GOPIO NEWS BULLETIN
April 2005
NOTE: This is a monthly newsletter of
GOPIO International, based in the
CONTENTS
Ø
Ø
PIO
WORLD BUSINESS SYMPOSIUM IN
Ø
GOPIO
Ø
ASIAN INDIAN
ANCESTRY RAISES RISK OF DIABETES
Ø
NRI
NGOs MEETING HELD IN
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NRIs/PIOs ACHIEVE
o LAKSHMI MITTAL
RICHEST MAN IN
o RITA SHARMA
RICHEST ASIAN WOMEN IN
o NAYAN CHADA
RECIPIENT OF PRESTIGIOUS SHORENSTEIN AWARD
o FIFTEEN INDIAN
AMERICAN NAMED SOROS FELLOWS
o US REPUBLICAN
COMMITTEE AWARD GOES TO SANTOSH C. VERMA
Ø
GOPIO
CHAPTER NEWS
o GOPIO
o GOPIO
o GOPIO CHICAGOLAND
TSUNAMI FUNDRAISER IN A PACKED HOUSE
o GOPIO
Ø
NEWS
OF INTEREST TO NRIs AND PIOs
AROUND THE WORLD
o
o
o
o PIOs OPPOSE RENAMING OF ROAD AFTER GANDHI
o PAKISTANI
AMERICAN PHYSICIANS ADOPT
o
RAMNAVAMI CELEBRATED BY
o
CANADIAN MAYOR VISITS LUDHIANA
o
o TWO NRIs GIFT LUXURY CAR TO NAMDHARI GURU
o
RICH ASIANS IN
o
PM SINGH INAUGURATES
o NRI TO BUILD
Ø
GOPIO
LIFE MEMBERSHIP AND CHAPTER FORMATION
Ø
EDITORIAL
BOARD
GRAND
CELEBRATION PLANNED BY NFIA FOR ITS 25th
The National Federation of
Indian-American Associations (NFIA), an umbrella organization of various other
associations in the
With the theme, Building on the Past, Shaping the Future, the
event will provide NFIA member associations an
opportunity to reflect on the organisation's 25 years
of service to the Indian American community and to chart out a course of action
for the future. It will be our grand celebration, noted Rajen Anand, the NFIA
president, but we will also take a critical look at our past activities, honor
the pioneers of NFIA, and will identify the challenges facing the community, in
order to ease their life in the
Ambassador of
The planning of
celebrations is headed by NFIA Vice President Lal Motwani of
Session I US-India
Relations: Progress Made and Challenges Ahead
Session II Community
Leadership: Experiences and Expectations
Session III Indian Writers
in
Session IV Political
Empowerment: Past Successes and Future Prospects
Session V Current Issues
Facing Indian American Businesses
Session VI Delivery of
Services to the Community An evaluation on what needs to be done
Session VII Indian American
Youth Forum
Noted speakers are expected
to participate in enlightening the audience on these topics and providing
intellectual stimulation to the attendees, remarked Abraham. The sessions are
organized in such a way that there will ample opportunities for audience
participation, Abraham added.
A gala banquet will be held
on Saturday evening at a very posh place, Terrace at the Park, located at the
A colorful souvenir will be
published on the occasion. We are seeking sponsors for the event and
advertisements and articles for the souvenir, that should be mailed to
Special arrangements have
been made for the guests to stay at the Crowne Plaza
Hotel at the special rate of $109 per room. Call the hotel at 718-457-6300.
It is going to be an event
people will remember for a long time, observed Radha Krishnan, the
president-elect of NFIA. I strongly urge all Indian American associations,
Federation of Indian Associations in various cities, well wishers and those who
want to be involved in the community affairs to attend the grand celebrations.
Sponsoring opportunities
are available for businesses and professional practitioners. Exposition booths
are also available.
Contact: Lal Motwani, Tel:
718-470-1026, E-mail: lmotwani@nyc.rr.com or NFIA President Dr. Rajen S. Anand
(562) 537-1077, E-mail: ranand2@csulb.edu NFIA encourages Indian Americans to join
in this celebration and call on the youngsters to participate in the youth
forum.
PIO
WORLD BUSINESS SYMPOSIUM IN
PIO World Business Symposium
(Proposed program subject to change!)
