WASHINGTON, December 13 - In what is surely music to the ears of Indian-Americans, a top US administration official has categorically stated that “no diaspora community is more successful and more inspiring than the Indian-American community here in the United States”.

Robert O’ Blake, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, made this statement in his keynote address to the American India Foundation (AIF) gala, celebrating the organization’s decade of philanthropy and service.

Citing facts and figures, the influential official noted that there are some three million Indian-Americans in this country who “have among the highest, if not the highest, per capita incomes of all groups in the United States. And Indian-Americans are increasingly seeing their influence grow, whether by election or political stars such as Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana or Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina, or through the creation of organizations such as AIF”.

On hand at the event were achievers from all walks of life including: Stephen Brogan, Managing Partner of the international law firm Jones Day and gala chair; Ron Somers, President of the US India Business Council (USIBC); Mr. Arun Kumar Singh, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy; Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator; Mr. Sudhakar Shenoy, founder, chairman and CEO of IMC; Mr. Ranvir Trehan, technologist, entrepreneur and beneficiary of this year’s AIF Philanthropy Award; Dr. Steven Knapp, President of The George Washington University; Dr. Charles Steger, President of Virginia Tech; and Natasha Barrett, reporter at ABC 7 News, who served as emcee of the program.

Blake, who is President Obama’s key person for India and that region in the US State Department, stressed that “AIF is a wonderful example of an organization that we are proud to partner with” and, in this regard, he drew attention to a project aimed at building inter-cultural understanding and engaging citizens across the Punjab region through digital story-telling and the creative arts.

The senior official explained, “The program aims to create a self-sustaining Indo-Pakistani Young Education Professionals Network, a global network of Punjabi youth from India, Pakistan and the United States, and a ‘Punjabi Cultural Connections’ publication for educators available to institutions and communities across the Punjab and the US. We’re excited about this project because not only will it give further impetus to the encouraging progress India and Pakistan are making in their relations, but it will also educate Americans about the richness of Punjabi culture and history”, he said.

Blake told the AIF audience, “All of you here today, through your various pursuits, are contributing in meaningful ways, whether you are a young professional headed off on a fellowship to India or a professor researching our economic interconnectedness, whether you are a company executive overseeing a US-India R&D collaboration or a private equity investor who just made an investment to help scale a promising Indian company - all of you are helping shape one of the defining bilateral relationships of the 21st century.

Our people-to-people ties form a network of partnership that undergirds everything we do. Indeed, our people are our greatest resource. You are a vital source of the two-way flow of ideas, energy and capital that drives the US-India relationship”.

Among other high offices, Blake has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission to Delhi and Ambassador to Sri Lanka, and he told the audience, “My experiences in India and elsewhere in South Asia taught me that there are tremendous opportunities for the US government to work with the diaspora to accomplish our goals”. So, one of the first things he did when he came to the State Department was to create a new senior advisor position in his bureau which would focus on engaging with the diaspora and other external groups. An accomplished Indian-American, Mitul Desai, occupies this post and it is his mandate to develop relationships and dialogues that previously did not exist, and to leverage those to build public-private partnerships which promote US interests in the region for mutual benefit.

In this regard, Blake mentioned that the US government is partnering with Guidestar India, an online, fully searchable database of reliable and comparable information on NGOs (non-governmental organizations) registered in India.

The purpose is “to ensure they are accountable, transparent and keep only a small percentage of a donation to cover their expenses so the maximum can go to the intended beneficiaries”, he said. “By matching a list of certified Indian NGOs with potential American donors, we hope to create an efficient philanthropy marketplace that will grow the overall sector, making it a win-win proposition for all, including AIF. In today’s budget-constrained environment, such public-private strategies strengthen not only our international economic development efforts, but also the crucial people-to-people ties that bind our two great countries”.

Blake recalled that he first heard of AIF when he was the DCM at the US embassy in Delhi where one of the first things he had to do was brief a group of young people, mostly Indian-Americans, who had come to India to serve.

“I had never heard of AIF before and I was really struck by what a wonderful group of young people this was”, he said. “They were doing amazing things. Some of them were working on things like Dalit rights, some of them were working with street children, a lot of them were working on HIV/AIDS, and they were working all over India, in some of the really furthest regions of India”.

Duly impressed, Blake pointed out that some in the group had never been to India before and had just come to give a year of their lives under the aegis of AIF. “I became a big fan of AIF from then on and every year after that, I was very happy to brief the incoming class and tell them a little bit about what we were doing in our bilateral relations, and also to hear from them about what they were doing because in many ways they represent the best of America”, he said. “They represent our tradition of service, community service, service overseas, and also our idealism and our optimism”.

Ron Somers described Blake and Trehan as “iconic leaders” who have propelled the India-US relationship forward. “Robert Blake has always been a quiet, but fervent supporter of deepened security ties with India”, he said. “Just 10 years ago, two-way trade in defense between the US and India was $200 million. Today, it is $10 billion”.

Somers told the gathering that “in India, there is a 74 percent approval rating for the United States”.

He acknowledged that there have been setbacks, a recent one being the opening of the retail sector to foreign investors in India. Noting that inflationary pressures are on the rise in India, Somers was optimistic that “the opening of the retail sector will happen. We just have to be patient”, he said.

“In any great relationship, there is an ebb and a flow and never can one take one’s partner for granted”, he told the audience. “Like a good marriage, we must be constantly tending this extraordinary relationship”, one “that will indeed shape the destiny of the 21st century”.

The AIF gala opened with the national anthems India and the US rendered by Shreya Bhatia and Anjali Taneja, respectively. Both are students of the Balaji Music Academy founded and headed by renowned singer Mrs. Vatsala Mehra who was present at the event.

For entertainment, there was: an Indian classical music performance by maestros of our area, Debu Nayak on tabla, and Nistha Raj on violin; Bollywood beats spun by Vishal Sharma Harnal; and fast-paced dances by the Rhythmaya troupe, directed by Nirathi Rao.

It is noteworthy that AIF was founded in 2001 at the initiative of President Clinton who serves as Honorary Chair. Nobel Laureate Professor Dr. Amartya Sen heads the Advisory Council. Since its inception, AIF has served as a trusted bridge for Americans to channel their philanthropy towards India and raised over $70 million in the process benefitting the most impoverished individuals.