The Indian Panorama

Tag: Sunil Hali

  • New Yorkers celebrate Rama Mandir consecration with Car Rally

    New Yorkers celebrate Rama Mandir consecration with Car Rally

    Hundreds of devotees gathered to celebrate and show solidarity to Ram Mandir consecration in Ayodhya.

    LONG ISLAND, NY (TIP): The windy, freezing Sunday with sub-zero temperatures afternoon saw enthusiastic Indian Americans show their support for the Ram Lalla consecration in Ayodhya, thousands of miles away. A car rally was organized in Hicksville in Long Island, New York. Hicksville is a hamlet within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, with large Indian population.

    The rally started from Patel Brothers in Hicksville. 150 cars participated in this rally, which halted midway at a Gurudwara in Hicksville. Dr Raj Bhayani said, “The Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddha communities have all united to celebrate this historic moment.”

    The float had DJ which played Bhajan songs devoted to Rama.
    LED truck with three screens played videos on Ramayana. And images of Rama Mandir.
    Everyone was wearing the saffron scarf with Hanuman and Rama pictures in it.
    And cold conditions could not dampen the enthusiasm and the celebratory mood.
    In addition to cars, floats and LED truck there were children dressed as Ramayana characters Rama, Sita , Laxman, and Hanuman which really brought the experience and excitement to the rally.
    The organizers for the rally were Dr Raj Bhayani. Mukesh Modi and Dr Dipak Nandi, Mohan Wanchoo, Naveen Shah, Chintu Patel, Gary Sikka and Dr Neeta Jain. The committee comprised of Sunil Hali, Gobind Bathija, Pradeep Tandon, Dr Urmilesh Arya, Vimal Goyal, Eric Kumar, Kanak Golia, Kishore Malik, Harshad Bhai Patel, Vibhuti Jha, Mohinder Taneja, Dr Satish Anand, Dr Inderpal Chhabra, and Ajay Patel

    Each car was adorned with saffron-colored flags. The huge lineup of cars finally reached the beautiful Asa Mai temple in Hicksville. LED Truck displayed Ramayana and float carried the banners celebrating Ram Mandir.
    The devotees enjoyed an enchanting evening of bhajans and a Ramleela. The entire event was telecast live on AASTHA TV and Radio Zindagi

    The float had DJ which played Bhajan songs devoted to Rama
    Organizers. L to R : Indu Jaiswal, Gary Sikka, Dipak Nandi, Raj Bhayani, Pradeep Tandon, and a guest
  • Bharatiya American Community Celebrates BJP’s Grand Victory in New York

    Bharatiya American Community Celebrates BJP’s Grand Victory in New York

    Ladies at the celebration

    NEW HYDE PARK, NY (TIP): “This is Modi Era. Modi means performance”, said Mr Jagdish Sewhani, President of The American India Public Affairs Committee in New York. People have voted for good governance and performance . The credit for this victory goes to our “yashasvi” Prime Minister Narendra Modiji. The Strategy developed by his team Home Minister Amit Shahji and Party President J P Naddaji decimated the opposition.
    The results are a reflection of mood of the country.
    Mr Sewhani further said that people of three states have shown full confidence in BJP, its governance and its leadership, under the guidance of visionary Prime Minister Modi ji.
    People Voted for Modi Guarantee. It Shows they Trust Prime Minister Modi under whose Leadership Bharat is Growing Economically, Culturally, Socially and Strategically. Today, Bharat is among Top five Economies of the world with GDP of 4 trillion., and thanks to the leadership of prime minister Modi ji, I have no doubt that in next 25 years Bharat will be a 40 Trillion economy.
    Mr Sewhani further said that people have outrightly rejected caste politics and voted for” Development ,Development, Development.” This is Semi Final . Final will be next year and I’m confident that BJP will again be blessed by people of Bharat. We Bharatiya Americans need to play important role by aggressively campaigning for the BJP and its Candidates in 2024 Elections. Dr Narinder Kukar, Chintu Patel , Dr Dipak Nandi , Sunil Hali, Amba Sharma, ,Dr Urmilesh Arya , Satvinder Satta , Kulbir Singh, Indu Jaiswal , Anju Sharma, Pinki Jaggi, Dr Pushp Bhansali , and Dr Sanil Sarkar also spoke at the celebrations.

    Gentlemen at the celebration

  • Indian media in America faces challenges and opportunities

    Publishers and editors reveal how they have been coping and the business strategies they have adopted.

    By Parveen Chopra
    Founder, ALotusInTheMud.com
    Founding Editor, The South Asian Times

    In 2020, India Abroad, known as the gold standard in ethnic newspapers in America, closed operations after 50 years in circulation. In 2022 New India Abroad was started by a different team.
    That tells you the story of Indian media in America. Down and up. Resilience and renewal. Learning and adapting.
    The downturn for all journalism – not just Indian ethnic media – has been caused by the ever-growing digital revolution. The 2008 economic meltdown was bad for the media too. Covid years were worse. Now, social media is the new villain in the journalism story. Many storied newspapers in the US have closed or curtailed operations.
    Indian ethnic media has been more vulnerable because of a lack of promoters with deep pockets for sustaining operations and a dearth of committed journalists doing quality work to keep readers engaged. Surprisingly, the big media houses from India have not ventured here.
    The need for quality journalism to serve the Indian community is greater than ever. For one, the community is growing – their numbers increased from about 3 million in 2010 to more than 4.5 million as per the 2020 census. Indian Americans make headlines as achievers in the US media and are referred to as a model minority.
    But being new immigrants, the community cannot let its guard down. Knowledge is power. It is the job of community media to bring to the notice of their readers issues that need collective action. And, becoming their voice, take their issues to officials and lawmakers concerned. For example, they need to keep hammering the US Congress to resolve the monstrous green card backlog for Indians.
    A new, combustible case is Washington state passing a law (now under consideration in California) banning discrimination based on caste, a practice allegedly extended here from India. Some Hindu groups condemned the move as anti-Indian. The community papers should be explaining the implications of the bill and build a consensus – for or against.
    Surely, all regions of the US with large Indian populations have community newspapers. But most of them have mainly ended up as aggregators compiling news and features available freely. In contrast, New York-based India Abroad once spawned editions in other diaspora countries and a news agency.
    India Abroad, under publisher Gopal Raju, even made press freedom history. They published a story linking megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s brother, Ajitabh Bachchan, to kickbacks in a defense deal. Ajitabh sued in London and won 40,000-pound damages in 1990. Raju fought the enforcement at home. US legacy media including The New York Times filed briefs in Raju’s support. Raju won.
    Unfortunately, declining ad revenue while honor-bound to keep printing copies to serve its 20,000+ paid subscribers made the paper a hot potato eventually.
    One contemporary of India Abroad was India West, a paper with big circulation on the West Coast. Its aging owners, Bina and Ramesh Murarka, shut it down when Covid struck.
    Today, a new opportunity has arisen for the Indian media. With the greater visibility of South Asians in many spheres of American life, it is time to tell their story to the mainstream. But to achieve that you need some gumption and broader vision.  Indian Americans are well-educated and high earners. Rightly leveraged, this market can support a vibrant media.
    So, what is blocking that from happening, and what is the way forward? Publishers and editors responded to reveal how they have been coping and the business strategies they have adopted.

    Business models in the mix