GOPIO NEWS BULLETIN

March 2006

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CONTENTS

INDIAN CABINET CLEARS VOTING RIGHTS FOR NRIs

GOPIO WELCOMES CUT IN NRI FEES

PRAVASI CENTERS IN FIVE COUNTRIES PLANNED

INDIAN BRAIN POWER CONTRIBUTE TO AMERICAN TECH BOOM PRESIDENT BUSH

US POST OFFICE BUILDING NAMED AFTER CONGRESSMAN SAUND

GOPIO CHAPTER NEWS

GOPIO LONDON TO LAUNCH WEB RADIO PROGRAM ACCESSIBLE WORLD-WIDE

GOPIO-FAIRFIELD COUNTY TO BE LAUNCHED

GOPIO TO PARTICPATE IN CONFERENCES

GOPIO-NEW YORK PRESIDENT HOSTS METROPOLITAN MUSEUM EVENT

NRIs/PIOs ACHIEVE

KOSMIK DEVELOPED BY NRIs TO CHALLENGE GOOGLE

MITTAL CHOSEN TO EISENHOWER GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AWARD

INDIAN AMERICAN APPOINTED MEMBER-AT-LARGE OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY

LORD NAREN PATEL TO HEAD SCOTTISH VARSITY

INDIAN AMERICAN APPOINTED COMMISSIONER OF TRANSPORTATION IN NJ

BENIN NRI MIRCHANDANI HONORED FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY

DR. SABEEHA MERCHANT IS WINNER OF US NATIONAL ACADEMY AWARD

DR. PARVEEN CHOPRA APPOINTED TO BOARD OF UNITED NEW YORKERS FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION

PROF. TOM KAILATH INDUCTED INTO SILICON VALLEY ENGINEERING HALL OF FAME

32 INDIAN ORIGIN CANDIATES WIN CANADIAN ELECTIONS

EIGHT INDIAN AMERICANS SELECTED TO US NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

SEVEN INDIAN AMERICANS WIN SOROS GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP

HINDUJAS TO CONTRIBUTE TO DUKE OF ENDINBURGH AWARDS

NEWS OF INTEREST TO NRIs AND PIOs AROUND THE WORLD

US BASED BHAKTIVEDANTA HOSPITAL TO CONDUCT FREE CATARAT SURGERY CAMP IN INDIA

US INSURER BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD COVERS SURGERY IN INDIA

INTERNATIONAL INTENSIVE TRAINING SCHEDULED IN PUNE IN DEC.

OXFORD TO WOO INDIAN STUDENTS

GOPIO LIFE MEMBERSHIP AND CHAPTER FORMATION

EDITORIAL BOARD

INDIAN CABINET CLEARS VOTING RIGHTS FOR NRIs

The Indian Union cabinet held on February 15^th cleared amendments to Representation of Peoples Act bill under which non-resident Indians could now have voting rights. The cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cleared the amendments in section 20 of the Act so as to amplify the definition of "ordinarily resident".

Under the amended law, Indian nationals residing in foreign countries who have been absented from their place of their ordinary residence in India owing to their employment, education or otherwise to get their names in the electoral rolls and thus exercise their voting rights.

The cabinet also gave its approval for introduction of an amendment bill on the same in the current session of Parliament so that the NRIs have a sense of belonging. The amendment bill will entitle the eligible citizens of India to cast their votes in Parliamentary and assembly elections when they are in their constituency and thus fully participate in the democratic process of nation-building and uphold their pride and prestige as citizens of India.

GOPIO had passed a resolution for granting OF voting rights to Indian citizens living outside India as early as 2000 at a resolution passed at GOPIOs Zurich Convention as follows:

GOPIO RESOLUTION 8

RESOLUTION ON VOTING RIGHTS FOR INDIAN CITIZENS LIVING OUTSIDE INDIA

WHEREAS, about 30% of the PIOs and NRIs living outside India are still citizens of India,

WHEREAS, most of the countries provide opportunities for their citizens living outside their countries to participate in the election process of their countries,

WHEREAS, India is yet to establish a mechanism to provide such as opportunity its citizens numbering about 6 million,

The Global Convention of people of Indian origin meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, July 21^st - July 23^rd, 2000

URGES Government of India to initiate the process of providing voting rights, through a constitutional amendment, to Indian citizens living outside India.

