Indian-Americans basis for transformation of India-US ties: Ambassador Jaishankar

    WASHINGTON (TIP): “India-US relationship has changed dramatically. When one thinks about the transformation of our ties, it is natural to attribute it to some good diplomacy on both sides…but to me, the basis for transformation of this relationship is the Indian-American community,” S Jaishankar said.

    Addressing the Indian-American community from Greater Washington Area at a reception hosted in his honor by the National Council of Asian Indian Associations, Jaishankar praised this small ethnic community for carving a distinct space for itself in the US in almost all spheres of lives. “When an American thinks of India, the image that comes to peoples mind are Indian-American neighbors, their Indian American colleagues at workplace, the people who provide them services.

    This is the community, which is regarded as the best educated community, highest income community and extraordinary responsible community,” Jaishankar told the audience, representing some 130,000 strong Indian- American community in the Greater Washington Area. The Ambassador said even through difficult times, one of the commendable aspects of the community has been “to be good Indians, good Americans” and consequently, be good Indian- Americans. Observing that the relationship has grown enormously, Jaishankar said the “time has come to set new goals… ambitious goals for ourselves”.

    He identified energy and education as the two sectors where India and the United States can enhance their bilateral partnership, in addition to the strategic and defense relationship to ensure a safer, prosperous and peaceful world. In the next three years, the US would emerge as one of the major energy providers to New Delhi when it would start shipping natural gas to India, Jaishankar said. Coinciding with the new envoy’s public reception by the community, Maryland Governor Martin Joseph O’Malley proclaimed February 15 as ‘S Jaishankar Day’ in recognition of his role in strengthening India-US relationship. The citation in this regard was read and presented by Maryland Secretary of State Rajan Natarajan.

  • Indian-Americans basis for transformation of India-US ties: Ambassador Jaishankar

    Indian-Americans basis for transformation of India-US ties: Ambassador Jaishankar

    WASHINGTON (TIP): “India-US relationship has changed dramatically. When one thinks about the transformation of our ties, it is natural to attribute it to some good diplomacy on both sides…but to me, the basis for transformation of this relationship is the Indian- American community,” S Jaishankar said.

    Addressing the Indian- American community from Greater Washington Area at a reception hosted in his honor by the National Council of Asian Indian Associations, Jaishankar praised this small ethnic community for carving a distinct space for itself in the US in almost all spheres of lives. “When an American thinks of India, the image that comes to peoples mind are Indian- American neighbors, their Indian American colleagues at workplace, the people who provide them services.

    This is the community, which is regarded as the best educated community, highest income community and extraordinary responsible community,” Jaishankar told the audience, representing some 130,000 strong Indian-American community in the Greater Washington Area. The Ambassador said even through difficult times, one of the commendable aspects of the community has been “to be good Indians, good Americans” and consequently, be good Indian- Americans. Observing that the relationship has grown enormously, Jaishankar said the “time has come to set new goals… ambitious goals for ourselves”. He identified energy and education as the two sectors where India and the United States can enhance their bilateral partnership, in addition to the strategic and defense relationship to ensure a safer, prosperous and peaceful world.

    In the next three years, the US would emerge as one of the major energy providers to New Delhi when it would start shipping natural gas to India, Jaishankar said. Coinciding with the new envoy’s public reception by the community, Maryland Governor Martin Joseph O’Malley proclaimed February 15 as ‘S Jaishankar Day’ in recognition of his role in strengthening India- US relationship. The citation in this regard was read and presented by Maryland Secretary of State Rajan Natarajan.

  • Queens Borough President Katz presents gifts to United War Veterans Council

    Queens Borough President Katz presents gifts to United War Veterans Council

    Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, during an event at Queens Borough Hall on Monday, February 10, presented United War Veterans Council (UWVC) executive director Patrick Gualtieri and other UWVC representatives with cards and gifts donated by her and her employees in the Borough President’s office.

    The UWVC will be distributing the donated items to veterans at the Saint Albans veterans hospital. UWVC collected the donations as part of its annual Valentine’s Day Caravan, which collects and delivers thousands of donated cards and gifts to military members, veterans and their families at veterans’ hospitals and military bases in New York City, Long Island, New Jersey and Bethesda, Maryland.

  • Major snowstorm slams northeastern US, 3,000 flights cancelled

    Major snowstorm slams northeastern US, 3,000 flights cancelled

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The northeastern US shivered amid heavy snowfall and far below average temperatures on January 23 in a storm that grounded thousands of flights and triggered traffic chaos.