Networking PIO Businesses Worldwide with businesses of
AND
Fourth Global Indian Entrepreneurs Conference
July
9 -12, 2005
Organized by
Business Council of GOPIO Intl. (
The
Symposium will be held in English!
Expected participants: PIO
businesses worldwide, PIO politicians such as prime ministers, ministers/ opposition
leaders including members of the House of Lords (GB), apex-bodies and EU/
German/ Indian businessmen and authorities, business organizations, research
institutions, etc. Indian
business forums and Chambers of Commerce from countries with large PIO populations
such as Mauritius, Guyana, Surinam, India, United Kingdom,
Singapore, Malaysia, USA, and India.
Patrons & Supporters
(as
on March 31st, 2005)
The following organizations
have agreed either to be patrons or supporters for the PIO World Business
Symposium, which will take place in
1. BGA,
Federation of German Wholesale & Foreign Trades (German apex body as patron
of this event)
2. IMC, Indian
Merchants Chamber (Mumbai,
3. Asia Pacific
Forum of German Businesses (APA of BDI),
4. Invest in
Germany Berlin (German investment promotion authority
5. Ministry of
Economics & Works (State of
6. Baden-Wrttemberg
International (state business promotion authority)
7. City of
8. Chamber of
Commerce & Industry
9. Several
industry specific German associations are also joining and supporting this
symposium
10. Several
chambers of commerce and industry of PIO have agreed to cooperate in this
symposium. GOPIO Business Council is in contact with several chambers of
commerce and associations in
**
GOPIO
GOPIO
Suriname is hosting the INDIAN
DIASPORA CONFERENCE OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE in
This conference has the
full support of the government of
The detailed program and
information on participants, registration, accommodation and travel will follow
in the next GOPIO newsletters. Contact: Harold Ramdhani,
Secretary, GOPIO
ASIAN
INDIAN ANCESTRY RAISES RISK OF DIABETES
PEOPLE OF ASIAN
INDIAN ancestry are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, even if they are not
obese, according to articles in the December 2003 and June 2004 issues of
the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. The researchers
found that people of Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi ancestryall considered
"Asian Indian" for these studiesare metabolically and genetically
different from those of European descent. (Traditionally, anthropologists have
classified Asian Indians as "Caucasians In these studies, however, those
descended from Europeans are referred to as "Caucasians") Scientists
already knew that insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes
are common in
In
the December 2003 study, the research team looked at whether two genes
suspected to cause insulin resistance occur more often among people of Asian
Indian ancestry than among Caucasians. They also investigated whether people
who had these genes were more insulin resistant than those who didn't.
For the full article, visit
http://gopio.net/publications.htm
NRI
NGOs MEETING HELD IN
A meeting to
provide a platform for networking of NRI NGOs to
develop common action-oriented plans was convened
by the American Indian Foundation (AIF), Global Organization of People of
Indian Origin (GOPIO.Connect) and India Development
Coalition of America (IDCA) in New York on 19th. Hosted by the AIF
at its office in Manhattan, the meeting was attended by seventeen delegates
representing thirteen organizations in the New York Tri-State area,
namely, AIF, IDCA, GOPIO.Connect, the Kerala Center, Pratham, ASHA
for Education Stamford, Association for Human Development, Friends of Seva Mandir, The George
Foundation, Helena Kaushik Womens College in India,
Share & Care Foundation, ASHA-New York and Heart and Hand for Handicapped
AIF Executive
Director Pradeep Kashyap,
welcomed the participants. After giving a brief summary of AIFs activities, Kashyap stressed how the NGO Network can be used as a platform for building
awareness among NRIs, cooperation
between different NGOs and also to achieve convergence among common
programs.
Bhamy Shenoy, an activist of Pratham
and IDCA moderated the brain-storming session on two objectives:
(1)
Gathering information about NRI NGOs involved in developmental activities in
(2) Providing opportunities to NRIs to get involved in
developmental activities particularly for those who are getting ready to
retire or those who have already retired.
