IAPAC Board Members
Ramesh Anand, Vish Bhaskaran, Ramesh Cherivirala, Gitesh Desai, Preanka Desai, Sujeeth Draksharam, Jagat Kamdar, Pranav Kothari, G. V. Krishnan, Sam Merchant, Manisha Mehta, Rick Pal, Hasu Patel, Sanjay Ram, Ashok Rao, Sanjay Rao, Rao Ratnala, Randhir Sahni, Dinesh Shah, Karun Sreerama and Mini Timmaraju.
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Dear Friends,
Crews working to permanently plug the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico could soon begin pumping mud and possibly cement down the well on Tuesday, in an engineering procedure called the "static kill." Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man on the oil disaster cleanup, said at a morning briefing that an "injectivity" test that determines whether oil can forced back down into a reservoir should be completed in a matter of hours. If the test signals that the static kill can began, it could start later Tuesday. The process would last between 33 and 61 hours. The "general timeline is we should be in static kill by this afternoon," Allen said. Click here for the full story: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/03/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T2
BP and Bhopal seem to have evoked different responses from the US Government and has been a cause for anger among Indians. An interesting article on Double Standards, written by Bill Quigley and Alex Tuscano. Click here for the article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/01-5.
Ground Zero Mosque wins key vote. New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission denied landmark status Tuesday for a building at the site of a proposed Islamic center and mosque near ground zero. The commissioners voted unanimously against landmark status for 45-47 Park Place. It and an adjoining building are owned by real estate developer Soho Properties, which intends to build an Islamic center two blocks north of the former site of the World Trade Center. Click here for the full story: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/category/ground-zero-mosque/?hpt=T1
Britain's prime minister delivered a sober message last week to Pakistan: Don't export terror. "We want to see a strong and a stable and a democratic Pakistan," David Cameron said in Bangalore, India, "but we cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and is able in any way to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan, or anywhere else in the world." Click here for the whole story: http://tinyurl.com/2ebs9hy
Recently, the family of a prominent Indo American of Greater Houston, Munir Ibrahim had a traumatic experience at the hands of the Hedwig Village Police. According to ABC News, the chief of police for Hedwig Village is apologizing to a family for what happened to them at the hands of his officers, but the family says it'll take more than an apology to make up for the incident. Click here for the whole story: http://tinyurl.com/24kjj6c
IAPAC commends Mayor Allen Owen of Missouri City and the Chief of Police, Mr. Joel F. Fitzgerald, Sr. for responding to IAPAC's offer of conducting an Indo American 101 for their Officers. Over two weeks, IAPAC Directors Manisha Mehta, Gitesh Desai, Sam Merchant and Pranav Kothari along with Meghna Goswami of DAYA conducted a two hour presentation on India and Indo Americans for about 50 Peace Officers of the Missouri City Police Department. This covered the history of India, contribution of Indo Americans to the US, background of immigrant Indians and 2nd generation Indians and the unique psyche of an Indo American woman with details on the various religion practiced and the culture of Indo Americans.The presentationswere followed by active participation by the officers with queries ranging from culture and habits to what they can expect when visiting a typical Indian home. IAPAC thanks Sgt. Broussard for facilitating the orientation programs. IAPAC is now in active conversation with other city police departments and the sheriff offices and hope to have a similar orientation programs for their through the year.
IAPAC has embarked on outreach with the other Asian Community Organizations. Last month IAPAC commenced the IAPAC - VA PAC (Vietnamese PAC) dialogs. This month IAPAC has started with the IAPAC - AJC (American Jewish Community) relationship. Please read the article below for more details. IAPAC is already in active first level discussions with similar Asian organizations and is confident of having a group interaction with most of them commence within the next couple of months. IAPAC hopes to open windows for Indo Americans to interact with other Asian communities in the city.
IAPAC Directors, Vish Bhaskaran (Email: vbhaskaran@sbcglobal.net ) & Jagat Kamdar (Email: JagatK@aol.com have launched the IAPAC initiative of Indo Americans for Rick Perry & Bill White respectively. Any person interested in participating in either of these initiatives may contact them.
If you have not registered to vote - please do so. Remember, your vote counts and only you can make it count!!!
If you havean article you want published in your IAPACer or know a youngster who has any form of high achievement, write to me at ramesh@iapacgh.org
Regards
Ramesh Anand
President
IAPAC
Cell: 832-731-6133
EMail: rhappy@gmail.com
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Consulate General of India
Houston
INDEPENDENCE DAY FLAG HOISTING
The Flag Hoisting ceremony on India's 64th Independence Day will be held on Sunday, 15 August, 2010 at 10:00 AM at the Consul General's Residence (5634 Briar Drive, Houston, Tx - 77056). Consul General Sanjiv Arora will read President of India's message on this occasion. Refreshments will be served.