    The nasty weather with its bone-chilling gusts and heavy snow stretched from Washington to New England. The Midwest was hit hard, too. Taking into account the wind chill factor, the temperature in Chicago plummeted to minus 20 Fahrenheit (-28 Celsius), the Chicago Tribune said.

    In the nation’s largest city, the Tuesday evening commute home in New York was a mess and the city was expected to get as many as 14 inches (35 cm) of snow by Wednesday morning. “It’s horrible. Snow is cute for only a little bit,” Mary Catherine Hughes, standing by a subway stop with an umbrella rendered useless in fierce wind, told The New York Times. The city’s new mayor Bill de Blasio urged people to stay home say road crews could clear streets.


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    Downtown Washington fell eerily silent after the federal government, seeing the swift-moving storm approaching, closed its doors and told civil servants — who already had the day off on Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday — to stay home on Tuesday. On January 23, federal agencies were to open two hours late. Employees could also take unscheduled leave, and those that can were allowed to work from home. The nation’s capital is famous for cowering in the face of even a few flakes but Tuesday’s storm seemed to justify a shutdown.

    Many offices and schools followed suit, as 20 mile (32 kilometer) per hour winds whipped through the US capital’s unusually quiet streets. Most area schools, in the city and neighboring Maryland and Virginia, were to remain closed again on January 23. Washington’s Metro public transit system reported Tuesday half as many riders as on a typical weekday. Business was so slow that many restaurants used Twitter to woo customers with bargain-priced drinks while others offered customers 2-for-1 deals.

    In Philadelphia, as of early evening Tuesday, the official total at Philadelphia International Airport was 11 inches of snow, a record for the day January 21. The “storm system will strengthen overnight in the Atlantic waters off the East Coast, spreading heavy snow and strong wind into coastal sections of New England and the Northeast,” the National Weather Service said. Temperatures across the eastern part of the country Wednesday will be 10 to 25 degrees below average, amid bitter wind chills, it warned.

    Flight Aware, a website that monitors air traffic in real time, said nearly 3,000 flights into, out of or within the United States had been cancelled on Tuesday. The lion’s share of affected flights involved busy airports in the New York, Philadelphia and Washington areas. Seven inches (18 centimeters) of snow had fallen at Washington’s Dulles International Airport while some 11 inches were reported at the Philadelphia International Airport, according to AccuWeather, a private forecasting service. Accumulations of six to 12 inches were expected over the mid-Atlantic to southeastern New England, it said.

    National rail company Amtrak said it would operate “a modified schedule” Wednesday on its Northeast Corridor line between Washington and Boston, as well as on two other routes in the hard-hit region. States of emergency were declared there, as well as in New Jersey and Delaware, according to the media. More than 1,700 plows were to be mobilized in New York on January 22 night to clear up to 10 inches of snow, it reported. Across the Hudson River, New Jersey went ahead with its mid-day inauguration ceremony for re-elected governor Chris Christie, who is battling allegations he used his office to bully political foes.

    But an evening gala on historic Ellis Island in New York Harbor to mark the start of his new term in office was scrapped due to the storm. Schools across the Northeast either closed for the day or told parents to expect their youngsters to be dismissed from class earlier than usual. Closures in many areas were extended through on January 24. Meanwhile, courthouses called off proceedings in the afternoon. What the National Weather Service called a “fast moving but potent” snowstorm had earlier dumped seven inches of snow on airports in the Chicago area, before temperatures fell to the freezing level.

  • ‘Big Ideas for a Better India’ focuses on finding new synergies of institutional and technological cooperation

    ‘Big Ideas for a Better India’ focuses on finding new synergies of institutional and technological cooperation

    WASHINGTON (TIP): December 23, 2013: ‘Big Ideas for a Better India’ event has brought together key influencers from the NRI community from all across the United States. More than 100 Indian community leaders from 25 major cities came together on this unique occasion at the University of Maryland. The main focus of the event – curate and implement the best ideas in an objective manner – to address the challenges faced by India. The event was well received, with distinguished representatives of religious and non-profit organizations, prominent venture capitalists, lawyers and doctors participating to effect positive change in India.

    The event featured a presentation on the role of ‘Overseas Volunteer for Better India’ in bringing together people from different backgrounds under one umbrella & addressing issues in India today. The event also unveiled “Vote for a Better India” android app that will be used to power Voteathon – an inter college voter registration competition that is expected to have over 10,000 participating colleges with the goal of registering over 30 million voters. World renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who presided over the event as the keynote speaker said that we should take pride in the heritage and language of our nation. He asked all Indians to come together build a nation on the pillars of spirituality.


