WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): US President Joe Biden has announced his intent to appoint Indian-Americans Manu Asthana and Madhu Beriwal to his National Infrastructure Advisory Council. The President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) advises the White House on how to reduce physical and cyber risks and improve security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure sectors. The 26 individuals announced Wednesday to the NIAC are leading senior executives with deep experience across a broad range of sectors, including banking and finance, transportation, energy, water, dams, defense, communications, information technology, healthcare services, food and agriculture, government facilities, emergency services, and higher education.
Asthana oversees the largest power grid in North America and one of the largest electricity markets in the world as the CEO and president of PJM. “Under his leadership, PJM has established a clear path for defining the grid operator’s role in the transition to a cleaner, more efficient grid while maintaining reliable electric service,” the White House said. Asthana has extensive leadership experience in the energy industry in the areas of power generation operations, optimization and dispatch, competitive retail electricity, electricity and natural gas trading, and risk management. He is a member of the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council and serves on the Board of Trustees of Texas Children’s Hospital, the White House added.
“He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. Asthana earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a Joseph Wharton Scholar,” it said. Madhu Beriwal founded the Innovative Emergency Management, Inc. (IEM) in 1985 and continues to serve as its CEO and president. IEM is the largest woman-led homeland security and emergency management firm in the United States.
“Under Beriwal’s leadership, IEM has led some of the largest mitigation and resilience efforts across the United States, building back stronger following disasters including disaster recovery programs, delivering federal funds to survivors and communities faster than any other program of the same type and magnitude,” the White House said.
“For over 37 years, Beriwal has been dedicated to the use of technology to enhance preparedness and response and build resilience in communities and their critical infrastructure. She was inducted into the International Women in Homeland Security and Emergency Management Hall of Fame in 2012,” it said. She holds a master’s degree in urban planning and a bachelor’s degree in geography and economics.
The death of 50 people, believed to be illegal immigrants, in San Antonio in the USA is the latest in a string of migration tragedies that have left humanity badly shaken. At least 46 bodies were found in an abandoned tractor-trailer in a remote back road in San Antonio, Texas, some 240 km from the border with Mexico. They faced a horrible death, confined into a non-cooled tractor-trailer without water for an unspecified period of time, in temperatures nearing 38°C. Though the nationalities of the victims and the survivors were not officially confirmed, reactions from Mexico suggest that they were Mexicans. Indeed, over the past few months, there has been a spurt in migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border. As the mayor of San Antonio said, the people who died “were likely trying to find a better life” — migrants are driven towards the USA or Europe due to conflict or lack of opportunities in their home countries. Hope and desperation make them disregard the very real risks they undertake, the least of which is being arrested by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) force. The arrests have been surging, with 2,39,416 individuals nabbed along the Mexico border in May. Among those arrested were 2,438 persons from India, a rise of 55 per cent since April. The CBP also arrested 2,310 individuals from Turkey and 3,394 from Russia — it’s obvious that the relatively porous US-Mexico border attracts a high number of illegal immigrants, who are at the mercy of ruthless human smugglers. Often, migrants must hike miles of difficult desert terrain, in extreme summer heat, endangering their lives.
Human beings have migrated from place to place for thousands of years, trying to ‘find a better life’. In the modern context, overpopulation and greater pressure on the natural resources have led to stricter border controls — yet, desperation will make people gamble their very lives. There are no easy solutions to the vexed issue of illegal immigration — except justice, stability and more equitable distribution of global wealth. These ideas could be termed utopian — yet these are the very ideas that are worth working and hoping for.
The conflicts we have in society, among family members, communities, Republicans, and Democrats, are because we don’t listen to each other. Whether we agree or disagree, at least we must know and value different points of view. We were searching for information about Pluralism and came across the site Center for Pluralism, which defines Pluralism as “Respecting the otherness of the others in religion, politics, society and the workplace.” Jainism calls it Anekantavada – “No-one-perspective-ism,” resisting philosophical dogmatism and recognizing the good qualities of many different points of view. The Quran teaches how to conduct civil dialogue respectfully and never undermines the value of other religions, and it says in verse 109:6, “You have your religion, and I have mine.” Indeed, almost all religions have similar teachings; the analogy would be, “My mother is dear to me as yours is to you” There are no arguments about that, so should be the arguments about religions.