GOPIO again passed this resolution at the GOPIO Conference in Hyderabad on January 5^th and 6^th, this year (visit http://gopio.net/conference_2006/resolutions.htm).

GOPIO WELCOMES CUT IN NRI FEES

The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), has welcomed the decision of the government of India to do away higher tariffs for NRIs/PIOs visiting India. Till now, the NRI visitors have been paying more to hotels, airlines and even while visiting museums and historical monuments.

In 2002, GOPIO had presented several resolutions to Prime Minister Atal Bihair Vajpayee during his visit to New York, which included the issue of price differentiation for NRIs/PIOs and Indians in India. GOPIO again passed the resolution at its meeting Hyderbad last month. The resolution reads as follows:

GOPIO RESOLUTION

PRICE DIFFERENTIATION FOR NRIs AND PIOs FOR HOTELS & ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES

WHEREAS, it may be understandable that those who can afford should pay more, it is a poor policy to differentiate between the citizens of India and

NRIs/PIOs by asking them to pay more for the same Hotel accommodation and for the same entrance ticket to the archeological sites such as Taj Mahal, and

WHEREAS, the intent and actions of PIOs to support India can not be challenged vis--vis the commitment of Indian citizens residing in India for the growth and progress in India, and

WHEREAS, there is a grave concern about the feelings of Indians abroad who are against this "double standard"

THEREFORE, GOPIO urges the Government of India to stop this discriminatory practice.

"Higher tariffs were an act of outright discrimination against NRIs," said GOPIO President Inder Singh. "There was no reason to continue with this dual policy when the government of India has granted dual citizenship to us, and we have the same commitment as native Indians for the progress of India."

GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham said that this decision by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will help to remove the distrust on Govt. of India policies toward NRIs/PIOs. "When our children visit the Taj Mahal, they are outraged at the ticket counter when they are asked to pay much higher entry fee," Abraham said. "This is a right decision from Govt. of India to stop this discriminatory practice," Abraham added.

GOPIO officials presented this and other resolutions to the former minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Oscar Fernandes at the last Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held in Hyderabad. Further GOPIO President Inder Singh met Minister Fernades again in New Delhi and discussed with him all GOPIO resolutions. GOPIO resolution committee chairman Dr. Piyush Agrawal too met Prithviraj Chavan, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and presented all GOPIO resolutions.

GOPIO was happy to note that the government of India not only acted promptly but also went a step further by doing away with this practice for all foreign visitors whether they are of Indian origin or not. "We hope that this decision will be implemented by the various government agencies, hotels and private companies," Singh added.

PRAVASI CENTERS IN FIVE COUNTRIES PLANNED

Vayalar Ravi, the new minister for overseas Indian affairs, has announced that Pravasi centers would soon be set up in five countries, including in the Middle East, the US, Europe and the Far East. During his first visit to his home state Kerala, Ravi told newsmen that the process of setting up the centers was being speeded up and they would be of immense help to non-resident Indians (NRIs). These centers would begin functioning from the existing Indian embassies.

But he said that each center would have two or three officials and would be directly under his ministry. The centers will be equipped to deal with all issues faced by the Indian Diaspora including providing assistance in legal matters, said Ravi.

Ravi further said that his ministry's prime concern was to ensure the welfare of NRIs especially in the Middle East. "There are several issues related to their employment, living conditions etc that need to be addressed and my prime concern is to expedite the matter," said Ravi.

He also said that his other concerns are to see that the present Emigration Act of 1983 is amended. "The existing act lacks teeth and there is not enough provision to punish those who engage in fraudulent recruitment. I have also asked my team to draw up a plan for computerizing the emigration department," said Ravi.

INDIANS BRAIN POWER CONTRIBUTE TO AMERICAN BOOM PRESIDENT BUSH

US President George Bush has showered lavish praise on the 2 million strong Indian Americans by calling them the "brain power behind the high tech boom" that has transformed American society.