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    A view of the gathering watching the power point presentation

    Naveen Jain emphasized people’s role as visionaries in creating & executing ideas and bringing forth abundance of opportunities through entrepreneurship. Rajiv Malhotra stressed on inner development to help individuals inspire to create a greater nation, a nation that in turn inspires the individuals. The panel discussion focused on concerted efforts on finding new synergies of institutional and technological cooperation. These BIG ideas will provide many action oriented professional approaches to help India march towards becoming a global leader. Meanwhile back in India, Volunteer for Better India (VBI) in conjunction with Election Commission of India is driving up a huge effort to create awareness of the voter registration program in light of the upcoming general elections in India in 2014. OVBI called upon the NRIs to register themselves to vote and travel to India for a fortnight to contribute to voter education drive. They also urged them to encourage their family and friends to vote for a better India. The event showcased the changing role of the Indian- American diaspora in the Indian growth story.

    About OVBI:
    Overseas Volunteers for a Better India (OVBI), an apolitical organization, was launched in May 2013 and is the overseas wing of the Indian organization VBI. It provides a global platform for the 23 million non-resident Indian (NRI) community worldwide; a platform to work toward a positive transformation. OVBI and its corps of volunteers are working tirelessly on a campaign to boost the voter registration, education and voter turnout for the 2014 India elections. With a target to increase the voter turnout by 100 million, the ‘I Vote for a Better India’ campaign is gearing towards one of the largest nation building activity in 2014 to impact the future of India. For more details visit: www.overseasvbi.org

  • Can Harvard stop awarding so many As?

    Can Harvard stop awarding so many As?

    NEW YORK (TIP): CNN Reporter Stephen Joel Trachtenberg has put a question mark on the evaluation of performance of students at the iconic Harvard University in an article published December 6. The article reads as under. In case anyone had a shadow of a doubt that most Harvard students are precocious, smart, if not learned, we hear from the lips of Harvard’s Dean of Undergraduate Education, Jay M. Harris, that nearly all the students at Harvard are indeed above average — so much so that the median grade given is an A- and the most frequent grade awarded is an A! What are we to make of the news? Well, first of all, this is not exactly news.

    Harvard and many elite colleges across the country have witnessed the creeping ivy of grade inflation for quite some time — a situation that has just about eliminated failure as a possibility. It makes one wonder why the school bothers giving grades at all. In the mid-1970s, when I was a dean at Boston University, there were rumors that a certain professor was indiscriminately awarding a final grade of A to all his students. That was unusual back then when most professors graded on the bell curve and only a handful of the best students received an A. Some actually failed and most received grades of B or C. But in the case of this particular professor everybody got an A. As a test, I surreptitiously enrolled a fictitious student into the roster of his next class. This “nobody” never came to class, never wrote a term paper and never took an exam. At the end of the semester the mysterious student received an A. That led to a discussion with the professor.

    In a tone of righteous indignation he claimed I had overstepped my bounds to play such a trick on him.With righteous indignation I claimed that he had underperformed as a professor by acting in a reckless manner, grading his students with careless abandonment. Steam came out of both our ears. I believed his actions were a mark of failure in academic responsibility. Grades serve several purposes. They are a tool that measures a student’s progress in relation to others in a class; they allow financial aid and scholarship committees to assess merit; and they culminate in a 4-year overall performance record in the form of a college transcript. Academic strengths and weaknesses are discovered over a period of time. To some extent Harvard’s faculty have abandoned their responsibilities to their students as well as to those who wish to judge their students: Admission officers at law and medical school; faculty selecting graduates to mentor them for advanced degree programs; employers deciding between applicants for jobs. Decades ago, professors were often characterized by their students on the severity of their grading.

    Professor Smith is a tough grader — no one gets an A. Or, Professor Jones is an easy grader — no one fails.What can be said today? All the professors are easy marks as well as easy markers. Why give everyone an A? When the admissions office puts together a freshman class full of high school valedictorians who have perfect grades and SAT scores, there is no doubt they are bringing capable students to the campus. But the power has shifted from the faculty to the students and a new form of entitlement on the part of students has developed. If students are paying $55,000 a year, they may feel they have paid for the As in dollars as well as sense. Is there an unspoken academic transaction that is filtering into the university landscape now that tuition prices are in the stratosphere? Has higher education morphed into a consumer business in which the customer is always right? It seems like it. First, universities have to compete for students in the marketplace. Then faculties do the same after students enroll. Professors want to be popular. They want good ratings from students at the end of semester reviews just as the students want good grades from them.

