NRIs Corner

The grandfather of one-year-old Indrashish Saha — who has been taken into custody by the child welfare services in New Jersey — Sunday met President Pranab Mukherjee who has assured all help in the matter.

“The president is aware about the case and he has assured me that he will take up the matter with ministers concerned, including the prime minister (Manmohan Singh). He has assured me all help,” Nirmal Krishna Saha said after the meeting with Mukherjee at the Raj Bhavan here.

As many as 81 members of the US House of Representatives have introduced a resolution supporting a call to the Justice Department to begin collecting comprehensive data on hate crimes committed against Sikhs.

Introduced in the wake of the Aug 5 shooting at a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, the resolution honours the contributions of the Sikh-American community to the United States and condemns the string of attacks against Sikhs and their religious institutions over the past year.

Muslim Peace Coalition USA which has unequivocally condemned the attacks on US embassy in Cairo, Egypt and US consulate in Benghazi, Libya that took place in response to the making of a trashy movie against Prophet Muhammad, has expressed concern on the spread of anti-US demonstrations in Africa and Asia.

An American college, which has on its rolls over 20,000 students from 170 nations, screened the 1970s bollywood blockbuster “Sholay” as it hosted a `Year of India’ during the 2012-13 academic year that will also see presentations to explore India.

Queens College of the City University of New York (CUNY) is hosting a ‘Year of India’ with exhibitions, a film series, and performances and student-sponsored activities on culture, sports, and everyday life in India.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday described non-resident Keralites (NRKs) as the backbone of the state’s economy.

“More than two million NRKs work in the Middle East and elsewhere and they contribute to the state economy more than 22 per cent of the gross domestic product of the state and is the back bone of the state economy,” said Singh.

Singh was speaking at the inaugural session of the three day event titled “Emerging Kerala” meet, meant to showcase the state to investors.

(IANS) It was a dream come true for 20-year-old Sheryl Kumar, who was crowned Miss India Fiji 2012 at a glittering ceremony in Suva.

An emotional Sheryl, who pipped nine other contestants to win the title, said she never expected to be on stage and win a national pageant.

“My mind straightaway went to those days that weren’t my best. Every girl has her down days and I am no different. Then, I didn’t think I would make it through life, let alone take part and win the Miss India Pageant,” Sheryl was quoted as saying by Fiji Times.

Dr. Shaik Ubaid, New York State co-chair of Muslim Peace Coalition USA has condemned the attacks on US embassy in Cairo, Egypt and US consulate in Benghazi, Libya that took place in response to the making of a trashy movie against Prophet Muhammad. “We condemn these attacks unequivocally,” Dr Ubaid said.

The Obama campaign has hit back at an anti-Obama film by an Indian-American conservative author that has rocked the box office since last month’s Republican National convention in Tampa, Florida.

In a new blog post on the campaign’s Truth Team website, the campaign calls Mumbai-born Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary “2016: Obama’s America”, purporting to show what will it be like should Barack Obama be re-elected as president, an “insidious” smear.

Indian-origin journalist Sultan Jessa has been presented with the Queen Elizabeth diamond jubilee medal by Canada’s Governor-General David Johnston at a special ceremony here in recognition of his remarkable service.

The medal, specially created to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II, was presented Monday to Canadians for their significant achievement and remarkable service.

The West Bengal Congress unit has requested External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna to take steps to ensure that a US-based couple’s child is returned to them at the earliest.

US authorities took the one-year-old boy under their care after he suffered head injuries. The parents have limited access to him.

Debasish Saha, 28, an engineer based in New Jersey, said his son Indrasish fell from bed Aug 9 and hurt his head. Debashish, whose father Nirmal Saha lives in Balurghat in West Bengal’s South Dinajpur district, shifted to New Jersey July 22.

Ponisseril Somasundaran, an Indian American member of the faculty of Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been chosen as the sole foreign fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada.

The only one from outside Canada to be elected this year, Somasundaran, who has been at Columbia since 1970 will be inducted in a ceremony on Nov 17 at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa with 70 other fellows.

The body of an Indian, who died in a road accident in Oman, is now being flown back to his hometown in Kerala, after lying unclaimed in the country for 16 days.

V S Renish, 29, who hailed from Kerala, was reportedly deserted by his friends fearing legal action, a Times of Oman report said.

Renish lost his life in a fatal accident near Ibri in Oman on August 26.

