Tag: Indian-Americans

With 50,000 people, Modi’s Houston event to be biggest gathering for foreign leader other than the Pope

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian-Americans in Houston are all set to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the mega “Howdy, Modi” event on Sunday, to be attended by 50,000 people, the largest gathering ever for an elected foreign leader visiting the US, other than the Pope.

The three-hour “Howdy, Modi!” event in which President Donald Trump will join Prime Minister Modi is being organised at the sprawling NRG Football Stadium, one of the largest in the US, with an impressive history of shows that starred Beyonce, Metallica, U2.

Indian Ambassador Harsh V Shringla along with his team previewed the event at NRG Stadium early Friday, where preparations are in full swing and over 1,500 volunteers are working round the clock to make it a memorable event.

A car rally was organised on Friday at the NRG stadium, where more than 200 cars participated, fluttering flags of both India and the US to signify the friendship between the two countries.

The organisers and volunteers sporting ‘NAMO AGAIN’ shirts, chanted “NaMo Again” and said they are ready to welcome Prime Minister Modi “wholeheartedly”.

At a press briefing on Friday, Texas India Forum (TIF) spokespersons Priti Dawra, Gitesh Desai and Rishi Bhutada briefed media about the event timeline, what to expect and why Houston was chosen for such a mega community event.

“The event is a grand celebration of culture and unity of America and India, where attendees will hear Modi speak about the deepening US-India ties strengthened by the confirmations of over 3 million Indian Americans in the US and will lay out his vision of continuous India’s growth and development as he begins his second term following his historic re-election,” Dawra said.

“First time the leaders of the world’s two biggest democracies are appearing together at such an event to share their resolve to build a strong partnership,” she said.

They will showcase the growing US-India geopolitical partnership, commitment to global peace and prosperity through entrepreneurship, hard work and sacrifice of the people of both nations.

The presence of these two leaders is also a sign of the positive growing influence of Indo Americans and their invaluable contributions to Texas and the United States, the spokespersons said.

Dawra said President Trump’s participation in the event shows that he is highlighting his “goodwill and friendship” towards the Indian Prime Minister, the people of India and the Indian American diaspora.

A bipartisan group of senior elected officials, leaders from the US government including, senators, governors, mayors will also attend the event.

“The ‘Howdy, Modi’ is about the unity of culture and it will bring the entire US India and Texas closer than ever, TIF is deeply grateful or this opportunity to bring together such a historic event-driven in large part by the diverse community of Americans all over the united states,” Dawra said.

Texas accounts for 10 percent of India-US trade, about $7 billion worth of US goods and commodities are moved between Texas and India.

Some of the largest companies are setting up their headquarters all over Texas, creating jobs and opportunities for Americans and Indian Americans.

“India is Houston’s fourth-largest trading partner today just behind Brazil China and Mexico. It attracts the largest influx of Indian population and investment. Houston is uniquely positioned towards this community summit as it is the energy, space and the medical centre capital of the world,” she said.

‘Howdy, Modi’ is the community summit organised by the contributions of over 600 organisations 1,000 volunteers and attendees representing all the 50 states of the US,

“Indian Americans are not just most educated and affluent community in the US, but it is also now recognised for serving across all fields including military medicine and education; highly respected doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, empowering the US economy,” she said.

The spirit and diversity of the Indian community will be showcased by the specially curated cultural programme “WOVEN” at the start of the event, featuring 400 artists, she said.

The NRG gates will open at 6:00 AM to accommodate and seat 50,000 people by 9:00 AM, after which cultural programme will begin and continue till 10:30 AM, and will be broadcast live in Hindi, English and Spanish languages followed by the address of the two leaders.

The event will end by 12:30 PM, after which Modi will join a private community reception before heading to New York for the UN General Assembly session and other engagements.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Nearly every 5th international student in American universities is an Indian

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian students in the United States have been surging as much as 5.4 percent over the last year to 1,96,271, according to the 2018 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, the US Embassy said in a press release, suggesting that nearly every fifth international student in American universities is an Indian.

It is the fifth consecutive year wherein the number of Indian students pursuing their higher education in the US has increased and the number has doubled in the past 10 years, the statement read.

“Looking at the past 10 years of data, the number of Indians going to the United States has doubled.  The reasons are clear: Indian students are looking for a great education and the United States continues to offer this,” Joseph Pomper, minister counselor for consular affairs said at the US-Indian Educational Foundation (USIEF) in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Indian students make up about 18 percent of all the international students in the US, surpassed only by China, providing the second highest number of graduate students and fourth-most undergraduates in the country, the statement said.