    Gut courses, once the exception, have become more common. Faculty tenure, promotions and raises may turn on such matters right along with publications and other measures. University life, long a contact sport, has been upgraded to a blood sport. It’s become a “dogeat- dog” business in which departments try to fill quotas for majors. And then there are the parents who are quick to speak out if they think their sons or daughters are under appreciated. Is there a solution that can stop grade inflation? Yes, of course. In 2004, Princeton readjusted their grading system instructing the faculty not give more than 35% of their undergraduate students A or A- grades, and apparently Yale is currently discussing a similar adjustment. Harvard faculty should construct a ladder that has a rung at the bottom, middle and top. Last week, I had the privilege to chair the Rhodes Scholarship selection committee for the D.C., Maryland, North Carolina district.We interviewed 13 semi-finalists and selected 2 award winners. All 13 were exceptional; the final decision came down to the splitting of hairs. Out of the 32 Rhodes Scholars named across the United States, Harvard students came away with 6, an impressive outcome however one slices the pie. Perhaps they are all A students. But now we know many Harvard students receive As.

  • Telugu Association of North America (TANA) to celebrate achievements of Telugu women and youth

    Telugu Association of North America (TANA) to celebrate achievements of Telugu women and youth

    NEW JERSEY (TIP): Telugu Association of North America (TANA) will be hosting a one day conference to celebrate the achievements of Telugu women and youth on Saturday, March 8, 2014 at Royal Albert Hall in Edison, New Jersey. The day-long conference would feature lectures, forums and workshops on various issues that affect first and second generation Telugu women and youth in the United States. Mohan Nannapaneni, President of TANA, stated that TANA is organizing this special Conference as part of its efforts to identify and address the special needs of Telugu women and youth.


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    Aruna Katragadda Miller, Member of Maryland House of Delegates, is the first Telugu Woman to be elected to a state legislature in US. Delegate Aruna Miller will be a Guest of Honor at the TANA Women and Youth Conference.

    He noted that as the social fabric changed over the last five decades, the needs and aspirations of Telugu women in North America also changed and TANA wanted to offer a platform to discuss the recent developments and come up with plans to address them. The Conference would also celebrate the many achievements of Telugu youth in vastly divergent fields. Many other Telugu women and youth who excelled in various fields will be participating in the Conference and their achievements will also be celebrated. The daytime program is open mainly for women and youth. It will be followed by a special cultural program in the evening with famous singers, dancers and artists and is open to general audience.


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    Subha Vedula, semifinalist of American Idol 2012 season. Ms. Vedula, the first Indian female in history to make it to the top 20 females of the hit reality TV show, American Idol, will be a special guest.

    For details contact:
    Mohan Nannapaneni, President (508) 612-6676, president@tana.org Satish Vemana, Secretary : (703) 731-8367, secretary@tana.org Lakshmi Devineni, Chair Person Legal & Immigration Service Committee (732) 822-2493, devineni@yahoo.com Ravi Potluri: (267) 252-2496, ravicpotluri@yahoo.com

  • Target customers file lawsuits after data security breach

    Target customers file lawsuits after data security breach

    MINNEAPOLIS (TIP): Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount chain, faces almost two dozen lawsuits filed by customers after a computer security breach exposed data on 40 million debit and credit cards. Customers have filed complaints seeking class action status for their suits in state and federal courts from the company’s home state of Minnesota to California and New York. Most accuse Target of failing to protect their private information.

    The information obtained during the breach “is a treasure trove for identity theft criminals who could use it to gain access to credit card and other private and valuable information about customers,” one of the plaintiffs, Alfonso E. Alonso III of San Francisco, said in a complaint. Target said Thursday, December 19 that security for the cards may have been breached between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15 during purchases in stores. While the chain said it had identified and resolved the issue, the compromise occurred during the most important period of the year for retailers, with shoppers already showing reluctance to spend. In its latest statement, Target said December 24, it’s unveiling a special website for to communicate with customers.

    The retailer said “limited incidents” of fake communications claiming to be from the company prompted it to set up the dedicated channel for posting information about the breach. Since disclosing the breakdown the Minneapolis-based company has agreed to give some shoppers free credit reporting, assured them they wouldn’t be responsible for fraudulent charges and offered a 10 percent discount on purchases last weekend to regain their trust. Massachusetts is among states probing the security breakdown. The company also said it is “actively partnering” with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Secret Service on a continuing forensic and criminal probe. Neither entity is investigating Target, according to the statement.

