Rinu Nair, an 18-year-old college student, has defied significant odds to secure a seat on the Fremont Unified School District Board. Nair’s victory over Ganesh Balamitran, who was backed by influential congressmen and local politicians, highlights her determination to bring a fresh, student-centered perspective to the board.
Category: Ritu Jha
Trump’s Harmeet Dhillon nomination sparks mixed reactions in Indian American community
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Harmeet K. Dhillon, a California-based attorney and former vice chair of the California Republican Party, to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice. Dhillon’s nomination has drawn mixed reactions within the Indian American and Sikh communities, reflecting concerns about her alignment with the Trump administration’s policies.
BAPS celebrates Diwali with flavors from across the world in Annakut offering to God
Each year BAPS Swaminarayan temple celebrates Diwali by offering thousands of varieties of home-cooked food to God, goddesses, and the gurus they worship. The offering is called ‘Annakut’. Annakut, which means ‘a mountain of food’, is traditionally offered to God to celebrate the beginning of the Hindu New Year. However, this year, it was a little different. BAPS offered not just Hindu meals as part of the Annakut, but also included Mexican cuisine.
“We started this exercise three years back when our current guru, Mahant Swami Maharaj, said that our mission should be to extend the circle of global harmony. And that will not happen by just BAPS doing their own things. We have to bring everybody together,” Rajesh Rathore, who heads community affairs for BAPS, told indica while highlighting the celebrations and the transformative presence of BAPS in the US. “I think the common theme we have seen is a lot of people find value in learning how BAPS engages people of all ages. We are trying to unite east, west, north, and south.”
Drishtee Foundation empowering women with sustainable business models in rural India
Drishtee Foundation USA, a non-profit organization that enables village women entrepreneurs by helping them develop and implement sustainable business models, brought in other successful non-profits and people supporting women to San Ramon in California on October 16, where they shared their work, the challenges they face, and what more needs to be done.
The host, Niharika Srivastav, president of Drishtee Foundation USA, a subsidiary of Drishtee India, who for the past four years was volunteering and is now fully dedicated in supporting rural women in India, highlighted about Drishtee and how it has helped 6,500 villages in the past 25 years in the country.
Drishtee Foundation empowering women with sustainable business models in rural India
Drishtee Foundation USA, a non-profit organization that enables village women entrepreneurs by helping them develop and implement sustainable business models, brought in other successful non-profits and people supporting women to San Ramon in California on October 16, where they shared their work, the challenges they face, and what more needs to be done.
The host, Niharika Srivastav, president of Drishtee Foundation USA, a subsidiary of Drishtee India, who for the past four years was volunteering and is now fully dedicated in supporting rural women in India, highlighted about Drishtee and how it has helped 6,500 villages in the past 25 years in the country.
Indian American candidate pledges to upgrade quality of life, finances, and economics of San Ramon, California
Deep passion for public service and unwavering commitment to enhancing the Indian American community is the mainstay of his candidacy for San Ramon District-1 City Council. As a long-time resident, a dedicated parent, and an active participant in local nonprofit organizations, he understands the needs and aspirations of the electorate.
Indian American Vasanth Shetty, who is running against Robert Jweinat, believes that his professional background in finance, technology, and program management, coupled with his experience on the San Ramon Economic Development Council, equips him to “serve the community effectively”.
Ratan Tata: A visionary leader and philanthropist who transformed India and inspired the world, says Silicon Valley
Ratan Naval Tata, the legendary Indian industrialist and philanthropist knew he was getting fragile each day and his life was coming to an end, but he did not give up on meeting visionaries like him to help his company, TATA, walk with global organizations, be it a semiconductor or a hydrofuel company, or investing his personal funds in start-ups that could help India.
He served as the chairman of Tata Group and Tata Sons from 1990 to 2012, and then as interim chairman from October 2016 through February 2017. He was honored with Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honor in India, and Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honor in India. He passed away on October 9 at age 86 at a hospital in Mumbai.
Indian-origin actor-producer’s film ‘The Collaborator’ to premiere at SDIFF after decade-long journey
The Collaborator, a feature film produced by an Indian-origin actor, will premiere at the 23rd annual San Diego International Film Festival. The film was selected from a record-breaking 3,500 submissions at the film festival, themed “Celebrating the Power of Film”.
The festival, scheduled to be held from October 16-20, will include more than 100 screenings of films from 25 countries, along with 10 world premieres, panel discussions, and the Night of the Stars Tribute red carpet event.
ASEICon 24 celebrates STEM excellence and innovation, honors students with scholarships at national convention
With the theme Emerging Innovations in Engineering, the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) celebrated the 36th National Convention ASEICon 24 that drew scholars, experts, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students from across the U.S.
Held at Cal State Fullerton on September 21, ASEICon 24 also honored four individuals by giving scholarships to STEM students. Founded in 1983 in Detroit, Michigan, ASEI was formed to exchange and collaborate technologies between India and the U.S.
BITS Pilani completes 60 years, BITSAA Silicon Valley Chapter celebrates silver jubilee
BITSians in the Bay Area celebrated the 12th BITSians’ Day and 60 years of BITS Pilani with the 6th edition of Music Nite, presented by CriticalRiver Inc. and powered by InstaService Inc. on August 4 at JCC, Palo Alto, California.
BITSians’ Day 2024 also celebrated 2 milestones: BITS Pilani completing 60 years and 25 years of BITSAA Silicon Valley Chapter.
IAMC protests float on Babri Mosque demolition in India Day Parade; FIA, VHPA refute allegations
The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) and several other human rights organizations have raised concerns against the inclusion of an anti-Muslim float at the India Day Parade scheduled to be held in New York City on August 18, 2024.
The proposed float for the parade that has angered the human rights outfits highlights the illegal demolition of the Babri Mosque. The allegations have been refuted by the event’s host, the Federation of Indian Associations. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America also has condemned the assertion of IAMC and blamed it for mischaracterizing the float as anti-Muslim.
Government endeavor remains to position India as a global manufacturing hub, says FICCI DG on recent Budget
The abolition of the Angel tax was a long pending demand from FICCI, and will certainly lead to more capital flows into the start-up sector, says Jyoti Vij, the Director General of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).
FICCI is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India with an office in the U.S., and is the first port of call for Indian industry, policymakers and the international business community.
Trump a fighter: Republican Indian Americans
Republican Indian Americans called former U.S. President Donald Trump, “a fighter” and “lucky” at the same time after a failed attempted assassination attempt on him, at around 6:15 pm, July 13, during a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.