"As the high-tech boom helped transform our society, a lot of the brain power behind that boom have been Indian Americans, as well as Indians educated here in America," Bush told a group of select Indian journalists at the White House. He met the journalists after he delivered a talk at the Asian Society in Washington, DC.

"Let me make one other point, if you don't mind, that I should have made in my speech today and that is that there are a lot of Indian Americans who made a tremendous contribution to our country, as well," said Bush.

He also glowingly described a radical change in the image of India in the US, which is now perceived as the world's leading knowledge power and one of the fastest growing economies with a 300-million strong middle class that can provide a perfect market for American goods and services.

Bush specially lauded the Indian American community of software wizards for this dramatic transformation of India's image and their role in deepening strategic and business ties with the world's largest democracies.

He also promised to lift visa restrictions for educated Indians with high skill levels.

"And so the American people, as well, have begun to get kind of a different perspective on the great contributions that India can not only make to our own country but can make to the world."

US POST OFFICE BUILDING NAMED AFTER CONGRESSMAN SAUND

The main post office in Temecula, a city about 100 miles from Los Angeles in California, was officially re-named on Feb 21, 2006 after Dalip Singh Saund, the first Asian elected to the US Congress in 1956.

The city of Temecula was part of the congressional district of Saund who was re-elected twice in 1958 and 1960. The city now falls in the Congressional district of Darrell Issa who presided over the renaming ceremony and paid glowing tributes to the late Congressman for his courage to beat the odds and become the first Asian to enter the US Congress.

Congressman Issa had introduced the bill to rename the post office after Saund in the US Congress and piloted through till its passage. President George Bush signed the bill into a law last July.

Temecula city mayor Ron Roberts said that the renaming of the post office after Saund was a matter of pride for the town. Speaking on behalf of the Indian American community, Inder Singh thanked Congressman Issa for taking the initiative to honor Saund. He said, "Saund entered the same Congress in 1956 which a few years earlier had passed Asian exclusionary laws to bar them (Asians) from owning property, marrying a US citizen." He also praised the late Congressman for his courage of conviction, He didn't adopt a new religion nor did he Americanize his name to hide his Indian identity. He however assimilated himself in the American mainstream but maintained his heritage," said Singh.

The ceremony was conducted by former El Centro mayor David Dhillon and attended by local elected officials including mayor Ron Roberts and many prominent Indian Americans including GOPIO president Inder Singh, Anaheim City Councilman Harry Sidhu, President of FIA Southern California Kewal Kanda, GOPIO Temecula President Paul Toor, and Baljit Toor who is president of India Association of Inland Empire.

GOPIO CHAPTER NEWS

GOPIO LONDON TO LAUNCH WEB RADIO PROGRAM ACCESSIBLE WORLD-WIDE

GOPIO -London resident Raj Lakha has announced that GOPIO London UK will launch its own radio program on March 12^th, 006 from 14.00hrs-16.00hrs GMT be broadcasting a live internet radio programme accessible world-wide on www.gfmradio.com

GFM has 4 million listeners across the globe from Africa, Asia and USA. Programme details are at http://www.gfmradio.com/index.php?objectid=1248

Please feel free to phone in live and speak to our guests or email us whilst we are on air at info@gfmradio.com. The program is presented by Raj Lakha and Guests. This will enable us to build the GOPIO family across the UK through the power of the media. We hope to make this a regular monthly event leading to GOPIO UK Radio very soon.

GOPIO-FAIRFIELD COUNTY (CONNECTICUT) TO BE LAUNCHED

GOPIOS new chapter GOPIO-Fairfield County in Connecticut will be launched on Friday, March 24^th in Stamford, CT. The guest of honour is Congressman Chris Shays who has just joined the India Caucus in the US Congress. The Indian Consul General Neelam Deo will inaugurate the new chapter at a dinner/talk program to be held at the Meera Restaurant, 227 Summer St., Stamford starting at 6.30 p.m. For more info, contact Dr. Thomas Abraham, 203-329-8010 or write to gopio@optonline.net or Rita Ghei at rita.ghei@gmail.com.