ASHA-Stamford
representatives Periakaruppan Chidambaram and Suniti Maheswari initiated the
discussion. Dr. Surendra Kaushik
founder of
Dr. Abraham George
moderated the session on band-aid vs. systemic change in developmental
activities. Pratham activist Srikant
Lanka initiated the topic and discussed synergies with respect to the long-term
goals that need systemic change. Dr. George advocated the use of land and
cultivation as a means to long-term and systemic
change in
Dr. Thomas
Abraham initiated and moderated the session on how to
generate synergies through a networking platform for NRI NGOs. A
magazine for
The meeting
passed a resolution pertaining to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act
(FCRA) and charitable donation of goods by NRI NGOs for
GOPIO.Connect can be reached at pg1619@yahoo.com and IDCA can be reached at srao@shanthabiotech.com
NRIs/PIOs ACHIEVE
LAKSHMI
MITTAL RICHEST MAN IN BRITIAN
Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal will be named
Britain's richest man on April 3, leaving behind Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and the Duke of Westminster in the list of the
UK's top earners in the Sunday Times Rich List.
RITA
SHARMA RICHEST ASIAN WOMAN IN
Rita Sharma, a Punjabi woman who owns a travel
business, has emerged as the richest Asian woman in
NAYAN CHADA
RECIPIENT OF PRESTIGIOUS SHORENSTEIN AWARD
Nayan Chada, a former editor of Far Eastern Economic Review and
currently editor of Yaleglobal Online was presented
the prestigious Shorenstein Award last month. The Shorenstein award honors a
journalist who has helped American audience to understand complexities of
FIFTEEN
INDIAN AMERICANS NAMED SOROS FELLOWS
Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellows for 2005 include fifteen Indian
Americans among the thirty selected this year. Fellows receive up to $20,000
stipend plus half of their tuition for as many as two years of graduate study
at any institution of higher learning in the
The awardees
are Chirag Bains (Chelmsford,MA), Dave Choksi
(Baton Rouge, LA), Meera Deo
(Long Beach, CA), Prabhjot Dhadialla
(Zionsville, IN), Rajesh Gupta (Acworth, GA), Meenaskshi
Gupta (Slingerlands, NY), Ulcaa Joshi Hanson
(Millington, NJ), Prashant Jayaram (Lisle, IL), Arun Mohan (Monroe, GA), Siddharth
Mohan (Cambridge, MA), Gautam Mukunda
(Elmwood Park, NJ), Jasmin Sethi
(Elmwood Park, NJ), Ankur Shah (Burlingame, CA), Nirav Shah (Mayfield, KY) and Devi
Sridhar (Coral Gables, FL).
US REPUBLICAN
CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE AWARDS SANTOSH C. VERMA
In
continuation of our reporting on Suresh U. Kumar bagging the Ronald Reagan
Republican Gold Medal (GOPIO News March 2005), GOPIO News has learned
that Santosh C. Verma of Diamond Bar, California was also presented with the
2004 Ronald Reagan Republican Gold Medal Award. This was announced by NRCC
Chairman Tom Reynolds (R-NY) and the National Republican Congressional
Committee (NRCC). Verma was selected based on his outstanding leadership in
business and for displaying an unyielding commitment to President Ronald
Reagan's vision for an entrepreneurial
Verma
had also recently published a book titled How to Achieve Worldwide Prosperity.
GOPIO
CHAPTER NEWS
GOPIO-TRINIDAD
HOSTS FORUM ON KIDNAPPINGS
A forum was hosted by GOPIO of Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday, April 3, 2005
in Chaguanas, Trinidad, to examine and analyze the
alarming increase in kidnappings taking place in
The forum focused on the
record number of 163 reported abductions for the year 2004, Indian businessmen
being the primary targeted population segment, the high risk geographical
areas, the ransoms being extracted and likely trends. The analyses were based
on statistical compilations and showed that 71% of kidnapping victims
were Indians and 75% were male between the ages of 31 and 40 years, with huge
amounts of ransom demanded and paid to the kidnappers. The forum concluded with
recommendation that law enforcement agencies of the Government of Trinidad and
Tobago Government implement necessary steps to arrest and eliminate this recent
criminal development that is threatening the safety of nationals in the country.
Contact Devant Maharaj,
President, GOPIO
GOPIO
Preparations are in full
swing for the inauguration of the GOPIO Chapter in
The Convener of the new chap