Indian-American Appointed to Trump’s Advisory Commission February 04, 2020 13:41
An Indian- American Prem Parameswaran has been appointed by the President of the United States Donald Trump as a member of the Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.The appointment has been done prior to the US President Donald Trump paying a visit to India which has scheduled to be between the 24th- 26th of February.Parameswaran is said to be the only Indian who has been selected in the commission that comprised of thirteen members. Prem Parameswaran is currently the president of Indian motion picture production and distribution company Eros International’s North America operations.The resignations has been submitted by ten members of the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who are known as the AAPIs in the year 2017. The move had been taken as they had stated their objection to the portrayal that has been made by Donald Trump as he had portrayed the immigrants, refugees, people of color and people of various faiths as untrustworthy, threatening and a drain on the nation.Parameswaran has said in a statement that being an Indian- American from New York and the son of Indian immigrants who had come to the country as students, he feels overwhelmed and honoured by being appointed as the member of the Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.He added saying that he looks forward in working with co- chairman Elaine Chao, secretary of transportation, as well as the fellow members of the President’s Advisory Commission in order to improve the health, education and economic status of AAPI.Paremeswaran has earlier worked with the Jefferies Group and was the head of media and telecom for the Americans.He was born, brought up and based in New York and has joined Eros International in the year 2015 and has been experienced in various fields which include global telecommunications, media and investment banking.Prem Prameswaran has been graduated from the Columbia University and has also received an MBA from the Columbia Business School.By Shrithika Kushangi
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US Killings in 2019, Highest than any other Year from 1970s December 30, 2019 06:36
The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University compiled a database which shows that, there were more killings in 2019 than any other year from the 1970s.The first one was where a man killed four family members which includes his infant daughter with an axe and this occurred just 19 days after entering into the new year. Five months later, 12 people were killed in a shooting which took place in a workplace in Virginia. The incident at a Walmart in El Paso witnessed twenty two people being dead in August.It was found that, more than 41 mass killings took place where in four or more people are killed with perpetrator being excluded. Of the 41 mass killings, 33 were mass shootings and more than 210 people were killed.In the majority of the killings, the incidents took place involving the people knew each other as in family disputes, drug or gang violence or as anger being showed at co-worker or relatives.The very first incident that took place in Oregon was one of the 18 mass killing which involved family members and one of the six that had no involvement of a gun. According to the AP/USA Today and Northeastern database, the second most killings prior to 2019 was 38 in 2006.James Densley, a criminologist and professor at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota said that, "What makes this even more exceptional is that mass killings are going up at a time when general homicides, overall homicides, are going down.” he added saying that, “as a percentage of homicides, these mass killings are also accounting for more deaths.”He believes that the mass shootings can be a by product of an “angry and frustrated time” and he mentioned that crime tends to go in waves with number of serial killers in the years 1970s and 1980s, school shootings in 1990s and child abductions and concerns of terrorism dominated the early 2000s.By Shrithika Kushangi
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Executive Committee for TRS NRI Canada Unit Announced December 30, 2019 05:07
Mahesh Bigala, coordinator of TRS NRI wing announced the full-fledged executive committee for the Canada unit of TRS NRI on Sunday after consulting K Kavitha, honorary advisor and former MP. Krishna Kumar Komandla has been appointed as the president of TRS NRI wing of Canada and the general secretary will be Sairama Krishna.The other executive committee members include Prabhakar T as the vice-President, Chetan K as joint secretary, Satish V as treasurer and the other members Lalith A, Sumanth G, Saicharan G, Uday A, Ramachandra T, Madhusudhan P, Vineesh M, Sandeep M, Lokesh R and the advisors as Karunakar P and Srinath K.All the newly appointed members took a vow in working for the victory of TRS in the result of municipal polls through the social media campaign and they thanked K Chnadrashekar Rao, TRS president and Chief Minister, the working president KT Rama Rao and the wing advisor of TRS NRI K Kavitha for providing them an opportunity to serve people of the state of Telangana.By Shrithika Kushangi
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Indian-American Entrepreneur to Run for the US House of Representatives December 17, 2019 12:57
