National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA)
PRESS RELEASE
Contact # (562) 498-0202 Ashok Madan
Niraj Baxi
Rajen Anand
NFIA HOLDS UNPRECEDENTED EVENT IN NEW DELHI , INDIA
The National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA) headed by Niraj
Baxi, held an unprecedented seminar on " bridging the economy between USA
and India, for the first time in history on January 7th 2003. The event was
sponsored in connection with the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (NRI DAY) to which over
30 NFIA delegates came from the United States.
Earlier on January 3rd a gala function was organized by NFIA adviser Raj
Purohit, The Chief whip of the Maharashtra Assembly at the Radio Club in Bombay
(Mumbai) to facilitate Baxi. Mrs. Janyanti Mehta, Union Minister of Power was
the Chief Guest at the function, which was also attended by the Mayor of
Mumbai, Shri Mahadev Deole, Deputy Mayor Babubhai Bhawanji, and US Council of
Mumbai, Scott Ticker. Murli Deora, member of the Parliament and many other
local dignitaries also graced the occasion.
The Delhi event was held at the Auditorium of the India
International Centre and was inaugurated by Dr L M Singhvi former Indian
Commissioner to UK and the chairman of the NRI
day committee. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Union Minister of State for Commerce and
Industry, who was scheduled to inaugurate the event could not attend the
function. The highlight of the function was an eloquent address by the Deputy
Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy, Albert Thibault who described the people of
Indian descent in the United States as the DNA link between the US and India.
Thibault lauded the contributions of Indians in America in
virtually all fields of endeavors, but particularly in medicine, pharmaceutical
industry, computer software development, and hotel/motel business. He also
credited the Indian community for the "vibrant, dynamic, and deep
relations" between the US and India.
The U.S. diplomat challenged the Indian Americans to
help increase the trade between the two countries. "It (the trade) is
lagging behind China and many other
countries," he pointed out.
Singhvi, in his inaugural address traced the history of his efforts to get the
Indian government to recognize and honor Indians settled abroad. "In 1962,
when I was first elected to the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament), I first
purposed this idea of having a conference of NRIs," recalled Singhvi.
Singhvi headed a commission that authored 600-page report on the subject and
led the effort to organize, for the first time, the Bhartiya Pravasi Divas,
January 9-11 in New Delhi.
Ministry of Information Technology Secretary R. R. Shah in his keynote address
in the afternoon mentioned the Indians abroad have achieved a remarkable
success in the area of Information Technology and the export has reached $8.0
billion. He said this export is projected to reach $50 billion by the year
2008. "India's software export today is 30% of all exports
from India," said Shah. He mentioned hat 65% export
is to the United States of America. "India has
to change this software service industry to product based export," he
conceded.
Many other speakers who addressed the NFIA gathering included N. Sukumaram
speaking on Alternative System of Medicine, P.S. Krishnan on Global Utilization
of Indian Human Resources and P.S. Jain on Medical Education and Healthcare in India.
K.N. Gupta spoke on digital signature and Shantha Krishnan on biotechnology and
T.N. Thakur on the supply of power in Ind. V.N. Singh argued that Indians in
the U.S. must help in social development of India.
NFIA President, Baxi, earlier welcomed the delegates and pledged that NFIA will
act as a conduit to promote and enhance trade between the US and
India. "We will act as a bridge between the two
countries," promised Baxi.
Other NFIA officials, who participated in the deliberations, were
President-elect Rajen Anand, past President and Chairman of NFIA Foundation
Parthasarthy Pillai, Executive Vice President Radha Krishnan, Director Ashok
Madan, and Secretary Manmadhan Nair.
"It was a unique venture on the part of the NFIA to hold an all day
seminar on India in India,"
observed a delegate, "and it was indeed very successful." He added
that the organization is on a right path to do something more constructive in
helping India.
Outlining certain initiatives, Baxi said that the NFIA would like India to
pursue its Second Generation of reforms and request stricter adherence to
Patents and expansion of the service industry. The initiatives in the
economic spheres that NFIA would like to pursue in its bold move to enhance
US-India economic relations are:
· Tourism and Hospitality industry
· Health care industry infrastructure i.e. Hospital, Pharmaceutical, Nursing
and other allied areas
· Service Industry sector of Insurance and Banking
· Housing and Urban Development
· Bio Technology and Bio Informatics
· Environmental sciences
· Infrastructure building i.e. Roads, highways, bridges etc.
Baxi thanked individuals who set up these meetings in Mumbai and Delhi: Vice
President Dr. Rajendra Jain, Secretary Mamadan Nair, and
NFIA India Advisors: Raj Purohit, Balachandran Nair and Vayalar Ravi and our
membership and Board without whom this would not have been complete.