GOPIO News, September 25, 2008

GUYANA CELEBRATES YESU PERSAUD'S HON. DOCTORATE

Scores of dignitaries and eminent entrepreneurs turned out at the Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana to honor Dr Yesu Persaud who was recently awarded an honorary doctorate for honorable causes by the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom.
Professor David Dabydeen, who chaired the proceedings, noted that Dr. Persaud's beginning was very humble. Despite his modest foundation, he has served in a number of eminent positions which include Chairman of Demerara Distillers, Founder and Chairman of Demerara Bank, Chairman of the Trust Company Guyana Limited, Chairman of the Institute of Private Enterprise and Development (IPED) and Chairman of the Private Sector Commission of Guyana. He also served as President of the Guyana Manufacturers Association, Vice President of the West Indies Rum and Spirits Association, and a member of the Advisory Group to the Caribbean's Chief Trade Negotiator, Sir Shridath Ramphal, on CARICOM international negotiations. He has also been an Associate Fellow of the University of Warwick's Centre for Caribbean Studies for the last 10 years.

"Yesu Persaud is a splendid example of progress from poverty to stellar achievements," said Dabydeen. Dr Persaud is one of Guyana's leading businessmen and philanthropists who is renowned for his support of human rights, his outstanding contributions in business and Indian history and culture, and his role at conceiving the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED). "His notion of helping people to help themselves is the most effective way of eradicating poverty." Dr Persaud is the recipient of several international and national awards including the Gandhi Organisation Plaque for his contribution to promoting Indian culture in Guyana, the Cacique's Crown of Honour for the development of new industries in Guyana in 1983, and the Glory of India Award and Certificate of Excellence by the India International Friendship Society in 2005.

Dr Persaud is a founding life member of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) and served in several international positions including that of Executive Vice President. He is presently Chairman of GOPIO of Guyana chapter. In 2006 India honored him with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman for his outstanding contributions in business and Indian history and culture. Dr Persaud is a founding member of Guyana's Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) which was later converted into the Indian Commemoration Trust, and he is single-handedly responsible for creating the Monument Garden which marks the arrival of the first batch of Indian indentured laborers to Guyana in 1838.

INDIAN AMERICAN SETS RECORD IN ROBOT ASSISTED SURGERY

Indian-American urologic surgeon Ashok Hemal and colleagues have performed more robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery to repair abnormal openings between the bladder and vagina known as fistulas than any other team in the world. So far, Hemal and his team have successfully operated on a total of seven patients - the highest number anywhere in the world to go through the robot assisted procedure.

"There was less blood loss with this procedure than with conventional surgery and there is the potential for a faster recovery," said Hemal, director of the Robotic and Minimally Invasive Urologic Surgery Programme at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre. "The results were outstanding and suggest the robot-assisted surgery is an attractive option for fistulas that would normally require abdominal surgery," he said.

This type of fistula can result in frequent urinary tract infections and the leakage of urine from the vagina and can be mistaken for continence. All women had previously undergone unsuccessful surgeries to repair the problem. In most cases, the patients in the report would undergo abdominal surgery requiring a large incision. Instead, centimeter-sized instruments and a small camera were inserted through five small incisions in the abdomen.

Fistulas in other areas can often be repaired with a vaginal approach or with laparoscopic surgery, which uses a camera and small incisions - but is not robot-assisted. "Robot-assisted surgery has promise to bridge the limitations of laparoscopic surgery and allow more women with fistulas, urinary incontinence or prolapsed pelvic organs to benefit from a minimally invasive approach," said Hemal in a forthcoming report. His co-authors are Surendra Kolla and Penkaj Wadhwa, both from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