Indian nationals and friends of India are cordially invited to the function. Participants are requested to assemble at Consul General's Residence by 9:45 AM. Kindly bring a photo ID
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On behalf of the Board of Directors of ICC and the Indo American Community of Greater Houston, I invite everybody to the 64th Independence Day celebrations of India, being celebrated on August 15th 2010, Sunday at The George Brown Convention Center.
It's a fun filled daylong event from 11am to 7pm. It's a FREE EVENT.
This year Heritage India is dedicated as A Tribute to Tagore whose 150th Birth Anniversary is being celebrated across the world.
Day long events include:
Tribute to Tagore
Flag Honoring
Awards
Commercial Bazaar
YLDP Graduation
Kids Zone
Boogie Boogie Dance Contest
A Passage to Bollywood-- A Cultural extravagance in the evening is the highlight of the show.
For more details, contact Jasmeeta Singh 713-8588229 or Swapan Dhairyawan at 281-3820348 or visit www.icchouston.org
Regards
Regards
Swapan Dhairyawan
President ICC
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On behalf of the Board of Directors of The Indo American Chamber of Commerce of greater Houston, I invite everybody to the 11th Annual Chamber Gala & Awards Banquet that will be held on August 14that The Westin Galleria Hotel at 5:30 pm. Council General of India in Houston, Hon. Sanjiv Arora and Mrs. Chhaya Arora are the chief guests and Mayor Parker will be the special guest. This year's theme is "Think India...Think Houston" and the Chamber stands ready to play a major role as Houston and India expand bi-lateral trade. The recipients of the Annual IACCGH Awards will be announced and presented at the Gala. For more information contact: Mr. Jagdip Ahluwalia, Executive Director, IACCGH at almamach@aol.com or call: 713-624-7131
Madhukar Prasad
President, IACCGH
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Houston Indo Americans make us proud
Sanjay Ramabhadran appointed President of HESS Club
The Houston Engineering & Scientific Society (HESS) club has been in existence since 1915. The venerable institution has been home to organizations and professionals in the engineering, construction and scientific community for the last 96 years.
In June of 2010, Sanjay Ram, PE became one of the youngest Presidents in the rich history of the club. The HESS Club's Board of Directors comprises industry leaders in the engineering and construction industry.
Sanjay Ram is a Past President of IAPAC and also currently serves on the Board of Leadership Houston and the Indo-American Charity Foundation and the Board of Advisors of the American Society of Indian Engineers.
In 1997 the club moved from the Downtown area to the prestigious Carlyle Building located at 5430 Westheimer in the Galleria area. This was only the second move in the more than 90-year history of the H.E.S.S. Club. Major renovations were made to the Carlyle restaurant, and the location is now a perfect home for the many meetings and functions that the H.E.S.S. Club staff plan and execute for the Club's members, professional and civic organizations and other guests.
The HESS Club is one of Houston's most elegant and luxurious settings for any event - Meetings, Conferences, Weddings, Graduation Parties and so on. The marble foyer welcomes you, inviting you to step inside the intimate Sam Houston Room, which has a cozy fireplace and an entry into the jade marble bar. This free standing building, with two floors, is comprised of nine rooms with a total of 22,000 square feet of meeting space. The Club's interior offers beautiful private settings, or a Grand Texas Ballroom for you to choose from.
The Club's outstanding reputation has been earned from impeccable service, attention to details, and expert preparation, for the best of everything. That's why HESS can boast an existence of 90 plus years and is still going strong.
For information on the club, contact Debra Bellinghausen or Linda Benson at 713-627-2283.
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HOUSTON INDO AMERICANS, SAN & TRISH LAUNCH BODHISATTVA
San Banarje of Houston shot and directed the feature film Bodhisattva with Soumitra in Calcutta. This is San's first Indian film. He has earlier made a feature film MONEY in Paris and Houston and several shorts and music videos. The film Bodhisattva was co written by San Banarje and Houston based Trisha Ray as an independent film and was shot in seven days in Calcutta. The film, a thriller, made in bengali with English subtitle received platinum remit at world fest international film festival 2010 for best feature film and currently traveling festivals. San is ready to make his new film based on a script he is writing with Soumitra in mind.
Here is their official English language trailer for the film BODHISATTVA shot in Calcutta, India and currently in festivals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkRNm5G6-2k
IAPAC wishes them all the best!