Krishna Bansal, an Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist will enter the race for the US House of Representatives.Mr. Bansal launched his campaign as he was about to enter the race from 11th Congressional District from Republican Party which was attended by more than 20 officers who were elected, leaders of Indian-American and the members of his constituency.Krishna Bansal says that, the reason behind running for Congress is that, he loves the country and will be promoting or defending the country against several threats which may occur from socialism, career politicians and taxes being out of control.“I am running for Congress because I love our country. I will promote and defend her against the threats from socialism, career politicians, and out of control taxes and spending,”Mr. Bansal said.Mr. Bansal added saying that, the nation has fulfilled his dream and that it is his chance now, to fulfill the dream of the American nation.“I believe in this great nation, its values and its constitution in the entirety. This great nation has given me a lot ,made my dream real. Now I want to work to keep this American dream real…for all of us,” said Mr. Bansal. He mentioned his issues of policy being free enterprise, fiscal discipline, family values and a firm foreign policy.Darlene Senger, Former Naperville State Rep. and Illoinois State Comptroller Republican 2018 nominee, mentioned this being an easy win in the race for Mr Bansal.Senger said that, Bansal would win as he had already earned 47 per cent against Democratic incumbent Bill Foster five years ago.Demetra DeMonte, Republic National Committeewoman praised his business acuity, community service and leadership skills and announced to endorse him.By Shrithika Kushangi
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25 Year Old From Mysuru Shot Dead In California November 30, 2019 05:20
Abhishek Sudhesh Bhat, a 25-year-old boy from Mysuru who was doing his Master’s in Computer Science at California State University in San Bernardino was shot dead and the culprit is not yet identified.While he was returning home after his part-time job at a hotel he was shot. Srivastava, his friend who worked with him in the motel informed the family about the death.In the morning the family got another call and they were informed about the death and that his body is kept in a local hospital in San Bernardino. One of the family members mentioned that there was evidence of the attack through the CCTV footage. However, the police are yet to find the culprit."We have contacted US Consulate and the Indian High Commission for more details and as of now, there is no clear information about the incident and why Abhishek was shot dead. Modalities are being worked out for the parents and Abhishek's younger brother to travel to San Bernardino," a family member said.His family is from Udupi, his father, Sudesh Chand is a yoga guru and a founder of Sri Upanishath Yoga Centre Trust in Kuvempunagar in Mysuru and he has been handing this center for 16 years now. Abhishek's mother is Nandini Aithal and she was working at Sarada Vilas College.Abhishek studied at Vidya Vikas Institute of Engineering and Technology at Mysuru and then started his Master’s from April 1st, 2018 in California. He was a Teaching Assistant of Dr. Ernesto Gomez for Computer Science class at the California State University, San Bernardino College of Natural Sciences, according to his facebook profile.Mysuru MP Pratap Simha has promised to help Sudesh and Nandini after being contacted. His parents further contacted the Ministry of External Affairs for assistance and coordination with the Indian Embassy in the United States.As per family sources, the parents are planning to leave for the US given the legal procedures and formalities to secure the body is a big process.By Neha Makhija
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6-8 Indians Imprisoned For Indulging In Immigration Fraud November 11, 2019 11:35
In January 2015, the ICE in Michigan set up Farmington University to partly monitor and bring out immigration frauds. They found out that there are International students who are illegally staying in the US by getting admission at Farmington University.As per the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 6-8 Indians from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have been a part of this, 6 are in jail and 2 others will be put in jail as well.Khalid Walls, the Northeast regional communications director/spokesman of the ICE interacted with Times of India and quoted “ All eight of the defendants have pleaded guilty”. Additionally, he mentioned, “ They will be deported to India following their prison terms”.From Fermont, Santosh Sama has been sent to jail for 24 months. Barath Kakireddy and Suresh Kandala are going to be in prison for 18 months. Avinash Thakkallapally for 15 months, Aswanth Nune and Naveen Prathipati for 12 months.Besides, Prem Rapeesa will be put in jail on November 19th and Phanideep Karnati will be sentenced in January 2020. The defendants were aware that the school didn’t have classes and they kept their students a secret from the US immigration authorities, out of which they earned a little more of this scheme.This fraudulent practice had been going on from February 2017 to January 2019. They deceived the Immigration authorities and none of the participants came from their home country and took admission in the school. They were aware of the rules being non-immigrant students.By Neha Makhija
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Hindi Is The Most Spoken Indian Language In The United States October 31, 2019 07:30
With recent reports, Hindi is regarded as the most abundantly spoken Indian language followed by Gujarati and Telugu. If the exact numbers are to be suggested, it was said that there were around 8.74 lakh Hindi speakers in the US as of July 01st, 2018. The same is believed to have been increased by 1.3% from 2017.Over the decade, the numbers of speakers have increased by 2.65 lakhs which includes a rise of 43.5%. But, the report also suggested that in terms of the percentage increase, the same was quite outstripped by the Telugu speakers which rose from 79.5% between the years of 2010 and 2018. According to the American Community Survey data for 2018, it showed from the reports of the US Census Bureau that around 67.3 million residents in the United States, over the age of 5 speak a different language at home other than just English. Furthermore, it suggested that a portion of the population, around 21.9% of the population do speak a foreign language apart from English at home. The number of people speaking Bengali rose to 68% including around 3.75 lakh people which is a lot that increased over the eight year period. The same was followed by Tamil which included 67.5% and included around 3.01 lakh people in the United States. But, the notable fact in this was the