    Molly Snyder, a spokeswoman for Target, said the company “typically doesn’t comment on pending litigation.” Meanwhile, one of the victims of Target security breach is targeted again, in Maryland. George Nader, who is a deputy police chief in a county let slip the card, issued him after the breach on Friday, December 20. Nader “unknowingly dropped his newly acquired credit card” at a restaurant on Route 1.Within an hour, the police said, two people, termed “Scrooges,” had scooped up the plastic and started shopping. It was not immediately clear whether Nader has yet received a third card.

  • Same-sex marriage now legal in Utah & New Mexico

    Same-sex marriage now legal in Utah & New Mexico

    S. Saluja SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (TIP): A federal judge, on December 20, struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, saying the law “conflicts with the United States Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process under the law.” In striking down the state law, which voters had approved in 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby wrote in a 53-page ruling that the state’s “current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and, in so doing, demean the dignity of these same-sex couples for no rational reason.

    “Accordingly, the court finds that these laws are unconstitutional,” he said. A day earlier, on December 19, the New Mexico Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in the State, declaring in a ruling that it is unconstitutional to deny a marriage license to gay and lesbian couples. There are 18 States now that allow same sex marriage. 7 States have allowed pursuant to Court decision. These are California (June 28, 2013), Connecticut (Nov. 12, 2008), Iowa (Apr. 24, 2009), Massachusetts (May 17, 2004), New Jersey (Oct. 21, 2013), New Mexico (Dec. 19, 2013), Utah (Dec. 20, 2013). 8 States have allowed same sex marriage through State legislation.

    The states are Delaware (July 1, 2013), Hawaii (Dec. 2, 2013), Illinois (law will take effect June 1, 2014), Minnesota (Aug. 1, 2013), New Hampshire (Jan. 1, 2010), New York (July 24, 2011), Rhode Island (Aug. 1, 2013), Vermont (Sep. 1, 2009). 3 States have allowed same sex marriage by Popular Vote. These states are Maine (Dec. 29, 2012), Maryland (Jan. 1, 2013),Washington (Dec. 9, 2012). Massachusetts is the first State to allow same sex marriage while Utah is the latest to join. However, Illinois legislation to allow same sex marriage will take effect on June 1, 2014.

  • Key NRI community leaders assemble for the ‘BIG IDEAS for a Better India’ event in Washington, DC Metro Area (USA)

    Key NRI community leaders assemble for the ‘BIG IDEAS for a Better India’ event in Washington, DC Metro Area (USA)

    NEW JERSEY (TIP): Overseas Volunteer for a Better India today announced that it will hold ‘Big Ideas for a Better India’ conference on December 22nd in Washington, D.C metro area. This event will bring together a panel of prominent leaders, decision-makers, and well renowned professionals from across the United States in a stirring conversation about ideas to bring change for a better India and further unifying these ideas into action. “World renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will preside over the event as the keynote speaker.

    The other influential leaders including Rajiv Malhotra (philanthropist and founder of Infinity foundation) and Naveen Jain (innovator and entrepreneur) are the speakers in the conference. The event will include the unveiling of the “Vote for a Better India” android app and a presentation about ‘I Vote for a Better India’ campaign launched by VBI (Volunteer for a Better India). More than 100 Indian community leaders from 25 major cities in the U.S are expected to attend this event in Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. Representatives from lawyers and doctors associations, students’ representatives from over 50 US universities, cultural and regional associations, business owners associations, academicians, software professionals and fellow Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from all walks of life are expected to attend the event that aims to bring about a positive change in India.

    The conference will provide a platform to discuss, and come up with practical ideas that can address some of the challenges ailing India today. One of the key focus areas will be how Volunteer for Better India (VBI) in conjunction with Election Commission of India is driving a huge effort to create awareness of the voter registration program in light of the upcoming general elections in India in 2014. “It’s important as NRIs that we come together and give back to our home country. India is our motherland and we must make every effort to bring meaningful changes at a time when our country needs our support,” said Naveen Jain, Inome and Moon express founder and CEO.

    Overseas Volunteers for a Better India (OVBI), an apolitical organization, was launched in May 2013 and is the overseas wing of the Indian organization VBI. It provides a global platform for the 23 million nonresident Indian (NRI) community worldwide; a platform to work toward a positive transformation. OVBI and its corps of volunteers are working tirelessly on a campaign to boost the voter registration, education and voter turnout for the 2014 India elections. With a target to increase the voter turnout by 100 million, the I Vote for a Better India campaign is gearing towards one of the largest nation building activity in 2014 to impact the future of India. For more details visit: www.overseasvbi.org

  • A Two-Year Deal on Spending Reached: Conservative Republicans not happy

    A Two-Year Deal on Spending Reached: Conservative Republicans not happy

    WASHINGTON (TIP): A compromise federal budget plan that would remove the threat of a government shutdown for two years won easy approval Thursday, December 12, from the Republicancontrolled U.S. House. The deal worked out by House Budget Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray passed on a 332-94 vote and now goes to the Democratic-led Senate, which is expected to approve it next week in a very close vote. It represented rare convergence between the two parties on government spending after two years of bitter debate and political brinksmanship that included the 16-day shutdown in October. President Barack Obama hailed the agreement as a sign of rare bipartisan cooperation in the strife-filled US legislature.