The US Embassy in New Delhi continues to see well qualified Indians applying for higher education in the United States, the statement said, adding that there had been a significant rise in Americans as well, up 12.5 percent more than the previous year or about 4,704 Americans choosing India as a destination for higher education.

“At USIEF, we believe that student exchange programs are one of the best ways to foster meaningful relationships and promote mutual understanding between American and Indian citizens,” Adam Grotsky, director, USIEF, said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US Midterm Elections 2018: The year when 100 Indian-Americans ran for public office

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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November 6 may be just another ordinary day for most people around the world but for Americans it’s  make or break day – the day millions of US citizens go to the polls to vote. The Midterm Elections are all the buzz in America – in the course of less than a week will be decided the future blueprint of the country. In Trumpian America, it’s little surprise that immigrants and people of color, minorities, women, the LGBTQ community are all gearing up for bringing out the vote. Indian-Americans are also participating heavily.

This is the year that an unparalleled 100 Indian-Americans stood for public office and about 50 of them are in the running on Election Day.  A record number of 12 Indian-Americans are running for Congressional seats (out of these, four are up for re-election) on November 6.

The Indian American Impact Fund, (IAIF) is a Washington-based political action committee involved in recruiting and supporting candidates to office with strategic guidance as well as help with fund raising. The group endorsed several candidates including Democrats Aftab Pureval U.S.House (OH-01), Sri Preston Kulkarni U.S.House (TX-22), Hiral Tipirneni U.S. House (AZ-08) Anita Malik U.S. House (AZ-06), Josh Kaul Attorney General (WI), Mujtabba Muhammed State Senate (NC-38) and Padma Kuppa State House (MI-41).

Gautam Raghavan, Executive Director of IAIF, is a first-generation immigrant himself and has served in the Obama Administration. In a freewheeling conversation he gave a birds-eye view of Indian-Americans in politics today.

After having succeeded in business, hi-tech, medicine and education, Indian-Americans are turning to the final frontier of political engagement in their adopted country. In the old days, it was more about simply backing mainstream politicians, writing checks and photo opps with those friendly to an Indian agenda. It still tends to be that way to some extent, says Raghavan, but now Indian-Americans are trying to broaden the engagement and support their own candidates up and down the ticket, at all levels, building up a bench of leadership in the community.

While xenophobia and racism have always been dormant under the surface in America, he points out that since 2016 there has been a 45 percent rise in hate crimes, and for Indian-Americans the concern is the tone of the country where their children and grandchildren are growing up: “I think a lot of these folks are concerned about not just where they came from but where their families are now.”

While Indians are a mere one percent of the US population, the fast-growing community has strength beyond its numbers. As Raghavan points out, in specific districts, Indian-Americans, South Asian Americans and Asian-Americans could be the margin that could tilt elections one way or the other. Indian-American voters can also wield power through their donations to certain candidates, contingent on their supporting the issues important to them.

Indian-Americans may be small in numbers but they do make for quality leadership. For the first time there are not only a record number of candidates but Indian-Americans are also heading some major political and policy organizations, even national organizations.  In a historic first, you have Seema Nanda as the first Indian-American to serve as CEO of the Democratic National Committee;  Vanita Gupta is President and CEO of the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights; Neera Tanden is president of the American Center for Progress; and Nisha Biswal heads the US India Business Council.

Four Indian-Americans are in prime Congressional seats – Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. Kamala Harris is the high profile Senator from California and there are scores of Indian-Americans in public life. Says Raghavan: “We currently do not have any statewide elected officials, which is one of the places where we’re really lacking. The only candidate who’s up this year is Josh Kaul who’s running for attorney general in Wisconsin and we are hopeful that he’ll win.”

Interestingly women are also active as candidates and there are actually two Indian women who are running for Congress, both from Arizona – Hiral Tiperneni and Anita Malik.  Observes Raghavan, “The number of women who are running for congressional or state office has been less than we would hope, but Indian-American women are actually running at a greater percentage at the state and local level,  and if you take the aggregate number,  are actually winning at a higher percentage. We do have some work to do to ensure that we have a greater parity and balance at the national level.”

Indian-Americans are running for all sorts of posts which is the best way to build up a foundation for the political structure. “It’s really about the passion to run for office, even on the part of people who immigrated to the country decades ago.” He gives the example of Rupande Mehta who finally became a naturalized citizen just last year and immediately ran for public office in Morris County, New Jersey, “because she feels really moved to serve the country she is now a part of.”