fact that people aside from India also do speak some of these languages. Like, people from Bangladesh speak Bengali and even the people from Sri Lanka do speak Tamil.The immigration experts do suggest that the sudden spike in the Bengali speaking residents in the US could also be because of the increased flow of people into the country from Bangladesh. On the contrary, the people speaking Telugu and Gujarati have actually dipped a bit between the year of 2017 and 2018. The Gujarati speakers in the country amounted to around 4.19 lakh which has reduced by 3.5% over the year. In addition to that, the number of Telugu speakers was also around 4 lakh which further experienced quite a drop in comparison to the year before.But, when the figures from 2010 and 2018 are compared, there was a steep rise in the number of Telugu speakers in US from 2.23 lakh to 4 lakh mainly because of the fact that majority of the IT and tech employees come from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.The downside with the US Censor Board is that they don’t provide country specific statics. So, when it came round to the Urdu and Punjabi speaking provinces, the same was attributed to hail more from Pakistan instead of India. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, they suggest that the number of people speaking a different language other than English at home in US has doubled since 1990 and has tripled since 1980. It also suggests that around 48% of the people in America’s top 5 cities speak a different language at home other than English. When CIS further conducted a better insightful study around on the kind of languages that people speak at home aside from English, Hindi secured the fifth position with 2.65 lakh speakers. CIS has time and time suggested that immigrants learn English so as to ensure better assimilation with the culture and the crowd of the US.English isn’t a very problematic language for majority of the Indians around which further makes it a lot easier to tackle through the shortcomings better in a different nation. It suggests that 80% of the Indians who can speak their native language can speak English quite fluently as well.-Somapika Dutta
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Indian-Origin Environmentalists Launch Campaign In UAE October 11, 2019 09:13
The growing threat to the environment and climate is on the rise. With Greta Thunberg leading the way to mitigate the global climate crisis, men and women alike from across the world are joining hands to provide a better future for the coming generation. Addressing this, the Indian Ladies Association (ILA) which is an UAE based community welfare body has recently launched a year long campaign to contribute their part to protecting and preserving the environment. They are working on a series of initiatives. Some of them include the collection of the discarded papers, e-waste, cleaning of the beaches as well as afforestation. The same is going to be held in Abu Dhabi.In one of the conducted interviews by the Gulf News, the President of ILA, Sunita Wagle said that they have collected over 500 kg of paper from the community. The same included the basic magazine papers to office papers, books, notebooks, paper bags and even the newspaper copies. The main objective of ILA is to fire through sustainable environment associated programs and campaigns and creates social awareness in the designated community every month. The same would go on to happen throughout the year while educating people about the importance of saving the environment and seeking their participation in making this an even greener place. Wagle further shared saying that they have the motto to launch their plantation program by the end of October which will focus on encouraging people to plant more of the ghaf as well as neem trees. Following the planting of the trees, the organization will also take care of the irrigation as well. ILA does provide a platform for the community to take the much needed step forward to bring forth changes and better impacts on the environment and reverse the negative impacts of climate change as well. Not just the elite class, the ILA is also focused around educating the labourers as well. They are going to visit many of the labour camps to give saplings as part of their campaign as well.By Somapika Dutta
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Over 4,700 Women Abandoned by NRI Husbands in Last 10 Years September 27, 2019 11:41
Despite sparing no effort to raise awareness, the Indian ministry is still receiving a slew of cases from women against their NRI husbands, who abandoned them quite soon after walking down the aisle. In the last 10 years, the National Commission for Women (NCW) received more than 4,700 complaints with the highest number of grievances from Indian states Punjab and Delhi, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said on Thursday. With regard to country-wise statistics, Sharma said the highest number of complaints have been received on Non-Resident Indian (NRI) husbands living in the United States, followed by Australia and Canada. As many as 1,105 complaints have been received on NRI husbands from the U.S., 378 on Australian and 326 on Canadian, she said. In the past 10 years, the highest number of complaints were received early this year at 750, followed by 582 this year. Altogether, a total of 4,779 complaints have been received in the last 10 years. Read: Marry and Abandon: Victims of NRI Tricksters Still Fighting for Justice Approximately 13.92 percent of complaints were received from New Delhi at 665, followed by 10 percent of complaints received from Punjab at 479. On that account, the National Commission for Women chairperson brought to the fore the need to increase awareness among families to carry out a thorough background research of the man they are looking for their daughter to get married. She said it is better to prevent such a marriage and for that, there must be awareness among people that they do a proper background search. Moreover, it is also important for a family to change a long-established perception in regard to marrying their daughter to an NRI. Sharma said women are increasingly coming forward to make a complaint against their perfidious NRI husbands with NRI cell of the commission. By Sowmya Sangam
