Sri Kulkarni Joins AmeriCorps Federal Agency
Washington DC: AmeriCorps, the federal agency for volunteering and service, announced the appointments of three leading experts to key positions – Sonali Nijhawan, director of AmeriCorps State and National; Dan Kohl, director of government relations; and Sri Preston Kulkarni, chief of external affairs. Joining the seven leaders announced last month, these appointees reflect the Biden […]
Rihanna, Greta Tweet for Farmers and Government Response
New Delhi: Protests have been taking place in India for months as a result of three new agriculture laws passed in 2020. On Feb. 2, two influential names took to Twitter to show their support for India’s farmers. Rihanna shared an article written by CNN, which outlined the recent internet cuts that took place in […]
PM Modi ‘Honored’ after Brazil Thanks India for 2 MM Covid Vaccine
New Delhi: After receiving 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccine from India, Brazil President Jair M Bolsonaro thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for vaccine export saying he feels honoured to have a great partner to overcome a global obstacle by joining efforts. India, which began exporting the Astrazeneca and Oxford coronavirus vaccine doses last Wednesday, […]
Kisan Morcha Calls Off Tractor Parade after Violence at Red Fort
New Delhi: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha called off the tractor parade by farmers Tuesday and appealed to particiants to immediately return to their respective protest sites. The tractor parade, which began much ahead of the scheduled time, turned violent with farmers opposing the Centre’s new agri laws and police clashing at several areas of the […]
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Has Elevated the Blindian Community
Washington DC: Sharda Sekaran was raised by a single Black mom. She went to mostly Black schools as a child, in mostly Black neighborhoods. Looking at her, she says, some people assume she’s Black. But her name — Sharda — always gave her away. All her life, Sekaran has searched for other “Blindians” — people […]
Indian American Leaders Express Shock at Attack on US Capitol
By Ajay Ghosh Washington DC: The Indian American community has expressed shock and is dismayed at the events that unfurled on Wednesday, January 6th on Capitol Hill. Supporters of President Donald Trump breached one of the most iconic American buildings, US Capitol, engulfing the nation’s capital in chaos after Trump urged the mob of rioters […]
Vanita Gupta Joins Biden Administration as Associate Attorney General
Washington DC: President-elect Joe Biden is planning to name civil rights activist Vanita Gupta to be the associate attorney general, according to several media reports quoting unnamed sources close to him. The reports on Wednesday also said that he will name Merrick Garland, a federal appeals court judge, as the attorney general. Gupta had served […]
Biden Administration Lobbied on H-1B Suspension
Washington DC: A top India-centric American business advocacy group has urged the incoming Biden administration to ease the restrictions on H-1B visas and provide green cards to higher education students with science and mathematics degrees to meet the increasing demand for IT professionals in the country. On December 31, outgoing US President Donald Trump extended […]
India’s MEA Ministry OKs e-Ballots for NRIs
New Delhi: The ministry of external affairs (MEA) has written to the Election Commission favouring its recent proposal to allow non-resident Indians (NRIs) to vote remotely through electronically-transmitted postal ballot system (ETPBS) from their country of residence. However, it has suggested that the poll body hold consultations with all stakeholders before rolling out the facility. […]
A Letter to Farmer Brothers and Sisters
By Narendra Singh Tomar Dear Farmer brothers and sisters, I am in constant contact with you for the last few days regarding historical agricultural reforms. In the recent past, I have a conversation with National Farmer Organizations of many states. These farming reforms have been welcomed by many farmer organizations. They are happy with these […]
Vertical Upward Integration in Punjab’s Farming Sector
By Bhupinder Singh First and foremost I would like to tell my farmers brothers/sisters that I understand and feel their concern regarding the agricultural reform bills that have been passed by the Indian Government. We can feel your anguish and understand what is fueling the protests. We hope that the outcome of ongoing discussions with […]
Sikhs Protest New Indian Agriculture Laws Outside the Indian Consulate in Houston
By Robert Downes Houston: Demonstrators, mostly from the Sikh community, gathered to protest against several farm laws that change India’s agricultural system. Sikhs in Houston are calling on the Indian government to end new agriculture laws that they say will cripple already meager profits for farmers in the country’s Punjab region. On Monday, a few […]
How Did Asian-American Voters Fail?
As Diwali, the Festival of Light is being celebrated by the Southeast Asian community across the US and the world, this year’s festival is particularly special, with Mrs. Kamala Harris, a daughter of an Asian immigrant, becoming the first woman vice president of America. Many Asian families justifiably feel exhilarated by her success and what […]
Election 2020 at Arya Samaj
Houston: The election process is a celebration in any democratic setup that makes the people govern themselves. Today we hear very often the unique partnership between India and the USA, the largest and the oldest democracies, respectively. But the truth is that India is the oldest democracy in the world besides being the largest one. […]
Lutfi Hassan’s Biden-Harris Victory Party Draws Local Democratic Leaders
Houston: With the election results closing in on Tuesday, November 3, many South Asian supporters gathered with local leaders for a victory party hastily arranged for by local businessman Lutfi Hassan who is a stalwart of the Democratic Party, not only in Houston but also nationally. The party was held at the newly remodeled luxury […]
All Indian American Congress Representatives Re-elected
Washington DC: Even as the world awaits the results of the US presidential elections, Indian-Americans have some reason to celebrate. The “Samosa Caucus” comprising five Indian-American Democratic lawmakers—Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, Ami Bera and Ro Khanna from California, Pramila Jayapal from Washington, and Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris—have had a promising run in the elections. […]
Republican Red Tide Upsets Sri Preston Kulkarni’s Bid for TX-22
Houston: Sri Preston Kulkarni’s second attempt to win the TX-22 Congressional District was swept away by an unexpected Red Republican tide. Kulkarni lost to former Sherif Troy Nels by a 44.6% to 51.6%. Democrats in the local Indo-American community put their hearts and souls to help Kulkarni through multilingual phone banking, poll canvassing and literature […]
Biden-Harris Declare Victory after Surpassing Electoral College Threshhold
Washington DC (CNN): Joe Biden is US President-elect. winning on a message of unity and a pledge to restore the “soul of the nation” after four years of tumult under President Donald Trump. Biden rebuilt the “blue wall” of Great Lakes states where Trump had won four years earlier. He also delivered Democrats’ strongest performance […]
Who is Sri Preston Kulkarni? An Upclose and Personal Viewpoint
By Padma Srinivasan Sugar Land: One evening in early 2018, people were walking in to hear Beto O’Rourke speak at a Town Hall meeting in Sugar Land. I noticed a lone person standing outside handing out business cards telling people that he was running for Congress in Congressional District 22, Fort Bend County to unseat […]
2020 Presidential Election: Debate on Hindu-American Issues
San Francisco: A coalition of Hindu American organizations joined hands to conduct a first of its kind debate to discuss issues relevant to the Hindu American community in the upcoming presidential election. On Sunday, October 18, 2020, six Hindu Americans, split evenly between the two presidential candidates, met virtually to debate topics as they related […]