    “It’s a good sign that Democrats and Republicans in Congress were able to come together and break the cycle of shortsighted, crisis-driven decision-making to get this done,” the president said shortly after the deal was announced. The agreement’s main brokers, Democratic Senator Patty Murry and House Republican Paul Ryan, said it sets the new annual budget caps for 2014 and 2015 at just over $1 trillion — slightly higher than current levels — and at least partially repeals the automatic, widely loathed budget cuts known as “sequestration.” “I see this agreement as a step in the right direction,” Ryan, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee and chairman of the House Budget Committee, told reporters, noting that the deal does not raise taxes on Americans. “We have broken through the gridlock and reached a bipartisan budget compromise that will prevent a government shutdown in January,” added Murray, the Senate’s top budget chief, who said she and Ryan set aside their political differences to reach a compromise over weeks of negotiations.

    “We agree that our country needs some certainty and we need to show that we can work together,” she added. House Speaker John Boehner acknowledged the measure amounted to only a small step toward the GOP goal of deficit reduction and balancing the budget, but he rejected opposition by some conservatives in his caucus as well as outside groups on the political right. “Is it perfect? Does it go far enough? No, not at all,” Boehner said in urging his colleagues to back the plan, noting it resulted from “doing what the American people expect us to do — coming together and finding common ground.” Ryan noted that Washington politicians have “been at each other’s throats for a long time” over budget issues, and Republicans must first win some elections in order to get all the deficit reduction and spending cuts they want. Democrats also hailed the budget proposal as a “small positive step forward,” in the words of Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

    He and other Democrats called for Congress to also extend long-term unemployment benefits for more than 1 million Americans set to expire after Christmas, but their support for the budget plan showed they dropped any demand to link the issues in Thursday’s vote. In the House vote, 169 Republicans voted for the spending plan while 62 opposed it, with 163 Democrats in favor and 32 against. While most Republicans supported the plan, Boehner needed help from Democrats to get the 217-vote threshold needed for passage. Top GOP Senate aides said they expect the budget to pass the Senate but it could be by a razor thin margin. This could also change if momentum against the bill grows. GOP conservatives including Ted Cruz of Texas, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said they will oppose the measure, which would need some Republican support for Democrats to overcome an expected filibuster.

  • US Congress set to celebrate Diwali

    US Congress set to celebrate Diwali

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Thanks to the initiative of bipartisan Congressional Caucus on India and Indian- Americans, US lawmakers are set to have their first-ever Diwali reception to celebrate the Indian festival of lights. An invitation to lawmakers for the reception next Tuesday has gone out from old India friend and Democratic caucus co-chairman Joseph Crowley, according to the gossip blog of Roll Call, an influential publication focusing on Congressional affairs. “We’re setting a major precedent that will hopefully last for years and decades to come,” he wrote asking fellow lawmakers to share the mysteries of the “festival of lights.” Crowley praised Tulsi Gabbard, first Hindu-American lawmaker and Ami Bera, the lone Indian-American politician in the US House, for helping to plan the event and “stirring up interest amongst our members.” “I think it is a testament to the growth of the Indian-American community,” Crowley, who has participated in Diwali festivals in the Indo-American enclave of the Jackson Heights section of Queens in New York, told the Roll Call.

    “According to spiritual tradition, Diwali is observed as the victory of light over darkness, truth over untruth and righteousness over wrong, and as a time of spiritual renewal,” Gabbard was quoted as saying “This message has great relevance at a time when politics and partisanship seem to overshadow compassion and concern for the greater good.” Crowley, according to Roll Call has placed the menu planning in the hands of the Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Lanham, Maryland, a local house of worship he’s consulted with in the past – “So, we know it will be authentic.” Urging fellow lawmakers to “consider attending this exciting event,” he tempted them by saying, “Traditional Indian refreshments will be served.” “This event is an essential opportunity to come together not only to celebrate but to help increase understanding and tolerance amongst all Americans,” he wrote. “It’s going to set a precedent for Congressional Diwali celebrations for decades to come.”

