Federation of Indian American Associations Celebrates 10th Anniversary
Above: Awardees and Guests, from left to right: H. Singh, P. Pillai,J. Roy, W. Dawson, K, Dwivedi, K. Reichard,
O. Sharma, Y. Gupta
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The Federation of Indian
American Associations – National Capital Region (FIA-NCR) celebrated its 10th
Anniversary at the University Systems of Maryland, Shady Grove enter,
Rockville, Maryland on Saturday, December 1, 2007. Approximately 300 people including community
leaders and friends of FIA-NCR attended the event. The theme of this celebration was the Unity
and Civic Awareness and the highlights were presentation of FIA-NCR
accomplishments, recognition awards, cultural programs, and a banquet
dinner...
The
cultural program included the American and Indian National Anthems by Ms. Remy Unitrans and Dr. Suman Sharma,
and several professional performers in the beginning and then other programs
followed. The Tabla and Sitar rendition was by India
famed Guru, Pundit Anup
Ghosh, who performed before President Bill Clinton during his visit to India and regularly he
performs at the All India Radio, and Dr. Suman
Sharma and Ms. Saumya Vats respectively. Both Dr.
Sharma and Ms. Vats were local artists and have several CDs of their rendition
in their honor. Other performances
included artists from KNS group, who performed on non-traditional items while
adhering to its principles and retaining the style to its fullest. This program
was choreographed by Ms. Rani David who choreographed
more than 400 such dances as part of an established graduate program affiliated
with the reputed universities, Next another exciting presentation with great
magnetism was made by artists from the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD,
This group recognized itself as JOSH and very famous locally in this area. A dance drama choreographed by Ms. Neha Purohit, was fabulous. Ms. Sanchari Ghosh entertained the audience with several Bollywood songs.
Dr. Yogendra N. Gupta introduced representatives
from the Embassy of India, U.S. Senate and Congress & other local
dignitaries. Mr. Ken Reichard from the office of Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Ms. Sumitra
Siram from the office of Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and Dr. Kamal Dwivedi, Counsellor, Science
& Technology, presented their remarks and citations. Dr. Kamal Dwivedi and Mrs. Rosemary Fernandez (Embassy of India)
talked about the Professional of Indian
Origin in U.S. (PIOUS) -- A Government of India sponsored Network portal
linking Professionals of Indian Origin in US.
Dr. Satish Misra, President FIA-NCR
in his address stated that FIA-NCR had come a long way in 10 years of its
existence and it still had a long way to go.
The FIA was doing an excellent job of promoting Indian-Americans
culture, mutual understanding, and friendship in several US cities/states and sharing its vision
and mission. He urged the community to
come forward, participate, and support FIA-NCR in accomplishing its goals. He further emphasized the need for community
unity and building a fine legacy for our children and great grand children.
Regarding civic awareness, he quoted hard data on registered
voters of Indian-American origin that it looked very disappointing when compared to number of eligible voters and
then encouraged their participation in voting process in elections at all
levels.
Dr. Hari Har Singh conducted the honor ceremony and awards
presentation. He invited Dr. Satish Misra, and representatives from the U.S. Senate
and the Embassy of India to join him in this ceremony at the stage. Dr. Singh recognized all recipients for their
accomplishments and contributions and invited them for awards. Honorable guests
awarded respective awards to recipients. The highest award from FIA-NCR, The
Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Dr. Parthasarthy
Pillai, an elected member of Democratic Party of
Central Committee-at-large, Vice Chairman of the Coalition of Asian Pacific
American Democrats-MD (CAPAD), a dedicated community activist, former NFIA
President and Chairman, and to Dr. Joydeb Roy, also a
community activist, NFIA Executive Director, and Past President of several organizations
including IAFPE-MD. Other awards
presented were, The Distinguished
Community Service Award to Dr. Vinod Prakash, Distinguished Service award to Dr. Om Sharma, Political Awareness Award to US India
Political Action Committee (USINPAC), Promotion of Indian Culture Award to Mr.
Walton Dawson, Journalism Awards to Mr. Radhakrishnan
Iyer of JRD Video, Mr. Balachandran
of Image-in-Asian TV, Mr. Raghubir Goyal of India Globe & ATN News. In addition the
Outstanding Contribution to FIA-NCR and the Sustained Support to Community
Awards were presented to all past
Presidents of FIA-NCR, namely Dr. Pradeep Ganguly (1997), Mr. Kamal Thakor (1998), Mr. Satish Korpe (1999), Mrs. Ann Pillai
(2000 & 2004), Dr. Hari Har
Singh (2001 & 2002), Mr. Mukund Agashe (2003), Dr. Yogendra N.
Gupta (2005-2006), Mr. Mahendra Shah (Posthumously -
2006).
In
closing President, Dr. Misra acknowledged and thanked
all grand sponsors – State Bank of India, HouseholderGroup
(Estate & Retirement Specialists), Bethesda,
Maryland, Dr. V. K. Shah of Shah Associates, MD LLC, Mr. Raman Desai, CPA PC,
Sharma Law Group, other sponsors and donors, artists, volunteers and above all
the enthusiastic audience.
In
the end a sumptuous
and delicious food in banquet style was served in the banquet hall catered by Natraj Caterers.
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