BRITISH INDIAN BALWANT GREWAL AND FOUR OTHERS HONORED IN LONDON

Prominent NRI entrepreneur Balwant Grewal, affectionately known as Bobby, who recently raised 250,000 GB Pounds for charity through his marathon 800-km walk was awarded in London along with four others for their outstanding contributions to the society. 72-year old Bobby, Chairman of the India Association, a registered charity, was presented with the award by Mark Price, Director Barclays Commercial, at the Joint Celebration of the 61st Independence days of India and Pakistan organized by the 'Pakistan India and UK Friendship Forum' at the SAS Radisson Hotel in London

The funds raised from his recent walk from Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh to the Houses of Parliament in London was donated to St Marks Research Institute in Harrow for Bowel Cancer Research. Bobby has been passionately involved in Charity work for many years and in 2004-05 walked from Amritsar to Kanyakumari covering a distance of 4,000 km, raising 100,000 pounds which he donated to the Northwick Park hospital in Harrow, to assist research into cancer and HIV.

Other recipient of the award was Muniza Bashir, mother of late melody Queen, Nazia Hassan who conquered the hearts of Indians and Pakistanis alike with her music. Mohammad Sarwar, UK's first Muslim MP, Mrs Adeeba Malik an activists fighting for ethnic rights and David Wardrop, who chairs the Westminster Branch of the United Nations Association were also facilitated.

LAKSHMI MITTAL BESTOWED WITH FORBES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

India-born steel tycoon, Lakshmi Mittal, is being conferred the third Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award, which honours persons who excelled in areas of entrepreueurial capitalism and free enterprise, stated American business magazine Forbes on September 8th 2008. Mittal received the award at the Forbes Global CEO Conference, which is being held in Singapore. It is estimated that over 450 business leaders, with a combined net worth of more than 160 billion dollars from across the world, are expected to be attended the event.

In March this year, in its annual ranking of the world's richest billionaires, Forbes named Mittal as the fourth richest man, with a net worth of 45 billion dollars, "Mittal will receive the third Malcolm S Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening dinner tonight from Steve Forbes, Chairman & CEO of Forbes, and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine," Forbes said in a statement. "The award honors heroes of entrepreneurial capitalism and those who embody and exemplify the ideals of free enterprise," it added.

Born in Rajasthan in India, Mittal founded Mittal Steel Company (formerly LNM Group) in 1976. It later acquired numerous steel companies around the world, including the International Steel Group in the US, to become the world's largest steel producer following merger with Arcelor in 2006.

INDIAN AMERICAN WINS 'NOBEL' OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE

An Indian American doctor, Mathew L. Thakur, has been conferred the Society of Nuclear Medicine's Benedict Cassen Prize, often called the 'Nobel' of nuclear medicine. Thakur, a pioneer in molecular imaging, an emerging technique that helps detect disease at the molecular or cellular level in the human body and thus helps develop personalized medicine, received the biennial $25,000 award during the Society's 55th annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, recently.

He is professor of radiology and radiation oncology/nuclear medicine at the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a member of the Kimmel Cancer Centre at the university. Thakur has focused on developing and evaluating radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic imaging and therapy.

"Among the many life threatening diseases, cancer remains the most formidable disease for mankind," Thakur, who holds several patents, was quoted as saying. His current research focuses on finding DNA patches that can help in the early detection of breast and prostate cancer.

At the award ceremony, Thakur delivered the Cassen Lecture on 'Genomic Biomarkers for Molecular Imaging: Predicting the Future.' The Cassen Award, sponsored by the Society of Nuclear Medicine's Education and Research Foundation, is named after the late physicist Benedict Cassen and only eight other researchers have been awarded the prize so far.

Thakur's career, spanning more than 35 years, has benefited millions of patients worldwide.

INDIAN AMERICAN DR. RAGHU RAMAKRISHNAN HONORED WITH 2008 INNOVATION AWARD

The Association for Computing Machinery Special interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (ACM SIGKDD) has bestowed on Dr. Raghu Ramakrishnan the prestigious 2008 Innovation Award for his outstanding achievements in his field. Dr. Raghu Ramakrishnan is Vice President and Research Fellow AT Yahoo! Research in silicon Valley where he helps define and execute the strategy behind Yahoo!'s social search platform and contributes his extensive experience in database systems to Yahoo! Research and the company's ongoing development of trusted community technology.