  • Indian-American arrested in high school friend’s killing

    Indian-American arrested in high school friend’s killing

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Rahul Gupta, 24, is being held on $2 million bond after a night of drinking and birthday celebrating ended in a bloody stabbing of Mark Edward Waugh on Sunday, October 13 morning inside a high-rise apartment in Silver Spring, a Washington suburb in Maryland, the Washington Post reported. Gupta was pursuing a master’s degree in biomedical engineering at George Washington University. Waugh was in his first year of law school. According to police, a woman called 911 Sunday at 3.25am. When police arrived at the apartment, they found Waugh and Gupta inside. Police say they found Waugh suffering from cuts and he was unresponsive. It was later determined he was dead. Both Waugh and Gupta attended Langley High School in McLean, Virginia, where they took several advanced placement and honors classes together, the Post said. Waugh was in an afterschool robotics club. Gupta played on the varsity tennis team. Arrest records in the case paint a picture of several friends going out on Saturday to celebrate Gupta’s birthday, the newspaper said. But things later appear to have turned to alcohol-fuelled confusion and – at least based on the perception of one member of the party – a jealous rage, it said. “I walked in on my girlfriend cheating on me,” Gupta told the police, according to the charging papers cited by Post. “My girl and my buddy were cheating. My girl was cheating with my buddy. I walked in on them cheating and I killed my buddy,” Gupta said. Gupta later told a police officer he’d made a mistake and added that “he tried to kill me, though”, the arrest records cited by the newspaper recount him as saying.

  • Indian American attorney Sheila Murthy honored

    Indian American attorney Sheila Murthy honored

    NEW YORK (TIP): Indian-American attorney Sheela Murthy has been recognized as one of the world’s top international corporate immigration lawyers in the 2013 edition of Corporate Immigration, a prestigious directory of leading advocates in her field. The directory is published by Law Business Research, London-based strategic research partner of the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law, and the official research partner of the International Bar Association. Murthy serves on boards for a number of organizations, including the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Eastern Region in Philadelphia, Stevenson University, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) DC and as the vice chairwoman for the Maryland State Chamber of Commerce. She previously was chairwoman of the United Way Worldwide’s Leadership Council of India. Also on the Board of the United Way of Central Maryland, she was recognized her as the 2009 Philanthropist of the Year. Murthy helps lead the MurthyNayak Foundation, a nonprofit nongovernmental organization that seeks to help with women’s basic needs and protection from abuse, children’s education, support programs that assist immigrants, and causes that help to educate and advocate for immigrants in the US.

  • Ghadar Centennial Celebrated In Washington

    Ghadar Centennial Celebrated In Washington

    WASHINGTON (TIP): “The Ghadar Movement was like a spark of fire, which lit up the whole forest,” said Ambassador of India Nirupama Rao addressing the audience of over 200 at the centennial celebration of Ghadar Party Movement for India’s independence. “It is the spirit of sacrifice, the spirit of courage that was exemplified by ghadarites who were inspired by the call of freedom,” Rao added.

    She said that this ghadarites movement was similar to the Irish independence movement, who also gained their freedom from the British after a long and turbulent struggle and many sacrifices. She enumerated the steps being taken by the Indian government, including release of a postage stamp by the Prime Minister early this year, to recognize the significant contribution of the movement in India’s freedom struggle.

    She mentioned that the Indian government has taken upon the project to convert the Ghadar Memorial Hall in San Francisco into a museum and a functional library. The ambassador said that the Indian Diaspora, who lit the torch for the freedom movement hundred years ago, are now making significant contributions in many fields in USA. The ambassador also recognized services of octogenarian Ghulam Yazdani Siddiqui, who was imprisoned in India by the British government, for his participation in freedom movement during his student days.

    The day-long program was arranged by the Metropolitan Washington Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) in cooperation with national GOPIO and Indian community organizations of Metro Washington on Sunday, 28th July at Rockville Hilton in Maryland.

    It consisted of seminars, banquet and entertainment. Seminar speakers talked about the formation of Ghadar Party and its initial members that included Lala Hardayal, Maulvi Barkatullah, Kartar Singh Bhakna, Sohan Singh Bhakna, and others. Inder Singh, chairman of the international GOPIO said that the current generation of Indian-Americans knows very little about the history of Indians in US. “To pass on to the next generation the legacy of the pioneers rests solely on us and particularly on our community leaders,” he said.

    Surender Pal Singh, 76, grandson of Bhagwan Singh-one of the eminent Ghadarites-said there is a need to recognize the contributions of the Ghadar Movement and its leaders in the freedom struggle. Singh, who had come from Atlanta for the occasion added that time has come to make Ghadar Party Movement a part of history text books.

