x
diaspora
DIASPORA
FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014 MIDWEST EDITION
14
US Senate confirms Kumar to key trade job Arun Madhavan Kumar is the third Indian-American to hold a top post at the US State Department ARUN KUMAR, WASHINGTON
T
he United States Senate has confirmed yet another Indian-American nominee of President Barack Obama to lead the trade promotion arm of the U.S. Commerce Department charged with helping U.S. companies succeed in markets around the world. Kerala University physics graduate Arun Madhavan Kumar was confirmed to be assistant secretary of commerce and director general of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service by a voice vote on March 12 along with Puneet Talwar, a longtime White House national security staffer. As the State Department’s new assistant secretary for political-military affairs, Talwar would be serving as a bridge between the State and Defense departments. He becomes the third IndianAmerican in a top position at the State Department after Nisha Desai Biswal, point person for South and Central Asia and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, highest ranking Indian-American in Obama administration. At over two dozen, Obama administration boasts of having the highest number of Indian Americans in key jobs than any previous administrations in U.S. During his confirmation hearing, Kumar told the Senate Commerce Committee that he would “like to strengthen the focus on the markets offering the biggest opportunities for American products and services, and on orchestrating efforts to increase our market share in those markets”. Kumar, who succeeds another
Obamacare, gun lobby may halt Murthy’s run WASHINGTON: Vivek Murthy, the physician who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next Surgeon General of the United States, might see his rise through Washington come to a halt. A staunch defender of Obamacare, Murthy is behind Doctors for America, an organization that was instrumental in grabbing early support for the Affordable Care Act. Now, the implementation of that law has Democrats reeling, with many of them keeping themselves distanced from the legislation out of fear that any affiliation with it could cost them re-election. But perhaps more damning to Murthy’s chances of confirmation is the intense opposition he faces from the NRA. The organization sent an email to supporters last week, urging them to oppose Obama’s nominee. Although, some reports indicate that Democrats are not yet supporting
Vivek Murthy
Murthy openly, but are simply changing their strategy in terms of campaigning for him. He needs confirmation from the Senate in order to get the Surgeon General position, the highest medical office in the country. If he is confirmed, he will be both the youngest Surgeon General in the U.S. history and the first Indian American to hold the post.
NY film fest to focus on Chadha Arts, festival screenings, centrepiece, retrospective and special he 14th Annual New York events will take place throughout Indian Film Festival will the week at the Village East Cineput the spotlight on British mas. The closing night selection to filmmaker Gurinder Chadha be followed by the annual to celebrate the 20 year awards ceremony and anniversary of her after-party would be acclaimed film Bhaji held at Skirball CenOn The Beach. ter for Performing The six-day fesArts. tivities at the oldest Final film selecand most prestitions will be announced by early gious film festival for Indian cinema in April with tickets going on sale April 15. North America from Gurinder Chadha May 5-10 will also Chadha of Bend It Like Beckham fame will be in include a retrospective of the filmmaker’s documentaries, attendance. Her acclaimed film On according to the Indo-American The Beach is about a group of Arts Council (IAAC). women of Indian descent taking a After a star-studded opening trip together from their home in night red carpet premiere at the Birmingham, England to the beach Skirball Centre for Performing resort of Blackpool. IANS, NEW YORK
T Arun Madhavan Kumar
Kumar succeeds another Indian American, Secunderabad- born Suresh Kumar Indian American, Secunderabadborn Suresh Kumar, was earlier a partner and member of the Board of
Directors at KPMG LLP. From 2005 until his retirement in September 2013, Kumar led the firm’s West Coast Finance Management Consulting practice. He also led the firm’s US-India practice from 2007 to 2013. Kumar joined KPMG in 1995 as a finance management leader. From 1993 to 1995, Kumar was the founder and CEO of Planning & Logic, Inc., a software company.
Punches, kicks, jibes... Sikh students in US endure a lot The report was prepared by the Sikh Coalition, an umbrella organiikh children in American zation of the Sikh community. schools have been punched, “I was in California like seven, six kicked, have had their turbans years ago. It was me and my brothripped off by fellow students and er, we had jooras (uncut hair tied in called “Bin Laden” or worse. Some a topknot)... Just us two were have even had to face abuses like Sikh... For two years, we got bul“Go Home Terrorist”. lied, came home crying every day,” Their only fault is that they are said L. Singh, one of the bullied Sikh students who live in accor- children cited in the report. dance with the tenets of their faith, “Mom got tired of it. She went to says a new report on bullying school. They didn’t do anything against Sikh American school chil- about it. Teachers were racist out dren. there... I was in 5th grade, and my IANS, WASHINGTON
S
More than half of Sikh children in U.S. schools endure bullying.
dad took us to a barber shop, and he was like, ‘It’s today’. My mom was crying, my dad was crying. It was the day we just (took our patka)
off, and we cut our hair.” “We went back to school and we still got bullied. And we had to move out to Indiana, just because of
the bullies (in California),” he said. “Bullied in California. Bullied in Indiana. Bullied when he maintained his religiously mandated uncut hair. Bullied after he cut it. Left to his own devices to end it. That’s the story of L. Singh which captures the experience of young Sikhs across America,” according to the report. The bullying of Sikh children is often associated with post-9/11 bias, the report found with epithets such as “terrorist” or “Bin Laden” frequently accompanying verbal and physical abuse. Statistically speaking, more than half of Sikh children in U.S. schools endure bullying with over twothirds of turbaned Sikh children among its worst victims, according to a new national report.