NRIs Can Now Enroll For Aadhar August 07, 2015 12:46
Government has decided that Aadhaar enrolment can be made by Non-Resident Indians, Persons of Indian Origin and Overseas Citizen of India which should eventually help them to authenticate their identity digitally, Parliament was informed.“The government has decided that a longer term goal should be to expand Aadhaar enrolment activities in order to ensure that all persons on the Indian soil (Resident Indian, NRIs, OCI/PIO and visa holding visitors) shall be empowered with a unique identity / identifier that can be authenticated on a digital platform any time anywhere,” Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in written reply to Lok Sabha.All residents including Indian national and foreigners with valid visas can be enrolled and provided Aadhaar number by the UIDAI. UIDAI is working on the policy for Aadhaar enrolment of the NRIs, PIOs and OICs after receiving the direction from the government on the issue. The minister has said in its reply that no timeframe has been formulated at this stage for achieving the goal.Aadhaar is a valid know your customer (KYC) document for various services including banking, telecom, cooking gas subsidy, vehicle registration driving licence, government scholarships, pension and public distribution system..By Premji
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Infosys to rely less on US H-1B visa for US facilities July 09, 2015 06:25
Infosys, an Indian IT company, has announced that it will be less reliant on US H-1B visa for its US facilities. Infosys CEO, Vishal Sikka, hopes that the less dependence on the H-1B visa and employment of more local workers will help the company to attain its goal to reach $20 billion revenue by 2020.In response to reports that Infosys was under investigation for misuse of H-1B visas by the US Department of Labor, Sikka was quoted by workpermit as saying that, "We should not be concerned about the H-1B visa issue, I'm an American citizen. Our compliance to H-1B regulations is impregnable and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously along with the countless other companies across our industry sector that do so. However, as the power of innovation increases, we're at a point where we have to become far less dependent on visas and increasingly dependent on innovation."Earlier, US senators Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, made claims of H-1B visa misuse. According to the senators, Infosys has violated H-1B visa rules. Yet there has been no confirmation from the Department of Labor that there is an investigation into H-1B visa misuse by the company.-Sumana
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U.S. back in Visa Business after Major Outage June 24, 2015 06:57
U.S. Department of State is back in the business of issuing visas after the online system abruptly stopped working at consulates worldwide earlier this month. About two thirds of visa issuance facilities are back online and have been issued visas although only 45,000 were handed out on Monday. Of those, 15,000 were issued in Beijing, which is the busiest U.S. consulate in the world. "Significant additional numbers will be issued as the backlog clears," State Department Spokesman John Kirby said. "Many posts have now rescheduled interviews, in many cases as early as the 24th", he added. "Significant additional numbers will be issued as the backlog clears," he said. "Many posts have now rescheduled interviews, in many cases as early as the 24th", he quipped. "So far, it's going well," Kirby ended. The State Department hasn't provided details on what went wrong and why it took so long to fix, beyond saying the database needed to be rebuilt. The department said the failure was related to a hardware device and was not the result of a cyber attack. The same database failed at about the same time last year, throwing summer travel plans in chaos for around 200,000 people. On that occasion, a bug-ridden software patch from Oracle and Microsoft caused the problem. Kirby cautioned that the system was still being tested and as such could still be taken offline again. Throughout the outage, which also affected issuance of U.S. passports at missions overseas, the U.S. has been handled a small number of visa cases. It has issued around 1,250 visas to temporary or seasonal workers from Mexico whose biometric details were already in the system and it has handed out around 3,000 visas related to urgent or humanitarian purposes. The system failure was second of its kind in the recent times. It throws the summer plans of almost 2, 00,000 passengers in chaos, when it failed last summer. - Manohar. M
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Hard Ware Problem Stops Visa Processing in US? June 18, 2015 05:33
A never expected problem has been wondering most of the US Visa applicants across the globe. The suspected hardware snag at the state department's computer system has been not allowing the officials to process the bio-metric and other crucial data collected at the embassies and consulates. According to the statement issued by the spokesman of the state department, John Kirby, the technical experts have been trying to fix the issue. Over 100 experts from both private and public sectors across the US are working to get a solution. By next week, the problem could be solved and the visa processing work can be resumed, as per the media reports. "Certainly we regret this inconvenience to travelers, recognize that this is causing hardship for those that are waiting for visas, and in some cases their family members or employers in the United States," Kirby said. He also said, "That's why we're taking it so seriously. So we're going to get it done, we're going to get it done right, and we're not going to rush as well," while noting the importance of the issue. "We're working on this as fast as we can, but it's important to get it done right. Of course, we're going to continue to post regular updates on our website," Kirby added. Lakhs of travelers and students, including the job seekers and employees from various nations are awaiting the US visa to fly. This is really one of the severe technical problems faced by the government department. -Kannamsai
