Highlights of Cultural Committee Activities

Reported by Debajyoti Chatterji (New Jersey)

clude taxing remittances for public distribution or remittance matching (Gee 2017). The latter incentivizes immigrants to participate in community development as it calls for the government to match an individual’s community contributions.

One of the biggest concerns that US citizens have regarding open borders is the displacement of jobs. However, waves of immigration have consistently caused further employment and economic development. One instance in which Americans were anxious about a large influx of immigrants was during the Mariel boatlift, when thousands of Cubans prisoners were sent to Miami. Americans’ concerns included job loss, costs imposed on public resources, and more. Yet, research from economist David Card of UC Berkeley suggests that “the Mariel immigration had essentially no effect on the wages or employment outcomes of nonCuban workers in the Miami labor market” (Card 1990) or the wages of other Cubans. With the same wages and more jobs, Miami experienced economic growth and the benefits which come with it. Economist George Borjas of Harvard adds that the immigration from the boatlift led to several economic benefits, known as immigrant surpluses, for the native population. He estimated “the current surplus to be around 0.24 percent of GDP, or around $43 billion annually” (Borjas 2014). Similar to the Mariel boatlift, jobs that native-born Americans hold won’t be displaced because of the immigrants, and the overall economy will actually benefit. Higher immigration rates as a result of open borders will be the key to the US economy to increase the labor force when the population growth is slowing.

Another benefit of immigration is that it promotes competition for jobs. Both immigrants and US-born citizens must develop their human capital to stand out for employment. Improv- ing human capital will boost economic growth in both regions. Any concern about brain drain from Central America will be alleviated because of the transnational nature of the region’s migration pattern, Central Americans often moving back and forth between their own nations. Open borders will support this trend and increase the demand for legal transportation methods because migrants will not have to rely on human traffickers. As economic development creates more opportunities within Central America, migrants may return to work in their native countries. continue to page 13 }

The US citizens could still have concerns with open borders because of misconceptions surrounding drug smuggling, crime, and public resource drains. However, opening borders would shift priorities and funds from preventing migration to increasing security measures. Human trafficking would fade into the background while resources are directed for drug inspection and other security measures. Research from sociologist Michael T. Light (Light 2022) of the University of Wisconsin-Madison establishes that crime rate among immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are lower than that of US-born citizens. Immigrants have a strong incentive to avoid criminal activities. On the topic of public resource use, legal and undocumented immigrants contribute more to the public benefit programs than they receive.

Undocumented immigrants are estimated to pay $11.74 billion annually in taxes according to the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy, yet they are ineligible for most of the benefits. Although legal immigrants are eligible for benefits, they use federal benefit programs at a lower rate than native-born Americans.

Overall, immigration is a powerful way for the US and Central America to further economic growth and development. Open borders will allow for this mutually beneficial exchange to occur.

The winter months offer a relatively quiet period for our Cultural Committee. The Saraswati Puja is the only major puja prescribed by the Bengali almanac during the first quarter of the year. Saraswati being the Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom, all students in Bengali look forward to this annual event, usually held in the month of February. At Ananda Mandir, the youngsters in our community eagerly await “Bani Bandana”, a cultural program held annually soon after Saraswati Puja – for the students, by the students and of the students!

This year, “Bani Bandana” was held on Sunday, January 29. It featured a superb medley of performances by children of all ages. A detailed report on that program by Sudipta Choudhury is published elsewhere in this issue. We thank Sudipta for her leadership in organizing this event involving scores of kids.

The other cultural program that received high praise from the audience was a twopart concert held on Saturday, February 25. The event presented classical Carnatic music in the first part and light classical/contemporary music in the second part. The evening showcased six highly talented musicians. Sandhya Anand, a celebrated Carnatic vocalist and violinist, was introduced to the world of classical music by her mother at a very young age. She is a graded artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. She runs Samskritasangitam School of Music with the objective of handing over the Carnatic musical tradition to the younger generations. Sandhya was very ably supported on tabla by Anir- ban Roy Chowdhury, one of the finest and dynamic talents of the young contemporary generation of tabla players. His musical lineage hails from the renowned Punjab “gharana” school of North Indian classical music. At the end of Sandhya’s program, Anirban thrilled the audience with a solo tabla performance.

The second part of the program began with a beautiful piano recital by Eshani Goswami. Only 14 years old, Eshani has been playing piano since age 6. She enjoys playing classical as well as contemporary songs. Eshani has already won several international competitions. The rest of the second half was led by Reeshabh Purohit, accompanied by Yash Chhatlani and Inesh Krishnamurthy, all from the Berklee College of Music. Reeshabh is only twenty years old but is already a highly accomplished tabla, guitar and ukelele player – besides being an excellent vocalist. Yash is an upcoming music producer and sound engineer. As a keyboardist, drummer and singer, he is aspiring to make his mark in the pop and hip hop industry. Inesh is a promising guitarist who composed a blend of rock, metal and world music, with a heavy emphasis on fusion and balance of different styles to create a uniquely personal sound.

The next cultural program on our calendar is scheduled for Sunday, May 7. On that day, Ananda Mandir will join hands with Santiniketan Ashram Sammilani International (SASI) to celebrate Rabindra Jayanti (162nd birthday of Rabindranath Tagore). Program details will be published soon.

Fritters…Warm

| continue from page 4 agreed it was safe to go out. She invited me to visit her again soon and I promised I would.