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NRIs to Get Aadhaar on Arrival Without 182-Day Wait September 24, 2019 06:39
The Indian government issued a notification saying Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) with valid Indian passport can apply for Aadhaar on arrival, without the 182-day waiting period. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has released the circular stating that NRI after their arrival India, shall be entitled to obtain Aadhaar number. Stating that the modalities for application remain more or less unchanged, a UIDAI source said that non-resident Indians with Indian passport can now apply for biometric ID on arrival or by fixing a time for a prior appointment, thus getting rid of the requirement for a mandatory 182-day waiting period.As per circular released by UIDAI on Monday, a valid Indian passport will be accepted as proof of identity, proof of address (PoA) and date of the birth document. In case NRI's passport does not contain Indian address, they shall be allowed to submit any of the other UIDAI-approved PoA documents as proof of address. Financial Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech on July 5 said she is considering issuing Aadhaar card for non-resident Indians with Indian passports after their arrival in India without the specified waiting period.By Sowmya Sangam
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Indian Diaspora Must Retort to False Propaganda on J&K: India's VP September 06, 2019 05:43
In the wake of Indian government scrapping Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday urged the Indian diaspora to effectively counter false propaganda negative narrative about India. "Overseas Indians must create awareness in the countries of their stay that the dilution of Article 370 was purely an internal administrative measure and aimed at accelerating the development of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh," he said while speaking after releasing a coffee table book titled ‘Glorious Diaspora- Pride of India' in New Delhi. The book contains brief profiles of the recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards from 2003 to 2019. (Image source from: evdiscourse)Clarifying that measures taken by the Jammu and Kashmir government after revoke of special status have nothing to do with religion, he stated any such propaganda should be negated strongly as a spread of a lot of disinformation would lead to the portrayal of the negative image about India in the western media. Read: Misinformation Being Spread on J&K: Kashmiri-American Body Naidu said: "A few isolated incidents are used to spin fictitious narratives that intolerance, religious and social disharmony is on the rise in India." He emphasized that Pravasi Bharatiyas must effectively counter such falsehoods and project the correct image of India, particularly on the harmonious co-existence of the people belonging to all religions and various social groups. Naidu lauded Indian diaspora’s contribution to the welfare of the nation through their philanthropic and charitable work and described them as an ambassadors of India’s great culture, heritage, and its intrinsic values of humanism. He called on Indian diaspora to be instrumental in India’s growth story through active participation in the fields of education, agriculture, and health since giving back to the society was a key element of Indian philosophy. He urged Indian diaspora to turn out as partners in programs such as Swachh Bharat mission, Clean Ganga, Make in India, and Skill India and strengthen them. Since the launch of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) in 2003, several commendable people of Indian origin across the world including political leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, and economists have been honored, Naidu said. By Sowmya Sangam
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6 Things Every NRI Does When Visits India August 30, 2019 07:35
For every Indian who have settled abroad, returning back to the country is surely a wave of reminiscence. Spending time in the country where you have spent your early years is for sure an awesome feeling and is second to none. When an NRI (Non-Resident Indian) visit India they are bound to make certain things. Read: 11 Things Indians Miss About India When They Live AbroadBelow mentioned are 6 such things that most of the NRIs do when in India: 1. Food, Food, and Foood! What an Indian misses the most after moving to a foreign country is food. Their craving for home-made and traditional food is never-ending. The lack of Indian masala, spices, especially the taste in food available abroad makes an NRI eat roadside food greedily when in India 2. Reuniting with Family, Friends When an NRI returns to India, the happiness of reuniting with the family, friends and loved ones is exceptional. They can go any far to spend as much as time possible with their family, friends, and relatives. 3. Homely Feeling Taking a break from overbusy lives overseas and visiting India is so relieving. The homely feeling you get once you reach India and seeing everyone welcoming you is something that can’t put to words. There is always room for loved ones in India, a feeling NRIs desire for, abroad. 4. Festivals in India We can beyond a shadow of doubt say that nowhere in the world other than India you can get a feeling of Indian festival. As India is largely known as the land of festivals, NRIs love the aura and vibes around them in the festive season. 5. Spirituality If you are a bit religious person, then you will miss the places of worship the most abroad. The spiritual aura of India drives a lot of NRIs and even other foreign citizens to explore the country.6. Ayurveda for Peace of Mind India is known for Ayurveda advancement provided for relaxation and peace of mind. When an NRI comes to India, they try out Ayurveda treatments to let off all mental strains.By Sowmya Sangam
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