GOPIO NEWS

May 22, 2016

A Publication of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO)

Issue: XIV-2

May 22, 2016

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In This Issue

GOPIO BIENNIAL CONVENTION TO EMPHASIZE DIASPORA BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY with Theme - "Strengthening Connections between India and Indian Diaspora through Business and Technology"

EIGHT CONFERENCE SESSIONS PLANNED AT GOPIO 2016 CONVENTION

GOPIO NEWS SPONSOR

OIFC INTRODUCES INDIAN FELLOWS PROGRAM (IFP) FOR YOUNG NRI/PIO ENTREPRENEURS AND PROFESSIONALS

GOPIO INTERNATIONAL AND CHAPTER NEWS

NRIs/PIOs ACHIEVE

NRIs AND PIOs NEWS FEATURES

NEWS OF INTEREST TO NRIs and PIOs

GOPIO LIFE MEMBERSHIP AND CHAPTER FORMATION

EDITORIAL BOARD

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GOPIO International, the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (www.gopio.net), has announced its 27^th Anniversary Celebrations and GOPIO Biennial Convention 2016 to be held in New York, USA at the Marriott Hotel near LaGuardia Airport on June 24-25, 2016. The theme of the conference is "Strengthening Connections between India and the Global Indian Diaspora through Business and Technology," and will provide an opportunity to connect and network with people of Indian origin worldwide. Delegates from over 25 countries are expected to attend the convention which starts on Friday, June 24 with an inauguration and welcome reception. Next day, June 25 will consist of a full day conference sessions to deliberate on the Global Indian Diaspora; evaluate GOPIO's progress in 27 years; network, exchange ideas, and connect with PIO/NRI delegates from around the world. The event will end with a Grand Finale Banquet at the World's Fair Marina Banquet Hall on Saturday June 25 evening.

The conference will evaluate, assess, debate, discuss and deliberate on the current, critical issues of interest and concern that confront over 30 million people of Indian origin, living in countries outside of India. GOPIO International President Niraj Baxi invites all PIOs (People of Indian Origin) and NRIs (Non Resident Indians) to avail of this opportunity to attend, emphasizing "This conference will examine several pertinent issues, providing a unique forum for education, information and interactive participation." Mr. Baxi continued, "On behalf of the newly elected Executive Council of GOPIO International, I invite all GOPIO members to join us at our 2016 Biennial Convention, and help unite forces as we reach across to Indian community worldwide. We want to be the voice of any and all NRIs and PIOs taking initiatives to grow and strengthen our organization. Given our new motto of "GOPIO means business", the thrust of this convention will be to help connect the global Indian community, enable and promote intra-Diaspora business ventures, as well as bilateral sharing of business resources with India." 

Lal Motwani, Convener, GOPIO Convention 2016 and GOPIO Tri-State New York Area Coordinator, extends his invitation to join in, saying "This convention will have a great emphasis on Diaspora's involvement and contribution in Business, Technology and Investment. Therefore, it is beneficial for you to participate, network and to be known in the Diaspora. We have a great opportunity for you to provide exposure to your business and/or service as a sponsor of the convention, or to place an advertisement in the souvenir journal brought out at the convention."

The major thrust of this year's conference sessions will be on Entrepreneurship, Business, Technology and Investment within the Diaspora and India. A second track of conference will be organized by GOPIO Council chairs to develop their strategy for future actions.  Conference sessions listed below are open to all with pre-registration.

• Make in India - Diaspora Role
• Indian Diaspora Promoting Medical and Pharmaceutical Industries
• Indian Diaspora in Hospitality and Convenience Foods
• Promoting Entrepreneurship and Technology
• Major Issues of Indian Diaspora
• Health and Wellness of the Indian Diaspora
• Diaspora Writers Forum
• Diaspora Indian Women

Commenting on the upcoming Convention 2016, GOPIO founder president and Conference program chairperson Thomas Abraham said that GOPIO has come a long way since 1989 to sensitize governments across the world on issues of the Indian Diaspora in a timely manner and seek solutions to them. "In 27 years, the Indian Diaspora has moved from outside the political main stream in many countries to political leadership, and this trend will continue. The objective now is to mobilize the Diaspora resources, both professional and financial to help not only India but the Diaspora itself, and the countries they come from," said Dr. Abraham. 

GOPIO leadership hopes that this convention will help charter its course for the organization. "During the last many years, GOPIO has made rapid strides as there have been several new chapters and increased awareness of GOPIO's advocacy role for issues of the Indian Diaspora," said Inder Singh, Chairman of GOPIO International. 