    Professor Harbans Lal who came from Dallas, Texas said that the movement, which started in the West Coast of northern America with a small group of people from diverse religious groups, impacted India thousands of miles away with full force. Dr. Joy Cherian and Dr. Sambhu Banik talked about life and contribution of heroes of Ghadarite Movement. Sandip Mallick of South-Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) gave a power point presentation of archival material.

    SAADA is helping preserve Ghadarite movement history. Ambassador Subhas Mungra of Republic of Surinam, Ambassador Islam Siddiqui, Chief Agricultural Negotiator US, Deputy Secretary of Maryland State Dr. Rajan Natarajan, Maryland State Attorney- General Mr. Douglas Gansler, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, and Maryland State Delegate Aruna Miller also expressed their appreciation for the event celebrating 100 years of the Ghadarite independence movement.

    Welcoming the guests and audience, Washington GOPIO president Dr. Zafar Iqbal mentioned that the program for the year-long celebration of the centennial was launched at the Embassy of India on 3rd November 2012 by Ambassador Rao. He elaborated that tonight’s event was organized to honor the ultimate sacrifices of Ghadar Party Movement heroes, who preached and practiced the motto, Sar Kata Sakte Hain; Sar Juka Sakte Nahin (We can have our heads cut off, we cannot bow our heads to anyone).

    Event chairperson Dr. Renuka Misra highlighted the significance of the movement that had cooperation of major communities that included Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus. She elaborated that tonight’s function also had participation of diverse ethnic and cultural organizations. Misra also performed the task of master of ceremony. Sumptuous dinner was followed by a variety of entertainment program that included lively Bhangra dance. Dr. Satish Misra and Nitin Gupta thanked the guests, supporters, and participants in making the event a success.

  • Sanjay Gupta backs medical marijuana, apologizes for previous views

    Sanjay Gupta backs medical marijuana, apologizes for previous views

    NEW YORK (TIP): One of America’s most prominent doctors says he has shifted his stance in support of medical marijuana. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent at CNN and a CBS News contributing medical correspondent, wrote a post on CNN.com called,

    “Why I changed my mind on weed,” in which he describes his change of heart that occurred while filming a documentary, aptly titled, “Weed.” “Long before I began this project, I had steadily reviewed the scientific literature on medical marijuana from the United States and thought it was fairly unimpressive,” wrote Gupta. “Well, I am here to apologize.” Gupta says he was too dismissive of the “loud chorus” of legitimate patients whose symptoms improved with help from medical marijuana. He now says,

    “I mistakenly believed the Drug Enforcement Agency listed marijuana as a schedule 1 substance [a category of dangerous drugs] because of sound scientific proof.” “They didn’t have the science to support that claim, and I now know that when it comes to marijuana neither of those things are true,” wrote Gupta, citing patient cases including a 3-year-old whose seizures were dramatically reduced from 300 a week to three a month with medical marijuana’s help.

    He adds that marijuana does not have a high potential for addiction compared to cocaine, or even cigarettes. Gupta is a faculty member in the department of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and in 2009, reports suggested he was offered the post of Surgeon General by President Barack Obama. In the doctor’s new post, he did reference concerns about the drug. As a father, he worried about marijuana’s effects on the developing brain.

    Recent research suggests marijuana may affect a teen’s IQ or raise risk for psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. He says he wouldn’t permit his own kids to try it until they are adults. Gupta also lamented on the challenges facing more research into medical marijuana for treating pain, including a stricter approval process that has to go through health agencies like the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

    He pointed out tolerance is a real problem in existing medications: People are likely to overdose from a prescription drug every 19 minutes, but he couldn’t come across one case of a marijuana overdose. “We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that,” said Gupta. Medical marijuana is currently legalized in 20 states and the District of Columbia: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington State. Illinois became the most recent state to approve a law Aug. 1, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

    Maryland also has a hospital-based medical marijuana program. Quantity limits and approved conditions vary by state, but can include chronic pain, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS and cancer. A recent survey in the New England Journal of Medicine also indicated support for medical marijuana. When told about a hypothetical case of a 68-year-old woman with breast cancer that had spread to her lungs, chest and spine, 76 percent of doctors surveyed said they would favor the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. But support is not universal.

    The prestigious Mayo Clinic has come out and said it does not support the use of medical marijuana for young people with chronic pain, citing a link to psychological disease and that people under 25 are more prone to become addicted. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg made headlines in June when he called medical marijuana one of the “great hoaxes of all time.” Recreational marijuana use is currently legalized in Colorado and Washington State, following the November 2012 elections.