GOPIO TO PARTICPATE IN CONFERENCES

GOPIO Secretary General and President of GOPIO Belgium Sunil Prasad has been invited to speak at a panel which is organized as a public debate by the well know publication, The Economist in association with Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs), in London on the evening of the 2nd March 2006. The debate will be based on the following motion 'India will overtake China in the next 25 years.'

GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham will speak at a conference on South Asian Americans Prospects and Issues, being organized by New Yorks City University at its Barnard Baruch College campus on Friday, March 17^th at 9.15 a.m. There will be speakers from the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladesh communities at this conference. The conference session will be chaired by GOPIO Life Member and Professor of Sociology Dr. Parmatma Saran. Admission is FREE. To register contact: Antony Wong, Asian American / Asian Research Institute, Barnard Baruch College, E-mail: gearbolt98@yahoo.com.

GOPIO-NEW YORK PRESIDENT HOSTS METROPOLITAN MUSEUM EVENT

GOPIONew York President Lal Motwani, who is also the Vice President of the National Federation of Indian-American Associations (NFIA), served as the host for over four hundred Indian Americans and others who joined for a reception and viewing Pearls of the Parrot on India, Emperor Akbars Illustrated Khamsa, 1597-98, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city on February 22nd. The reception and cultural program were held at the Temple of Dendur located at the Egyptian Gallery. Indian dancers performed Kuchipudy and Bharata Natyam during the reception. The Indian Consulate was represented by Deputy Consul General A.R. Ghanashyam. Visit the slide show at http://www.indianera.com/pearls_slideshow.asp.

NRIs/PIOs ACHIEVE

KOSMIK DEVELOPED BY NRIs TO CHALLENGE GOOGLE

Two Indian computer wizards who studied along with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University are now launching a start-up to compete with the world's best known search engine. Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan are betting that 'Kosmix' with its deep search technology can challenge Google by gleaning more about the overall content of webpages searched instead of their popularity.

Google basically searches pages based on a sort of popularity contest and not necessarily its content but Kosmix' creators says they took a different approach and developed a new kind of 'categorization' technology.

The two Indians, who were among the co-founders of web database company 'Junglee', hope their deep search technology can improve upon Google's one-size-fits-all approach. Kosmix asks users to define a category for a search. If a search term is related to health, users can make a query in a health-related search box. That way, it can find webpages closely associated in meaning with the search term.

It then looks at what webpages linking to other pages say - to take a bigger stab at judging the page's subject. If a webpage is saying something similar to the page it links to, you can get enough information to categorise it by topic, says Harinarayan.

Kosmix has already started testing a health search on its website. Over the next year, the company will release numerous categories of search - from health to travel, politics and finance. It plans to unveil a general search box within a year.

MITTAL CHOSEN TO EISENHOWER GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AWARD

Lakshmi Mittal has been chosen for the 2007 Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Leadership Award by a leading New York-based Business Council. It was announced by the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), a non-profit making US business association dedicated to forging relationships and promoting dialogue between business and government communities across the globe. "Mittal has transformed the fragmented steel industry into a global force for good in communities worldwide," said BCIU in a press release.

The award will be presented at BCIU's Annual Opera Gala at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York City, tentatively scheduled for Fall 2007.

Since its inception in 2003, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Leadership Award has been given to business executives who exemplify the definition of an international business leader by exhibiting outstanding contributions to global commerce.

MIttal owns the largest steel company in the world.

INDIAN AMERICAN APPOINTED MEMBER-AT-LARGE OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Entrepreneur Kamil Hasan, the first Indian American to be appointed as Member-at-Large of the Democratic Party, hopes to use his position to jockey greater influence for the community in policymaking. Hasan, founder of the Silicon Valley-based Hitek Venture Partners, was appointed by Howard Dean, who heads the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Hasan will be involved in policymaking and development of the platform for the party, helping the presidential candidate.

Born in Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, Hasan got his Bachelors in Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University and taught there before leaving for MIT to get his Masters in the late 1960s. He received his PhD in engineering from the University of California.