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For this Hyderabad student, iPhone is literally more precious than his life June 15, 2015 07:42
It seems even USA, the so-called poster child of development, is unable to deal with its crime rate and the expats are getting victimized more than often times. In the Sunday attack, a 23-year old Hyderabad student was shot dead by unidentified muggers after a Tiff over “just” an iPhone (well, it’s not just in this case). Sai was hailed from Kushaiguda in Kapra, Hyderabad. Upon his graduation in engineering at Geetanjali College in Keesara, Hyderabad, Kiran applied for Masters in Management Studies at Atlantis Masters at Atlantis University in Miami, Florida. Sai Kiran got a green signal for his course from University officials and he landed in Florida on May 2. Kiran was on the phone with one of his friends on Sunday morning (as per Indian Standard Timings) and had just walked out of his residence. All of a sudden he was accosted by a group of Black Americans. Kiran was reportedly shot four times after he refused to hand over his iPhone. He had last spoken to his parents around 12.15 a.m. (IST) on Sunday. Neither the family members nor his friends expected his death call so sooner. The family of Sai Kiran was in deep shock and the calmness clouded over the vicinity. Kumar's family is seeking the help of the Telangana government and the centre to bring his body back to India. - Manohar. M
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Indian-American Children Win Spelling Bee Contest May 29, 2015 12:23
Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam, both Indian-Americans, came to a tie and are named as co-winners of the annual spelling Bee contest. It is the second year in a row that co-champions were named and the fifth time in the history of the bee. Vanya Shivashankar, a 13-year-old is from Olathe, Kan., has joined her sister Kavya as the only siblings to have won the bee. Kavya won the title in 2009. Shivashankar and Venkatachalam, 14, of Chesterfield, Mo., intensively competed for 30 minutes, before both were crowned champs. Back and forth they went, correctly spelling words such as scherenschnitte, pyrrhuloxia, thamakau, caudillismo and a slew of other words which would never be able to decode. The crowd roared as Venkatachalam correctly spelled nunatak to ensure that the victory would be shared. “This is a dream come true,” said Shivashankar. “I’ve wanted this for such a long time.” She dedicated her win to her late grandmother. “I hope I make her happy with this,” she said. “I wasn’t nervous at all,” said Venkatachalam. “It was the culmination of all the hard work of the past six years. I’m finally happy to have success.” His one word to describe his win? “Ridiculous.” By Premji
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Indian-American Prof. Akhil Amar named for key post in US May 21, 2015 05:17
An Indian-American professor from Yale University was named by the US President Barack Obama as a member of the prestigious National Council on Humanities to honour his service and to utilize his abundant knowledge in the field of Law and Political Science. Mr. Akhil Amar has been serving as a Professor of Law and Political Science at the university since 2008. He also served as a professor at both Yale Law School and Yale College since 1985 and has held various professorships, including Southmayd Professor from 1993 to 2008, Professor from 1990 to 1993, Associate Professor from 1988 to 1990, and Assistant Professor from 1985 to 1988. He also worked as a law clerk to judge Stephen Breyer, then of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, from 1984 to 1985. He is co-editor of a constitutional law Casebook, 'Processes of Constitutional Decision-making', and has written several other books on constitutional law. "I am confident that these outstanding individuals will serve the American people well, and I look forward to working with them," the President said in a statement. The Sterling professor is a member of the Board of Directors of the Constitutional Accountability Center and the Coalition of Freedom Advisory Board of the National Constitution Center and he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007. Professor Amar has received his BA from Yale College and a JD from Yale Law School. He was named a Senior Scholar by the National Constitution Center in 2000. -Kannamsai
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US Lawmaker Apologises May 19, 2015 10:28
A veteran US house member stirred a major controversy by making a gesture mocking native Americans or American Indians. California Democrat Loretta Sanchez, who is opposing the state's Indian-American attorney general Kamala Harris for the party's nomination for a 2016 Senate run said that the candidates who don't hide behind the handlers sometimes misstep. While speaking to an American Indian group in Anaheim, she was caught on mobile phone video, raising her hand in front of her mouth and making a whooping sound like a typical native Indian 'war cry'. She said: "I'm going to his office, thinkin' that I'm gonna go meet with woo-woo-woo-woo, right? 'Cause he said 'Indian American.'" Sanchez apologised at the state convention, saying "in this crazy and exciting rush of meetings yesterday, I said something offensive and for that, I sincerely apologise." "Those of you who put yourselves out there like I do, who open your heart and who don't hide behind handlers you know how hard it can be," she said. "It's hard to put yourself out there and do what leaders need to do day in and day out. Sooner or later, we all make mistakes. We're all human. But that is the only way to truly connect with people. You can't change the world from behind a desk." It is outrageous that native Americans do not accept people whose ancestors have migrated to US even centuries back and the present generation is born and brought-up in America, as Americans, instead they term the migrants as Indian American or so.This is a kind of racist attitude. By Premji