"Dr. Ramakrishnan's visionary research on techniques for scaling data mining algorithms to large datasets, and on mining ordered and streaming data has significantly influenced ongoing developments in the industry", said ACM SIGKDD chair Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro on presenting the award to Dr. Ramakrishnan. In accepting the prestigious award, Dr. Ramakrishnan stated that he is "honored to be recognized" with such a prestigious award. He further added that his work " has been carried out in close collaboration with many students and colleagues over the years" and in accepting the award, he is representing all of them.

US CONGRESS CONSIDERS BILL TO PERMIT UP TO 226,000 IMMIGRANT VISAS

The United States Congress is considering a bill to recapture employment-based immigrant visas lost to bureaucratic delays and to prevent losses of family- and employment-based immigrant visas in the future. It would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish the fiscal year worldwide level of employment-based immigrants at 140,000, plus the previous year's unused visas and the number of unused visas from Fiscal Year 2002 through Fiscal Year 2007.

It would also establish the fiscal year worldwide level of family-sponsored immigrants at 480,000 minus the number of certain aliens not subject to direct numerical limitations, plus the previous year's unused visas and the number of unused visas from Fiscal Year 2002 through Fiscal Year 2007. The proposed bill states that such annual level shall not be less than 226,000.

The bill designated as HR5882 has been approved by the House Judiciary Sub-Committee on Immigration and goes to the US Congress for a vote.

COMMON MARRIAGE REGISTRATION FORM TO SECURE NRI BRIDES' FUTURE

In view of rising incidents of Indian brides being deserted by their NRI husbands, the Government of India has decided to shortly put in place a system of uniform marriage registration process to curb the practice that has ruined the lives of thousands of women. The registration form is being introduced to easily track overseas grooms who desert their wives and for initiating legal action against them. It will be applicable for marriages registered across the country under any of the three marriage registration acts.

The idea was discussed and ratified recently during an inter-ministerial meeting with representatives from the Ministries of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), Law and Justice, External Affairs and National Commission of Women, and is currently awaiting a final clearance from the Ministry of Law and Justice. The number of deserted NRI brides currently stands at over 25,000 according to some government estimates. Over a year after the MOIA launched a scheme to provide legal aid to Indian women deserted by their overseas spouses, the ministry has been flooded with requests from deserted Indian brides seeking to know the whereabouts of their husbands.

"In most cases deserted wives are unable to provide much detail of their husbands. The new registration form will have columns for social security number of the overseas husband, passport details and ID/labour card details," said a highly placed official of the MOIA. The bride and the groom will also have to state that there had been no exchange of dowry, they are not blood relations, and other details in the four-page form. "We are hopeful this will act as a formidable deterrence for even habitual offenders as a database of all the marriages will also be maintained," said the official.

The new marriage registration form will have provisions for punishing the signatories for wrong declaration of any of the information as per provisions under the Indian Penal Code. Once the draft registration form is cleared by the Ministry of Law and Justice the registration format will be applicable to all states and union territories. The scheme to provide financial assistance to deserted Indian wives was launched by the government last February and the maximum numberof requests for aid have been received from Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. "A maximum number of the over 275 complaints that we have received is from Punjab. In about 24 cases financial assistance of $ 1000 each was provided by the Indian embassies of Australia, New Zealand and United States to aid in registration and representation for divorce suits," said another MOIA official here, adding, "our efforts are just a trickle so far and much more needs to be done."

Officials noted that in most cases the assumption that a NRI groom is always "well off" often leads to parents marrying off their daughters in a rush and in secrecy. MOIA is concerned that the trend pervades class distinctions making even well-educated women victims of this phenomenon.