Hasans wife, Talat, is the daughter of India's former education minister Nurul Hasan. She is chairperson and CEO of Sensys Instruments, a company she founded in 1996 to market products for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The couple has a family foundation in the US and the Nurul Hasan Education Foundation in India.

After a successful entrepreneurial career, the Hasans decided to diversify into "social entrepreneurship. Apart from the family foundations, they have been active in the American India Foundation. In 2000, they endowed a chair in Indian Classical Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and helped establish the first Indian community

LORD NAREN PATEL TO HEAD SCOTTISH VARSITY

Lord Naren Patel, an obstetrics expert in UK, has been named the next chancellor of the University of Dundee, Scotland. Currently a honorary professor at the university, Lord Patel will be installed as chancellor at the end of May in time to preside over the student graduation ceremonies in June and July.

Born in Tanzania, Patel was educated in India, Tanzania and London. He graduated from St Andrews University in 1964 and continued to work in Scotland, including more than 30 years at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School in Dundee, where he became known for his research on premature babies and foetal problems.

He is currently chairman of the British stem cell oversight committee and the patron of several charities.

INDIAN AMERICAN APPOINTED COMMISSIONER OF TRANSPORTATION IN NEW JERSEY

A prominent Indian-American Kris Kolluri has been appointed as the commissioner of transportation in the US state of New Jersey. Hyderabad-born Kolluri, came to the United States in 1985 and got his BA degree in Management and Marketing from Rutgers, a Masters degree from Johns Hopkins and a jurist doctorate from Georgetown University in Washington DC. Kolluri had worked on Capitol Hill as senior policy advisor to the former Democratic Minority leader Richard Gephardt.

BENIN NRI MIRCHANDANI HONORED FOR CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY

Ashok Mirchandani, Honorary Consul General of India to the Republic of Benin and President of the Indian Association of Benin has been honored by the Chairman of the Rotary Foundation of the Rotary International with its Regional Service Award (For the African Region) for his personal contribution towards a Polio-Free World. The plaque was handed over at a special ceremony by the Representative of the President of Rotary International at a Gala reception. This award crowns the many prizes and awards he has received for exemplary voluntary and dedicated work  as  Chairman of the National Social Mobilization Committee of the Extended Program for Immunization of the Ministry of Health, by virtue of being Chair of the National Polio Plus Commission of Rotary International for Benin.

The Benin NRI Indian Community also honored Mirchandani, with a Lifetime Achievement Award with a citation and a gold memento for his 30 years of service to the Indian and Beninese community during the Grand Annual Indian Gala.

DR. SABEEHA MERCHANT IS WINNER OF US NATIONAL ACADEMY AWARD

Indian-American scientist Dr. Sabeeha Merchant has won the US National Academy of Sciences' Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal for her research on green algae. A professor of biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, Merchant was chosen for the $20,000 award for her pioneering discoveries in the assembly of metalloenzymes and regulated biogenesis of major complexes of the photosynthetic apparatus in green algae.

The research on algea explores how living organisms manage to cope with little or no metals which are necessary for vital biological functions.

The award is given every three years for excellence in published research on marine or freshwater algae. Merchant is one of the 15 scientists selected by the Academy for the awards. The awards will be presented on April 23 at a ceremony in Washington, DC, during the Academy's 143rd annual meeting.

Born in Mumbai, Merchant attended JB Petit High School till she was 15. When her parents immigrated to Wisconsin, Merchant joined the University of Wisconsin Madison and graduated with a BS in Molecular Biology. She later did her PhD in Biochemistry from the university.

DR. PARVEEN CHOPRA APPOINTED TO BOARD OF UNITED NEW YORKERS FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION

Dr. Parveen Chopra, Co-Chairman of GOPIO Human Rights Commission, has been appointed to the Board of Advisors of the United New Yorkers for Choice in Education (UNYCE). Chopra is the first Asian to be appointed to this position. Mr. Timothy P. Mulhern, President of UNYCE said in a letter that Dr. Parveen Chopra was appointed because of his high profile within the Indian and broader Asian Communities. 

UNYCE is heavily involved in all educational policies, decisions and reform of educational legislation. Currently, UNYCE is trying to get the School Choice Legislation bill passed in the