NRI Community hosts Dinner-Reception for the Indian Ambassador in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, May 15, 2012
NRIpress-Club, Califonia

A gala banquet and reception was organized for His Excellency Dr. S. Jaishankar, Ambassador of India, at the Hilton Hotel, Long Beach on Sunday, May 11, 2014. The Ambassador was accompanied by Consul General of India N Parthasarathi, Minister Sudhakar Dalela, Minister Mrs. Reenat Sandhu, Dr. K.j. Srinivasa, and first secretary, Mr. Mohit.

Two very popular organizations, IALA (India Association of Los Angeles) and UFICA-UNITED FEDERATION OF INDO AMERICANS OF CALIFORNIA, joined to welcome the new Ambassador. These two associations have the capability to attract more than 10,000-15,000 NRIs for the event of Independence Day celebration on Aug. 15, every year.

Iqbal Samra, President IALA had the proudly announced the participation of Indian Ambassador as the chief guest on the occasion of Independence Day celebrations on Aug. 15, 2010.

Ajit Dudekar, president of UFICA, Dr & Mrs. Prakash Narain, Councilman City of Cypress, Ashok Patnaik, Cerritos City Commissioner and several community activists from greater Los Angeles area attended the banquet and welcomed the new ambassador.

Ramesh Mahajan, Ageing Commissioner for the State of California; President of Little India Chamber of Commerce; Past Commissioner Los Angeles California, Los Angles Mayor International Trade Council, President of FIA Los Angeles California requested the Ambassador to open their office in Los Angeles as soon as possible. Last year, Ramesh had very successfully organized Independence Day celebrations with the coordination of City of Artesia.

In welcoming the Ambassador, Inder Singh, chairman Global Organization of People of Indian Origin, said that Southern California has been the home to the Indian American community for over one hundred years. There are over 200,000 people of Indian origin living in Southern California. Several entrepreneurs, businessmen, philanthropist, educationists, doctors, engineers, and community activists who have made it their karam bhumi. First U.S Congressman from India, Dalip Singh Saund was also from this region. Inder Singh introduced two students to Dr. Jaishankar. Both obtained perfect score in SAT, a major achievement. They also received India Heritage scholarships two weeks ago. Preetam is a recipient of the Congressional Gold award for youth leadership and President's Volunteer Service gold award. Apoorva is a National Merit Finalist & National AP Scholar with distinction.

Kirtan Singh Khalsa of 3HO Foundation spoke about the Baisakhi function which has been attracting over 15,000 people every year. Gunjan Bagla spoke about several Indian Americans who have given back to the society for worthy causes. He mentioned the names of Navin Doshi of Doshi chair of Indian History in UCLA, Narinder Kampany who established a chair in UC Santa Barbara, Uka Solanki who funded Yadunandan India Center at California State University, Long Beach and Dr. Prem Reddy of Victorville who has committed $40 million for a medical school in San Bernardino.

Some of the community activists who attended the meeting, included Dr. & Mrs. Vijay Dhir, Dean of UCLA School of Engineering, Pramod Kunju, Chair Pan IIT Alumni USA, Rattan Joea, CEO of Prime Time Shuttle, Mr. & Mrs. Ujjual Nath, CEO of Kaarma, Dr. Sunny Kalara and Dr. Toni DasGupta, President of TiE Southern California, Mr. & Mrs. Gunjan Bagla, former President of Pan IIT Alumni Association, Prof. Karen Leonard, Chair Anthropology, UC Irvine, Sushil Tyagi and Amelia Warren Tyagi, daughter of US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Dr. Rangesh Gadasalli, Founder and Trustee of UFICA, Ashok Madan, NFIA Executive Director, Abdul Gani Shaikh, Indian Muslims Association, Mohan Dadlani, Sindhi Association.

Several organizations had joined the welcome committee. They included GOPIO-LA, UFICA, IALA, ASEI, Tie-SC, Pan IIT Alumni Association, Indian American Heritage Foundation, Punjabi Heritage & Cultural Society, Rajput Association of America, Indian Muslims Association and NRI Press Club.

NRIpress-Club’s team of nearly 60 entrepreneurs are thankful to Mr. Ravi Grewal, Iqbal Samra and Rattan Joea, for their participation along with a team of 15 members, UFICA team and in welcoming the new Ambassador.

Police had been put on high Alert:

Inder Singh said that event went peacefully but police would remain on high alert throughout the evening from 5.30pm to 9pm.

"Somebody wrote email around noon to organizers and then we had to call city to arrange the police" said Inder Singh. NRIprrss.com is still investigation the matter, who wrote email and purpose of this email.

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