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Indian government approves new symbol for rupee
India is to have a new symbol for its currency, the rupee, after the government approved the winning entry in a national competition.
The symbol is a cross between the Roman letter R and its Hindi equivalent, and was designed by a teacher at the Indian Institute of Technology.
A panel of artists, officials and bankers picked the new design.
The Indian government hopes it will soon be as recognisable as the dollar, the pound or the euro.
Correspondents say choosing the symbol reflects India's ambition to be seen as a global power.
The winning entry was one of five shortlisted in the public competition announced in March 2009. Designers were given a brief to come up with a symbol that captures the ethos and culture of India.
'Distinctive'
Until now the rupee has generally been shortened to the letters Rs or sometimes INR (Indian rupee).
India's government says these are not symbols but mere abbreviations.
The new symbol will be the "identity of the Indian currency", information minister Ambika Soni says.
"It will distinguish the rupee from other currencies."
The winning design is made up of half the letter R with a horizontal line on top and in between to make it also look like its equivalent in the Devanagari script, which used in a number of Indian languages including Hindi and Sanskrit.
It will soon be introduced on computer keyboards and banknotes in India and is expected to take a year or two to be fully implemented.
The winning entry was submitted by D Udaya Kumar, a newly-appointed teacher of design at the Indian Institute of Technology. He will receive prize money amounting to $5,350 (£3,500).
Experts say implementing a new currency symbol can be an expensive exercise.
According to one estimate, when the euro was introduced in 1999 it cost Europe's biggest companies more than $50bn to update their computer systems to deal with the changeover.
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Other updates
IAPAC launches IAPAC-AJC joint sessions - Preanka Desai, Director, IAPAC
Following the recent joint meeting between some of IAPAC and VA-PAC Board Members, IAPAC recently has renewed the IAPAC-AJC (American Jewish Committee) joint sessions.
The IAPAC team was welcomed with a big "NAMASTE! KAISE HO?" written in colorful, bold letter on the blackboard. Mr. Stephen Friedman, Board Member of AJC, Houston Chapter and Head of Community Outreach, welcomed the IAPAC Board members to the discussions. He shared his excitement with the scope of the discussions and looked forward to working with IAPAC closely.
AJC Director, Nat Levy, talked about the various activities of AJC and the role that AJC played in contributing to harmony through such interactions and other interfaith initiatives.
Jack Lascar, who has recently assumed to role of President of AJC, Houston Chapter, echoed Nat's thoughts and stated that he looked forward to working closely with IAPAC and pick up the baton from where it was left by his predecessors. Barbara Shepard, Assistant Director of AJC, shared some of the initiatives that had been undertaken earlier and about strengthening the AJC-IAPAC relationship.
IAPAC was represented by its President, Ramesh Anand, immediate past president, Gitesh Desai and other Board Members, Preanka Desai and Sam Merchant.
Ramesh Anand, President of IAPAC, thanked the AJC members for the hospitality and briefly talked about the history of IAPAC and some of its recent initiatives. Gitesh Desai shared with the group the long relationship the India has had with Jews and the contribution that Jews had made to India providing examples, including that of General Jacob. Gitesh stated that it is only natural that IAPAC and AJC work towards fortifying this long standing relationship. Sam Merchant and Preanka Desai related their thoughts and the vision of the two PACs working together as well as the opportunities they provide the communities.
IAPAC and AJC will now develop immediate, short-term and long-term strategies on working together for the betterment of both communities.
For more information on the Interpac Initiative, contact IAPAC Directors
Gitesh Desai C: 281-300-7346 EMail: giteshdesai@gmail.com or
Sam Merchant, Director, IAPAC Cell: 713-277-4033; email: samm@gorelianceusa.com or
Preanka Desai C:281-723-1183 EMail: preanka@yahoo.com
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Update on Healthcare Insurance and you - Sam Merchant, Director IAPAC
There was good news last week for those who are concerned that the medical loss ratio provision (MLR) of the new federal health care reform law could seriously harm quality improvement programs and member counseling programs. The law requires health insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premium revenue on medical claims in the individual and small group markets and 85 percent in the large group markets. But exactly what qualifies as medical costs is still an open question. Representatives of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which is developing a recommendation for the federal government on what should be counted, indicated last week that they are inclined to allow some quality-improvement programs to be considered medical costs. This comes as good news for employers and consumers. Aetna has actively argued that narrow MLR definitions could lead to the elimination or reduction of valuable care review programs, increase health care costs overall and employer premiums, and threaten the solvency of some insurers or force them to leave certain markets.