The body is now kept in the Royal Oman Police mortuary.

Greater New York area Muslims hold a successful rally in front of the UN demanding an end to the ethnic cleansing of Burmese Muslims.

A coalition of South Asian community organisations has launched a national, non-partisan campaign called South Asian Vote! in seven South Asian languages to engage the community in the Nov 6 US elections.

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) said it is doing this through several strategies including distribution of voter education materials in Bengali, Gujurati, Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil and Urdu.

An Asian businesswoman died after plunging 80ft from a London rooftop restaurant in front of 100 diners.

According to witnesses, the smartly-dressed Asian woman, in her 30s, took a sip of wine, placed her handbag on the floor before leaping from the eight-storey building, The Sun reported.

She fell from the top of Coq D’Argent restaurant in London Wednesday evening and narrowly missed shoppers and commuters outside Bank station as her body hit the ground. The woman was not identified.

California’s Indian-American attorney general Kamla Harris drew from her own experience to describe the November presidential election as a choice between an America with opportunity for all or tilted to the wealthiest few.

“We are here because we love our country, and we firmly believe in the American ideal that our country should work for everyone,” said the daughter of a Tamil Indian immigrant mother and a Jamaican-American father Wednesday.

A techie based in the United States returned to his home state Andhra Pradesh only to end his life over alleged marital discord, police said Monday.

Immadi Anil Kumar, 30, was found dead in a cab outside the residence of his sister in Kukatpally here Sunday evening.

A native of Guntur district in coastal Andhra, Kumar had landed from San Diego Saturday and checked into a hotel in Kukatpally.

Indian American Muslim Council, Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC, have jointly expressed their grave concern over the directive from India’s Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to block access to certain pages from twocircles.net (TCN), a non-profit based and critically acclaimed news portal. Twocircles.net is dedicated to reporting and covering a range of issues affecting India and Indian Muslims.

Psychiatrists hired by the prosecution as well as the defence in the honeymoon murder case of Indian-origin bride Anni Dewani were business partners, The Sun reported.

Michael Kopelman was hired by prosecutors to assess the mental state of Shrien Dewani, wanted in South Africa on a charge of plotting Anni’s killing.

The 32-year-old Dewani in turn hired Nigel Eastman to provide the opinion for his defence.

The experts issued a joint statement in which Eastman agreed with Kopelman that Dewani had depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, the daily said.

President Barack Obama has appointed Romesh Wadhwani, an Indian American founder of several software and IT companies, on board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts.

Announcing his intent to appoint Wadhwani and nine other general trustees of the centre, Obama said, “These dedicated men and women bring a wealth of experience and talent to their new roles and I am proud to have them serve in this Administration.”

An anti-Obama film by an Indian-American conservative author that has rocked the box office is set to make further inroads across the nation, thanks to the buzz created by Republican National convention.

Mumbai-born Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary “2016: Obama’s America,” that purports to show what the nation will be like should President Obama be re-elected, will expand to about 1,800 theatres Friday, entertainment trade site TheWrap reported citing Rocky Mountain Pictures.

Indians in Australia are ecstatic over India being crowned the world champions in under-19 cricket, a win that reassured them that Indian cricket has “a great future”.

India defeated defending champions Australia by six wickets to win their third Under-19 Cricket World Cup title Sunday. Captain Unmukt Chand scored an unbeaten 111. Chasing Australia’s 225, India got home in 47.4 overs.

The Indian community’s celebrations have added vigour as the Indian boys have given them a reason to smile after drubbing of the Test team in Australia earlier this year.

Jibran Ahmed of New York and Nabeela Fatima Siddiqui of Minneapolis, both children of prominent Hyderabadi – American families were married in a simple and elegant ceremony in Minneapolis on Sunday August 26. Waleema will be in New York on September 2nd.

Indian American Muslim Council an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos has welcomed the Special Court’s verdict today in a case pertaining to the brutal killing of 95 people in Naroda Patiya during the Gujarat pogrom of 2002.

London Metropolitan University’s licence to admit Indian and other non-EU students has been revoked by Britain’s immigration authorities citing “serious and systemic failings” on the part of the varsity, stranding hundreds of students.

With the next academic year starting shortly (September), plans of many Indian students preparing to travel to study at the university were thrown into jeopardy, while current students will need to quickly make alternative plans.