MARATHAWADA ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS OF NRIs

The League of Parents of NRIs in Aurangabad have bonded themselves into an organisation to register an association with the charity Commissioner of Aurangabad. Initially 80 NRI parents have expressed their willingness to join the association.

On 15th August 2008, NRIPA celebrated Independence day in the presence of Shri C. P. Tripathi, Vice President; BAJAJ AUTO LTD and Trustee of Kamal Nayan Bajaj Hospital. In his address to the members, Shri C. P. Tripathi indicated that the hospital will consider granting facilities to NRI Parents. He also suggested to have a complex or residential colony for group of NRI Parents at Aurangabad. Maharashtra, India. Ramesh Kapadia, president of NRIPA, stated that members want to have more activities for the benefit of NRI parents in this region.

Contact: Ramesh Kapadia, president of NRIPA at mapnri@gmail.com

HOUSING DISCRIMINATION LAWSUITS IN CALIFORNIA SETTLED

India West newspaper reports that a housing discrimination lawsuit in California has been settled for $100,000. According to the non-Indian plaintiffs, Indian tenants were allegedly steered away from better apartments because the owner of the Sunnyvale apartment complex felt Indian cooking "stinks up the place." The suit, which was settled out of court last month, alleged that Steve Pavlina, owner of Remington Grove, and manager Maria Arias refused to rent the more desirable cathedral ceiling apartments to Indian American tenants, and steered them instead towards low-ceiling apartments, in areas with high concentrations of Indian American residents.

"This practice of making certain units 'off limits' to tenants because of their national origin clearly violates California's Fair Employment and Housing Act," Phyllis Cheng, director of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, told India-West. "The department found compelling evidence that the landlord rented only less desirable apartments to tenants of Indian national origin," she said.

The suit was brought on by a former manager for the complex, Martin Perez, and Project Sentinel, a non-profit tenant-landlord mediation organization. According to the suit, Perez said he was directed by Pavlina and Arias not to rent apartments with cathedral ceilings to prospective Indian American tenants because when "they cook food it stinks up the place," and that cathedral ceiling apartments were harder to clean when Indian tenants left. Perez said he was directed to tell Indian American tenants that the cathedral ceiling apartments had applications pending and were not available.

Project Sentinel sent out three groups of testers in 2005. In each case, the Indian testers were steered away from cathedral ceiling apartments, while Caucasians were offered lease applications for those units. Perez was subsequently fired in August 2005, apparently after renting a cathedral ceiling apartment to an Indian American tenant. Pavlina denied discriminating.

INDIAN STUDENTS IN NEW ZEALAND GET EXTRA TIME TO FIND JOBS

Indians students enrolled in New Zealand universities can stay for nine months after graduation to find a job. After getting a job, a student can apply for work permit which can lead to permanent residency status.

As many as 4300 Indian students were admitted to various courses in New Zealand universities last year. A total of 3293 Indian nationals were granted permanent residence visas during 2007-2008 while another 11,405 came on work visas.

NRIs HEADING TO INDIA FOR SKIN CARE TREATMENTS

Health tourism is on the increase in India. Many NRIs are visiting India for heart surgery, knee transplant and dental care. Chandigarh gets many patients for cost-effective skincare treatment, such as anti-wrinkle facelift, botox, facial hair removal and treatment for pigmentation.

The Indian expertise is generally at par with the best in the West and the same treatment costs much less in India. Also, insurance policies do not cover laser and dermatology treatments which are more expensive in the western countries. The cost for such treatments is a major attraction for the NRIs.

ARTICLE ON INDIANS IN THE UNITED STATES PUBLISHED

An article on Indians in the United States has been published in Indian Express as part of India Independence Supplement recently under the title of "It has been a long Journey" with following editorial comments:

"From being attacked in their squalid camps in lumber mills to occupying the top positions in the corporate world, Indian immigrants in America have come a long way. The people, whose average income is among the highest in the country today, were not even recognized as citizens before 1946. Inder Singh traces the journey which can inspire many legends."