He points out that in 2017 at least 25 Indian-Americans ran and won their elections last November, a disproportionate amount being women and Sikh Americans because of what is at stake.  He says, “We’ve seen racism and xenophobia before. It’s just a little bit more explicit now. I think the bottom-line is it’s a good thing that we have more integrated communities of color running for office at every level.”

Asked about reading the tea leaves for November 6, Raghavan said, “I’m constantly optimistic about our candidates. We actually have the opportunity to double our ranks in Congress. That’s a stretch goal, but I think we’ll do pretty well. And I’m really excited to see what happens at the state and local level. We’ll be potentially launching our first Indian American candidates in several states. I really feel that’s where we have the most opportunity to start building a team of leadership for future years.”

So even if the blue wave doesn’t materialize, Gautam Raghavan feels Indian-Americans are in it for the long haul. “It’s important to remember that elections are tough and most candidates for office, including our former president Barack Obama, lose their first election. It’s rare that someone will win every election from the beginning. So even if we have candidates who lose, I hope they will run again and our job in 2019 will be to go out there and recruit and train more people to run for office in 2020.”

Lavina Melwani is a New York-based journalist who blogs at  Lassi with Lavina.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

12 Indian-Americans in race for November 6 Congressional elections

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A record number of 12 Indian-Americans are in the fray for the November 6 mid-term Congressional elections.

Three among them — Hiral Tipirneni and Anita Malik from Arizona and Pramila Jayapal from Washington State — are women.

The first Indian-American woman to enter the US House of Representatives, Jayapal, is seeking re-election from the seventh Congressional district of Washington State. Her victory is considered to be a cake walk, given her popularity and that she represents a Democratic stronghold.

Along with Jayapal, three other Indian-Americans — Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, Ro Khanna and Dr Ami Bera from California — are seeking re-elections this year. Bera, who was declared winner after recounting of votes in the last three elections, this time faces a tough opponent, Republican Andrew Grant.

He was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2012, making him the third ever Indian-American to enter the House after Dalip Singh Saund from 1957 to 1963 and Bobby Jindal in 2004.

In 2016, three Indian-Americans — Krishnamoorthi, Khanna and Jayapal — joined Bera in the House of representatives, which led to the creation of the so called ‘Samosa Caucus’. This year, Krishnamoorthi is pitted against Indian-American Jitender Diganvker of the Republican Party in the eight Congressional District of Illinois. Notably both of them were elected unopposed during the primaries.

Khanna is pitted against Republican Ron Cohen in the 17th Congressional District of California, which is essentially India-American dominated Silicon Valley. Political pundits expect all four of them to sail through this November.

Indian-Americans are giving a tough fight to their opponents in some of the key Congressional districts.

Prominent among them being emergency room physician Hiral Tipirneni in the eighth Congressional District of Arizona and former diplomat Sri Preston Kulkarni in the 22nd Congressional District of Texas.

Running an aggressive campaign, that has caught national attention, Tipirneni seeks to tip the balance in her favour by defeating the Republican incumbent Debbie Lesko, who won the special elections early this year.

Kulkarni resigned from US foreign service to run for the Congress and is giving a tough fight to Republican Pete Olson, who has been one of the proponents of India-US relationship.

Richard Verma, the former US Ambassador to India, Thursday endorsed Kulkarni for the Congress.

“Today more than ever, we need leaders like Sri who will champion diplomatic solutions and put country over politics,” Verma said.

Kulkarni represented the US for 14 years as a Foreign Service Officer with overseas tours in Iraq, Israel, Russia, Taiwan and Jamaica. He then served as a foreign policy and defense advisor on Capitol Hill assisting Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Young Indian-American Aftab Pureval, who is the first person of Tibetan origin to run for the Congress, has received shot in his arm after the recent endorsement by former US President Barack Obama. Pureval is the current Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.

In the eight Congressional District of Florida, incumbent Bill Posey is experiencing a tough fight from Democratic opponent Sanjay Patel. Anita Malik faces Republican incumbent David Schweikert in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District in metro Phoenix.

Harry Arora is the second Indian-American Republican candidate to run for the Congress. Pitted against Democrat Jim Himes, who has been representing the fourth Congressional District of Connecticut, he has a tough challenge at his hand. Arora has raised more than $700,000, which is less than half the funds raised by Himes.

Independent Shiva Ayyadurai is the only Indian-American in the race for the US Senate seat from Massachusetts. While he has caught national attention and some media space because of his innovative campaigning skills, it would be nothing less than a miracle if Ayyadurai defeats Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Warren in the Senate election from Massachusetts. Warren is a Democratic Party star and is seen as a strong contender for the party’s presidential ticket in 2020.

It is believed that at least half-a-dozen contenders will sail through next January when lawmakers would be sworn in for the 116th Congress.