"In the past, GOPIO election has been conducted at the General Body meeting at our Biennial Convention. As the previously scheduled General Body meeting got postponed for reasons beyond the control of the convention organizing team, we moved forward with the election, which could not be postponed. So now, as per GOPIO Bylaws the new team has organized the General Body meeting at the 2016 Biennial convention in New York City. With leadership of experienced GOPIO people in New York area taking charge to manage and deliver the convention, and the fact that New York area has many delegates to fulfill Bylaws requirement for this meeting quorum, it was a smart decision to hold the General Body meeting, along with the convention in New York." continued Mr. Singh. 

A convention planning meeting was held at the World's Fair Marina Banquet Hall in April and was attended by over 30 people, who make the core team for the convention planning. GOPIO International officers, Executive Trustee Dr. Thomas Abraham, Vice President Ram Gadhavi and International Coordinator Dr. Rajeev Mehta attended this meeting so were the GOPIO-CT President Shelly Nichani, GOPIO-New York President Anand Ahuja and GOPIO-Upper New York President Jhairam Persaud. Various committees were formed at the planning meeting.

Photo above: Participants at the GOPIO Convention 2016 Planning Meeting held on Sunday, April 17 in New York. Sitting From l. to r.: Dr. Asha Samant, GOPIO Upper New York Secretary Patsy Leopold, Dr. Roopam Saran, Rajul P. Shah, GOPIO New York President Anand Ahuja, GOPIO Vice President Ram Gadhavi, GOPIO Foundation Executive Trustee Dr. Thomas Abraham, Convention Convener Lal Motwani, GOPIO International Coordinator for North America Dr. Rajeev Mehta, Dhiraj Solanki, Malini Shah; Standing from l. to r.: GOPIO Convention Treasurer B. Aravindakshan, GOPIO Associate Secretary Jaswant Mody, Prof. Parmatma Saran, GOPIO-Connecticut President Shelly Nichani, Prakash Shah, Sanjay Gupta, Dhananjay Desai, Rahul Kapoor, Shailesh Naik, Mohinder Taneja, Gobind Munjal, Prasad Chintalapudi, Varghese Ninan, Srinivas Akarapu, GOPIO Convention Secretary Meenakshi Varandani and Dharmatma Saran

More details of the convention will be available at http://www.gopio.net/  or contact:  GOPIO Convention 2016 General Convener Lal Motwani at 516-581-3332. 

EIGHT CONFERENCE SESSIONS PLANNED AT GOPIO 2016 CONVENTION

Paranjape Nagar, Vile Parle, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Tel: +91 22 2610 5127

www.viiaan.com 

OIFC INTRODUCES INDIAN FELLOWS PROGRAM (IFP) FOR YOUNG NRI/PIO ENTREPRENEURS AND PROFESSIONALS

OIFC INTRODUCES INDIAN FELLOWS PROGRAM (IFP) FOR YOUNG NRI/PIO ENTREPRENEURS AND PROFESSIONALS

• India Residency: 12-day India Residency, comprising of ten days of intensive experiential classroom sessions at the ISB campuses in Hyderabad & Mohali, and two days in Delhi
• Experiential Approach: An immersive, practical and hands-on learning approach that includes cases and simulations, visit to markets and different consumer segments, group activities and field visits
• Networking: Opportunity to  network with Indian entrepreneurs and senior government officials
• Faculty: World-class faculty and senior industry, government and sector experts as guest speakers
• Year-long Engagement through monthly webinars and Google Hangouts

• ·         Twitter: @OIFCIndia and CEO_OIFC
• ·         Facebook: www.facebook.com/OIFC.IN

For more details on IFP visit: www.isb.edu/indiafellows

GOPIO INTERNATIONAL AND CHAPTER NEWS

Photo above Clockwise from top left: Ambassador Rivs Gsnguly Das having breakfast meeting with Congressman Jim Himes, Meetings with Stamford Mayor David Martin, Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei and Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling.

GOPIO-CT hosted a public reception and interactive session May 4^th. GOPIO-CT President Shelly Nichani welcomed the guests at the program. GOPIO Founder President Dr. Thomas Abraham was the coordinator.

The visit concluded with a lunch hosted by Harman Chairman and CEO Dinesh Paliwal at Harman headquarters in Stamford. Overall, it was a very successful event. 

Photo above: GOPIO-CT Reception/Dinner with Ambassador Riva GangulyDas and her delegation from New York.

Contact: GOPIO-CT President Shelly Nichani, shellynichani@msn.com

Present at the meeting was GOPIO Life Member Vinod Daniel, who explained his professional and charity activities world-wide and promised to provide his services for the GOPIO Sydney North West chapter.