Inder Singh is the president of GOPIO International and has been conducting research and writing on this subject.

One can read the article at: http://www.nriinternet.com/NRI_Columnists/indexcoluminist.htm

US DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR TO OPEN GUYANA NIGHT

Guyanese-American Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor, Deborah Misir, will visit Orlando this month at the invitation of Caribbean Sun newspaper publisher Wesley Kirton to officially declare open a Guyana Night Dinner Theater to be held on Friday, September 26, at the Pegasus Ballroom and Conference Center.

Ms. Misir is the highest ranking Guyanese American in the U.S. Government and was a member of the US delegation at the first Washington Conference on the Caribbean held last year June.
As the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, Ms. Misir is charged with providing leadership to the Department's activities in policy analysis, the formulation of legislative proposals, program planning and evaluation, and the analysis of research bearing on the welfare of the workforce of the United States.

Ms. Misir has led development of Department policy related to union secret ballot legislation, employment related immigration reform, and OSHA risk assessment procedures. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Misir was an attorney in the White House Counsel's Office, and served in other roles at the Department, including Chief of Staff of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Special Assistant to the Solicitor of Labor.

Before joining Secretary Chao's team at the Department, Ms. Misir was an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School and an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.

She was honored with a Special Achievement Award for her work on the 9/11 legal team and as counsel to the Justice Department's Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force.

INDIAN CABINET APPROVES INDO-FRENCH SOCIAL SECUTIRY AGREEMENT

The Indian Cabinet on Thursday approved the recently concluded Indo-French social security agreement and is in talks with other European countries to seek various benefits, pension, exemption from double social security contribution etc. for Indian professionals abroad. Though a certain span of service (it is 10 years for India) is required in any country for pension benefits, the pacts being worked will lead to adding up of stints in India and the other European country for full pension benefits, an official said.

The process is on with the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Czech Republic, which have around 75,000 NRIs. Without a bilateral social security arrangement, an Indian professional posted abroad pays double the social security contribution. While the employee's EPF contribution is deducted from salary in India, the person also has to contribute to social security in the country of posting.

CHICAGO INDO-US GLOBAL CONSORTIUM ADVANCES HEALTHCARE PROGRAMS IN INDIA

The Chicago Indo-US Global Health Consortium was established by a group of Chicago based social service groups with the intent to provide and manage needed healthcare programs in India and other places where such services are needed. The three groups are: Share International Center for Human Health Advancement; Care and Share Foundation; and the Ribbon Foundation.

The Indo-US Global Health Consortium has scheduled a recognition event on September 20 at Waterford Banquets in Elmhurst, Illinois. This dinner and musical extravaganza will honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the cause of Human Health Advancement.

Dr. Firdaus Jafri, president of Care and Share Foundation, said that the group has "been successfully raising funds and providing support to organizations in the US and South Asia where people are facing challenges of poverty, disaster, homelessness, and ill health".

ASIAN WHO'S WHO 2008 DIRECTORY

Applications are being accepted from qualified individuals to be included in Asia Who's Who 2008 Directory which is an annual publication listing notable Indians and institutions in the UK and Europe as well as USA and Canada. This annual publication is widely distributed and used as a valuable reference guide by businesses, individuals, and government officials.

Download and complete form and submit promptly for next publication in October 2008.

Contact: website www.asian-whoswho.com or Jasbir Sachar at jsachar@asian-whoswho.com.

INDIAN RUPEE: LOWEST IN TWO YEARS

The rupee has declined to 45.71 against the dollar by the end of 2nd week of September. That is reported to be the lowest since Oct. 10, 2007.

Overseas investors have been unloading Indian stocks as the economic slump is seen spreading from the U.S. to Europe and Asia. Last year foreign investors bought Indian stocks worth about $20 billion while in the current year they have dumped stocks worth about $8 billion. The capital outflow and demand for dollars has weakened the Indian rupee against the US dollar.