In addition to these 12 contestants in the race for the US Congress, there are scores of Indian-Americans running for local elections, including State and County.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

As PepsiCo CEO, Indra Nooyi bridged the gap between corporate power and ordinary people

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Little did I think I’d be writing about Indra Nooyi, chairman of PepsiCo, two weeks running! Last week, it was about her recycling efforts at PepsiCo and this week it’s the big news that she’s stepping down as chairman.

It’s not often there’s such a media frenzy but Nooyi is special and has a compelling story. She was after all, one of the first female CEOs to head a major corporation and made it so much easier for other women to dream big and know what’s possible. It’s been especially inspirational for South Asians —many are the young women who can now look in the mirror and see themselves as ‘chairman’.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Nooyi during her career, and each time her warmth, integrity and sense of humor came through. She has a soft spot for supporting women and education – and India. She’s also been a mentor to young people, especially girls, and bridges the gap between corporate power and ordinary people. I recall one session in a university many years ago where she cheerfully gave out her email ID to students to freely write in to her.

The Pepsi era may be drawing to a close for Nooyi but I think she will always take on big, new challenges and continue to surprise us.

The Office-less Office

For Sree Sreenivasan, tech evangelist and media guru, travelling four cities in four days is the new normal now as he carves out a pioneering global work environment teaching social media and tech in 25 cities in 10 countries. Jet lag is not an option!

For years, he was wedded to the traditional professional life first as a dean and professor at Columbia University, and then as the first chief digital officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then of the City of New York. In a changing world order, these jobs disappeared as organisations recast themselves.

His new nomad life may be what jobs will look like in the future: he has no one title and no boss as he commutes the world. “The reality is that tech is the new language, the new currency and it is in demand all over the world,” he says, as he goes about organising social media and tech conferences from Hong Kong to South Africa.

For Sreenivisan, who has 84.8K Twitter followers and was listed among the 40 most influential South Asians in the U.S, work life is now about re-invention and zapping around the zip codes of the world. He is co-founder of digimentors.group, a band of strategists and doers and publishes a happening tech newsletter. He says to those in today’s stressful workplace:

“Job hunting is a full-time job. If you are unemployed, treat it like a job. Have a plan, work at for several hours every day: calls+ meetings+ emails+ looking online. If you are working: make time to look at listings and to meet folks for ideas every day.”  He recently tweeted this gem: “In my workshops, I preach the importance of being grateful for what you do have. Jobs come and go, but you have friends, family and mentors. Stay connected to them.”

Meet Surina and Mel

Indian-Americans have come a long way in Hollywood where once upon a time they were permitted to only play sadhus, doctors or cab drivers. While there’s still a call for ‘Indian accents’ and exotic looks and often a surfeit of terrorist roles, things are definitely improving. At one time Apu from The Simpsons was the only notable representation of an Indian in Hollywood but now there have been many game-changers from Kal Penn to Mindy Kaling to Aziz Ansari. And of course our own Priyanka Chopra playing an FBI agent on TV in homes across America.

Yet, the roles for South Asian actors have remained few so two young actors have decided to write their own destinies. Actress Melanie Chandra who played a physician in ‘Code Black’ on television and Surina Jindal from ‘Outsourced’ have partnered with Sameer Gardezi, a comedic writer, to create the pilot for a new series. Says Chandra, “We’re proud to present a show concept that captures our world —it’s authentically brown, edgy, and a little absurd – all through the lens of the modern day South Asian woman. It’s a first of its kind.”

“We’re proud to present a show concept that captures our world —it’s authentically brown, edgy, and a little absurd – all through the lens of the modern day South Asian woman. It’s a first of its kind.”

—   Melanie Chandra, actor

Last year, when they were pitching the script to production companies, they received the feedback that the premise was too niche and wouldn’t cater to a broad enough demographic, given the show has a predominately South Asian American cast and two ethnic females as the leads. Says Chandra, “The model hasn’t been proven and it could be a risky investment.  But we still believed in the project because the themes were universal to resonate with a larger audience. We believed that you can be specific and inclusive at the same time. And that’s why we went ahead and produced our proof of concept episode ourselves, to demonstrate this.”

It has been a smart move getting the South Asian community behind the project in convincing buyers there is passion for getting a show like this on the air. Melanie Chandra says, “We’ve had an outpouring of support from the South Asian Diaspora worldwide — the US, the UK, Canada, Australia — and of course, India. In one of our pitch meetings, this was actually acknowledged and applauded. It’s helping for sure!”

Lavina Melwani is a New York-based journalist and blogs at Lassi with Lavina.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow