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The National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA) held its 18th biennial convention earlier this month at the Sheraton Cerritos Hotel in Cerritos, California. The three day event with the theme “Indian-Americans Making an Impact in America,” included seminars, discussions, networking and entertainment.
The convention started March 6 with a welcome reception and inauguration by Indian Consul General Venkatesan Ashok and California State Treasurer John Chiang followed by a full day of conference March 7, culminating with the Gala Awards Banquet. Attendees included Counsel General of India San Francisco Venkatesan Ashok, Minister of Personnel and Community Affairs N.K. Mishra from Washington, D.C.; Congresswomen Judy Chu, Loretta Sanchez and Linda Sanchez, and Cerritos mayor Mark Pulido.
The NFIA honored Indian- Americans including physician Bharat Barai and Aparna Hande for community service, TV Asia chairman H.R. Shah for mass media, musician Rita Sahai and Kathak dancer Amrapali Ambegaokar for performing arts, psych-pharmacologist Rangaesh Gadasalli for medicine and health sciences, and management consultant K.V. Kumar and attorney Navneet S. Chugh in business and finance. The late New York cardiologist B.N. Viswanath was honored posthumously for his lifetime contribution to NRIs through broadcasting and philanthropy. In addition, Heart and Hand for Handicapped, a New York-based organization, received an award for its outstanding services to the handicapped in the U.S. and India.
At the March 8 General Body Meeting chaired by President Sohan Joshi of Chicago, various reports were presented including reports from the president and the Secretary Satheesan Nair of Chicago, a NFIA press release said. A general discussion ensued on the progress and future of NFIA, after which a new committee was elected. The new committee includes: Ashok Madan (California), president; Sudip Gorakshakar (Washington), executive vice president; Ajoy Dube (California), Babu K. Patel (Illinois) and Satheesan Nair (Illinois), vice presidents; Dr. Yogendra Gupta (Maryland), secretary; Vasu Pawar (California), joint secretary; and Makam Subbarao (California), treasurer. were Rachel Verghese (Texas), Anjali Sachdev (Washington), Dr. Satish Misra (Maryland), Madhavan Nair (Illinois), Ramesh Ramnani, Sachin Amin and Ashok Patnaik (California) were elected as directors-at-large; while : Dr. Om Sharma (National Capital Region), Vandana Jhingan (Illinois), Mihir Patel (New York), Raj Razdan (Georgia), Lavanya Reddy (Washington ) and Kewal Kanda (California), were elected as regional vice presidents.