Photo: Group Photo1 Standing L-R: Sanjeet Hooda (Asst. Secretary), Baljinder Singh, Sumit Joshi, Prof. Balkar Singh Kang (President), Vinod Daniel AM (Life member), Harmohan Singh Walia (Life member), Baljit Pelia; Sitting L-R: Paramjit Singh Multani (Vice President), Amrit Butter (Secretary), Raj Singh (Treasurer)  and Aman Singh

Photo1 L-R: Prof. Balkar Singh Kang (President GOPIO Syd NW) Sharma Balram (President, ESAA),  Harmohan Singh Walia and Sumit Joshi

NRIs AND PIOs ACHIEVE

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA APPOINTS INDIAN-AMERICAN MANJIT SINGH TO KEY POSITION

US President Barack Obama has appointed an Indian-American engineer to a key administration post, the White House said.

Manjit Singh, co-founder of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund has been appointed as the member of President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

The announcement came along with several other appointments made by the US President.

"These fine public servants bring a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their important roles. I look forward to working with them," President Obama said in a statement.

President of Agilious, a software technology consulting firm he founded in 2013, Mr. Singh is also the co-founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national Sikh American media, policy and education organization.

He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation and also as a Member-at-Large of The Board of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan in Washington.

Mr. Singh received a Master of Science degree from the State University of New York at Albany and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Bombay in India.

INDO-CANADIAN APPOINTED DEAN OF CALGARY UNIVERSITY'S SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

An Indian-origin veterinary medical expert has been appointed as the Dean of the prestigious University of Calgary's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Canada.

Baljit Singh, will take over the position of Dean on September 1, provost and vice-president (Academic) of the university Dru Marshall said in a statement.

Singh is a highly accomplished researcher, educator and administrator in the field of veterinary medicine, with specific expertise in lung biology and anatomy.

Singh has done his Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry and Master of Veterinary Science from Punjab Agricultural University. He completed his PhD from the University of Guelph in Ontario and postdoctoral training at Texas A and M University and Columbia University, New York.

"I am deeply honored to be selected as the dean of the University of Calgary's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. I am excited that the faculty has outstanding opportunities to lead in veterinary medical education and knowledge-creation to solve complex animal and human problems at the local, national and international level," Singh said in a statement issued by the university.

Noted Indian scholar and plant physiologist H. Deep Saini has been appointed the next Vice Chancellor of the prestigious University of Canberra.

Saini, currently the Vice-President of the University of Toronto and Principal of the University of Toronto Mississauga campus in Canada, will succeed Vice Chancellor Stephen Parker in September who steps down from the post in July after over nine years in the service.

Chancellor and Chair of University Council Tom Calma AO said the University's governing body was delighted that the internationally experienced university leader and academic has agreed to become the University of Canberra's fifth Vice Chancellor, the university said in a statement.

Saini, a notable plant physiologist, said he was thrilled to be appointed the University's Vice-Chancellor at such a fantastic time for the institution. "I look forward to the next phase of the University of Canberra's transformation as a global leader in mission-oriented education and problem-solving research with a solid intellectual core," Saini said.

"Much of what I am today was shaped during my doctoral studies in Australia. My wife and I started our shared journey here. It is a privilege to now return to serve the country where it all began and to which I owe the crucial formative steps of an exceptionally rewarding career," Saini continued.

Saini completed his undergraduate and master's degrees at the Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana, and doctorate in plant physiology from the University of Adelaide.

Saini has received a number of honors including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

NEW TECHNOLOGY TO MONITOR CANCER TREATMENT DEVELOPED BY INDIAN-LED DOCTORS

A team of Indian scientists from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Medical School have made an important breakthrough by developing a nano-technology which will help monitor the effectiveness of cancer therapy within hours of treatment.

"We have developed a nano-technology, which first delivers an anticancer drug specifically to the tumor, and if the tumor starts dying or regressing, it then starts lighting up the tumor in real time," said Shiladitya Sen Gupta, a principal investigator at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH).

"This way you can monitor whether a chemotherapy is working or not in real time, and switch the patients to the right drug early on. One doesn't need to wait for months while taking a toxic chemotherapy only to realize later and after side effects that the drug hasn't worked," Gupta, a co-corresponding author of the breakthrough research published online this week in 'The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.'

The first author of the paper is Ashish Kulkarni, who comes from a small village in Maharashtra. A junior faculty at Harvard, Kulkarni trained as a Chemical Engineer at ICT Mumbai, then did a PhD in chemistry at the University of Cincinnati.

Kulkarni said by using this approach, the cells light up the moment a cancer drug starts working.

"We can determine if a cancer therapy is effective within hours of treatment. Our long-term goal is to find a way to monitor outcomes very early so that we don't give a chemotherapy drug to patients who are not responding to it," he said.

"We've demonstrated that this technique can help us directly visualise and measure the responsiveness of tumours to both types of drugs," Kulkarni said.