We came across an article, “Poisoning your kids,” and reached out to Dr. Mike Ghouse, founder and the president of the Center for Pluralism. We asked him about how he raised his children. Ghouse said he took his children to different places of worship to familiarize them with other religions and cultures. He did not want his kids to grow up to be bigots. He adds, “If my kids were to run for a public office, they would have a smooth sail, as they are not biased towards any American.”
Ghouse’s daughter asked questions at every place of worship; she would nudge him and ask, “Dad, what are they saying?” Realizing that a six-year-old will not get the whole meaning, he would filter it into a six-year-old’s language and say, “Sweetheart, they are saying God is great, parents are great, and we must thank them for the food, clothes, home, and good life.” This nudging and explaining business went on at every place of worship.
Ghouse continued, “Finally, at the DFW Hindu Temple, Ekta Mandir in Irving, Texas, we were chanting the bhajans in the sanctuary along with some 50 others, the nudging came, and my standard response went out. She screams in the middle of the hall, “Gee, Dad, God can be worshipped in so many different ways,” to thunderous applause. That is Pluralism in religion, as we understand it. Cultural Pluralism got currency after the 9/11 tragedy. When a few troublemakers were throwing epithets at the Sikh Turbans, Muslim women’s Hijab, Arab dresses, and other wears, we did not have the proper education then. Every human being wears something or the other on their head to cover from heat, sandstorms, rain, snow, or for other reasons. The type of cover evolves out of the material availability, environment, and culture. None is inferior or superior. They all serve the intended purpose.
We loved the statement on their site, “If we can learn to respect the otherness of the others and accept the God-given uniqueness to each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.”
We asked him where the mingling of races, faiths, and ethnicities would lead to?
Dr. Ghouse replied, “Ten years from now, wherever you go, be it a place of work, worship, playground, school, bus, train, restaurant, theater, or other public gatherings, you will find a display of diversity in every which way. You will also see people of different faiths, races, and ethnicities interacting, working, studying, intermingling, playing, and marrying each other. “These interactions lend to misunderstandings and are bound to create conflicts. As responsible members of the society, we must prevent such conflicts so that each member can live securely with their faith, culture, gender, race, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.”
The website mentions its mission: “The Center for pluralism is committed to building cohesive societies, a society where every human feels secure about one’s uniqueness, whatever that might be.”
DALLAS (TIP): An IndianAmerican boy was held in a chokehold and allegedly bullied by a white student in a school in the state of Texas, according to a media report. The incident happened during lunch at Coppell Middle School North in Texas on May 11, according to NBC 5. In a viral video, the Indian-American student sitting at a table is seen being put in a headlock by a white student, the report said.
In the video, a student can be seen asking the Indian-American boy to get up from his seat. When the Indian-American boy refused, he was choked and forcefully removed from the seat.
Meanwhile, other students could be heard reacting to the violence but not stopping it, according to the video.
“It was horrible. I couldn’t sleep for three nights straight. It felt like I was being choked. I cried many times watching it,” said Sonika Kukreja, mother of the student put in the headlock.
The authorities, however, chose to punish the Indian-American student harshly by suspending him for three days while the aggressor received a suspension of one day, parents Sonika and Kamlesh Pritmani said.
“I am deeply concerned about the safety of our children and the message our school board, our police department, is sending out by not acting on this,” said Kukreja.
“We need fair treatment for every kid and we need that bullying to be stopped,” said Pritmani.
In an email to parents, Coppell ISD’s Superintendent Dr Brad Hunt said in part, “Coppell ISD is aware of a video circulating on social media showing an incident at Coppell Middle School North involving a physical altercation between two students. Bullying, both verbal and physical, as well as physical acts of aggression are never acceptable and do not align with who we are at CISD and our core values.”
The email said the incident is being investigated and addressed by the school and the district according to the CISD Student Code of Conduct. Marwa Elbially, the attorney for the Pritmani family, denies the accusations and says the violence should never have happened.
“The school can preach all it wants that they’re antibullying and place it on their website, but they are sending a message to this kid and the rest of the student body that this behavior is acceptable,” said Elbially.
Mark Lassiter, the attorney for the family of the other student, told NBC 5 that the student was responding to vulgar and violent threats against his family.
The statement reads, in part, “We are confident that after all the facts are revealed, the case will be closed and no further action will be taken other than what the school has already decided was appropriate.”
The video, shot by fellow students and shared online, has sparked anger on social media. An online petition supporting the boy has received more than 150 thousand signatures.