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Prestigious Intel Award for Indian-Origin student May 16, 2015 12:25
An Indian-Origin student has won the popular Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award on Friday. At the same event nine students from India have won awards in various categories. The 18-year-old Karan Jerath has secured the prize for his work on refining a system to help protect the seas from oil-drilling disasters. He is one among the five students to win Intel and Indo-US Science and Technology Forum Visit to India Award. The group of five will have to showcase their research projects in India. They can visit leading educational and scientific institutions in India. Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (IISEF) in Pitsburgh, honours the young and high school student scientists, inventors and engineers after several rounds of screening and competitions held across the world. This Indian American from Friendswood (Texas) was given the $50,000 Young Scientist Award, the second highest prize at the IISEF. The top prize, the $75,000 Gordon E. Moore Award, went to Raymond Wang, 17, of Canada. Among 17 students selected for the IISEF, nine students have been awarded in various departments. -Kannamsai
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Indian Student Found dead in Auckland, two suspects arrested May 14, 2015 07:02
Indian youth from Karnal was found dead under suspicious circumstances at Mission Bay in Auckland yesterday. He was actually scheduled to receive a management degree on June 20, for which his parents were planning to visit New Zealand. The youth, Manjit Singh, reportedly had injury marks on his face. Police have been investigating the case to find the causes of his death. Meanwhile, his parents have approached the local deputy commissioner in Karnal to help them in bringing back his body. According to the brief of his uncle, he had no issues with anybody of his college ‘International College of Auckland’ and with any others outside the campus. However, the police have taken two suspects into custody based on the footage of CCTV at a restaurant, where they were seen separately from Manjit’s place. The members of the deceased’s family are planning to meet Minister for External Affairs for ensuring government’s support in the investigation and to bring back his body asap. -Kannamsai
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Indian-origin Priti Patel, new Employment Minister May 12, 2015 06:10
Prime Minister David Cameron appointed one of Britain's most prominent Indian-origin MPs Priti Patel as the new Employment Minister. Ms Patel was re-elected from Witham in Essex with a big majority in the general election. The 43-year-old replaces Esther McVey, who lost her seat at the polls. Priti Patel, who was born on 29th March 1972 is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament from the Witham constituency in Essex since 2010. Her parents migrated from Uganda and were of Gujarati origin who came to Britain in the 1960s. Ms. PritiPatel attended Watford Grammar School for Girls in Watford, studied economics at Keele University, completed her postgraduate studies at the University of Essex. She joined the Conservative Party when John Major was Prime Minister. It was a Ladies' Day at Downing Street as British Prime Minister David Cameron completed his cabinet formation, in which many ladies found the place. Amber Rudd is made Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Anna Soubry and Priti Patel are appointed as small business and employment ministers. Pakistani-origin Sajid Javid is moved from Culture Secretary to Secretary of State for Business and London Mayor Boris Johnson has been made a minister without a portfolio. By Premji
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10 Indian-Origin MPs in Britain House of Commons May 08, 2015 10:30
The number of Indian-Origin members in House of Commons has not changed as only 10 members have become successful in Thursday’s election. Nine out of ten of previous house have won the election, while Paul Uppal of the Conservative party lost in Wolverhampton South West in the West Midlands of England in the hands of Rob Marris of the Labour party by a margin of 801. The constituency is having storng hold for Sikhs from India. However, Uppal’s loss was compensated by son-in-law of N.R. Narayana Murthy, Mr. Rishi Sunak of Conservative party, from Richmond in Yorkshire. And the nine members, who won their seats again, Keith Vaz (Leicester East), who has been an MP from 1987; his sister Valerie Vaz (Walsall South); Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove), who is half Indian-half Pakistani and was minister for culture, media and sport in the outgoing cabinet; Virendra Sharma (Ealing Southall); Seema Malhotra (Feltham & Heston); Lisa Nandy (Wigan), who is half Indian-half English; Priti Patel (Witham), who was a junior minister; Alok Sharma (Reading West); and Shailesh Vara (Cambridgeshire North West), another junior minister who has been an MP since 2005. Over 50 Indian-origin members have contested in the neck to neck elections this time. -Kannamsai
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