Members of Congress are trying to pass time until the August break, which could start the last week of July and end the second week of September, without doing anything to harm their reelection chances. What happened on the health care front bears this out.
Although Congress passed (and the President signed) a six-month unemployment insurance extension bill, none of the health-related additions made the final cut. The signed bill does not include any extension of the 65 percent COBRA subsidy nor does it include any Medicaid relief for the states (the FMAP formula). These items will be in limbo until the Fall -- more likely in the lame duck session after the elections. Additional work on the 2010 Medicare physician reimbursement rate fix, which runs out November 30, and the 2011 "doc fix" are in the same boat.
Sam Merchant is the CEO of Reliance Business Solutions, Inc. (www.gorelianceusa.com)
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Planned Parenthood moves to new facility - Mini Timmaraju, Director IAPAC
Thanks to the support of Houstonians and their commitment to affordable health care, Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas has moved into a new flagship health center and administrative headquarters named Prevention Park. We are proud to provide a brand new warm and welcoming place for the thousands of women and men of our community to receive the services and information they need to live healthy lives. Located at 4600 Gulf Freeway, Prevention Park houses our administrative headquarters, a call center for scheduling appointments, and education and training center, a more spacious family planning health center, a surgical suite, a central lab, an HIV testing and counseling wing, and a clinical research center. Prevention Park joins our eleven other health centers including locations in Stafford, Rosenberg, Dickinson, Huntsville, Bryan, Lufkin, and two in Louisiana.
Planned Parenthood's mission is to help women and men manage their sexual and reproductive health. At our larger new health center we will continue to provide preventive reproductive health care including annual well-woman exams, birth control, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, HIV testing and counseling, cervical and breast cancer screenings, treatment for precancerous conditions of the cervix, sexuality education and training and much more. Women and men trust us to provide them with affordable and compassionate health care. When they need a service related to their reproductive health they turn to Planned Parenthood and we're here for them. We've been in this community for nearly 75 years and we will continue to be here for generations.
More than 1 million people in Harris County lack health insurance and nearly half are of reproductive age. Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas is a vital part of the health care safety net for the uninsured and under-insured women and men living in Houston and Harris County. In our new building we'll have more room to serve current client demand and room to meet the need in the future.
For more information about Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas and our services please visit www.pphouston.org
- Mini Timmaraju, an IAPAC Board Member, serves as the Vice President of Public Affairs and Government Relations at Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas.
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DAYA acquires new Transitional Home
The Board and staff of Daya are pleased to announce that Daya has obtained a three bedroom property to be used as the transitional home for its clients. Named 'Harmony House,' the home will be a safe haven for qualified clients (and their children aged 12 and under) for several months while they work on becoming emotionally and economically independent so that they can find the courage to build violence-free homes for their families and break the cycle of abuse that can perpetuate from one generation to the next. This additional program moves Daya closer to its goal of finding lasting solutions to the problem of family violence.
The transitional home services will include individual and group counseling, child care, legal advocacy, career counseling, money management, job training and education. To protect the privacy of clients and ensure their safety, the location of Harmony House will remain confidential.The purchase price of the home including closing costs and repairs is about $200,000. In its March 2010 fund-raising gala, Daya announced its intention to own and operate a transitional home, kicked off a capital campaign for the same and received pledges in the amount of $60,000. Those who pledged on this occasion were individual supporters including a few board members of Daya as well as the Indo-American Charity Foundation of Houston that has been an ardent supporter of Daya since its inception in 1996.
Now that the home has become a reality, Daya plans to accelerate its capital campaign in order to raise the funds, pay off the loan and own the home outright. It is the Board's earnest hope that, as in the past, Houston's South Asian community will come forward and help Daya achieve this goal. Please call Daya's Capital Campaign Coordinator Renu Sood at 713-623-4545 for more information and participation in this worthwhile project. For information on Daya, please visit: www.dayahouston. org
Together with the Houston community, Daya is poised and ready to take this major step forward.
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Top 10 Vehicles reported stolen to HPD
The following is a rundown of the "Top 10" makes of vehicles reported stolen to the Houston Police Department
during the month of June 2010.
Ford Trucks 132
Chevrolet Trucks 116
Dodge Trucks 102
Honda Cars 93
Dodge Cars 49
Chevrolet Cars 45
GMC Trucks 39
Ford Cars 33
Chrysler Cars 25
Toyota Cars 25
Buick Cars 19
Jeep Trucks 19
Source: Houston Police Department
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