Other members of the research team are Poornima Rao, Siva Natarajana, Aaron Goldman, Venkata S Sabbisetti, Yashika Khater, Navya Korimerla, Vineethkrishna Chandrasekara and Raghunath A Mashelkar. Except Goldman, all are Indian researchers.

The technology developed by the group can be used for monitoring the effectiveness of immunotherapy, a report said.

Using a nanoparticle that delivers a drug and then fluoresces green when cancer cells begin dying, they were able to visualise whether a tumour is resistant or susceptible to a particular treatment much sooner than currently available clinical methods, said a statement from BWH.

INDIAN AMERICANS PART OF PENTAGON'S MILITARY IT VENTURE

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has appointed two Indian Americans - a former F-16 pilot and an Iraq war veteran - in leadership positions for the Pentagon's centre in Silicon Valley aimed at innovation in IT solutions for the military.The four-member team of Raj Shah and Vishaal Hariprasad, along with Christopher Kirchhoff and Isaac Taylor, would report directly to Carter, as he announced to scale up his brainchild Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) that he opened in Silicon Valley last year.

Since its launch eight months ago, DIUx has made progress in putting commercially-based innovation into the hands of America's soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, Carter said.

"Because the missions now assigned to DIUx are far broader than any one person can oversee, I'm establishing a partnership-style leadership structure for DIUx, one that includes technologists, investors, and business executives," he said as he named the four partners - Shah, Hariprasad, Kirchhoff and Taylor.

Most recently, Shah was the Senior Director of Strategy at Palo Alto Networks. Previously he was CEO and Co-Founder of a cyber security company acquired in 2014.Earlier he was a Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defence and began his business career as a consultant with McKinsey.Shah has also served an F-16 pilot in the US Air Force where he completed multiple combat tours and has attended Princeton University and is an MBA from the Wharton School.He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and an affiliate at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).

Hariprasad is an Iraq War veteran who earned the Bronze Star Medal. He is the former Technical Co-founder and Director of Software Engineering for Morta Security, prior to the firm's acquisition by Palo Alto Networks.A graduate of the US Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, he served as a Cyberspace Operations Officer for the air force and National Security Agency.Hariprasad has served numerous combat deployments and stations overseas and holds a Master's degree in information technology from Virginia Tech University.

GOPIO LIFE MEMBER DR. SID GAUTAM PASSES AWAY

GOPIO Life Member Dr. Sid Gautam, a professor of economics at Methodist University where he founded and led its Center for Entrepreneurship, passed away on April 28, 2016 at his home town Fayetteville, North Carolina. He had spent his life striving to meet higher expectations, both in his personal life and in his 44-year career at Methodist University where he created programs and awards recognizing local businesspeople and boosting the community's sense of itself. Dr. Gautam was 74.

Dr. Gautam was a featured speaker in several GOPIO Conventions and by several GOPIO chapters. GOPIO recognized him for his achievements and contribution to society at its 25^th Silver Jubilee Celebrations in Trinidad in 2014.

In recent years, Dr. Gautam had turned some of his considerable energies to promoting healthy living. About 2010, he began hosting free monthly programs at Kiwanis Recreation Center where people could learn and practice simple yoga moves and attend seminars on various health issues. Dubbed Happiness Yoga, the program drew its name from Dr. Gautam's belief in the connection between happiness and health.

Dr. Gautam founded the Center for Entrepreneurship in 1973 and a few years later began holding two annual symposiums, one focused on the local and national economic outlook for the coming year and the other on the stock market. He attracted attendees by getting important bankers, business people, economists and others to give keynote speeches.

He and his advisers also recognized local business people through awards such as Entrepreneur of the Year, Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, Business Person of the Year and the Small Business Excellence Award, all of which are still being carried on today.

Dr. Gautam was quite involved in the Indian community activities Life Member GOPIO which recognized him for his contribution to Entrepreneurship. He travelled around and spoke at the various forums. 

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Indira, his daughter Pragati, son-in-law Dr. Anil Sharma, and their children. The cremation was done on May 1^st. 

GOPIO LIFE MEMBERSHIP AND CHAPTER FORMATION

EDITORIAL BOARD

Chief Editor: Dr. Thomas Abraham, Founder President and Chairman Emeritus of GOPIO Intl. and Executive Trustee, GOPIO Foundation (Stamford, CT, USA)

Editor: Nami Kaur (New York, USA)

Associate Editor: Layla Matthew (Bangalore, India)

Webmasters:Prashant Gupta (Hyderabad, India) and Abu Thomas (New Rochelle, NY, USA)   

Contributors of this issue: Ram Gadhavi (Vice President, GOPIO International, USA), Patsy Leopold (GOPIO Upper New York), Mehen Poinoosawmy (President, GOPIO France Paris Nord) and Harry Wallia (GOPIO-Sydney North West) 
 

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