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Tuesday, July 20, 2021 Issue: 41
An initiative by FIA | 100% VOLUNTEER RUN ORGANIZATION EST. 1970
Federation of Indian Associations NY-NJ-CT. 501(C)3.The Largest Non-Profit Grassroot Umbrella Organization in the Tri-state of NY-NJ-CT
www.fianynjct.org Federation of Indian Associations NY-NJ-CT (FIA) info@fianynjct.org
Tuesday, July 20, 2021 Issue: 41
An initiative by FIA | 100% VOLUNTEER RUN ORGANIZATION EST. 1970
Federation of Indian Associations NY-NJ-CT. 501(C)3.The Largest Non-Profit Grassroot Umbrella Organization in the Tri-state of NY-NJ-CT
Indian photojournalist killed in Af
Danish Siddiqui, a photojournalist from India
embedded with Afghan Special Forces, was
covering the clashes between the forces and the
Taliban on July 16 when he was shot.
Read more on page 4
More power to
Abhi, Sameer
Just days after New Jersey
lad Abhimanyu Mishra became
youngest chess grandmaster,
Sameer Banerjee lifted Junior
Boys’ Wimbledon trophy Abhimanyu Mishra Sameer Banerjee
W
e couldn’t have felt prouder of our Back home in India, too, people cheered
3
Indian-American identity than now. for their boy. In war with virus, not FB:
In the last issue, we told you about Sameer’s father Kunal is from Assam White House
Abhimanyu Mishra, the 12-year-old Indian- and mother Usha from Andhra Pradesh. They
American kid from New Jersey who is now the migrated to the US in mid-1980s. Sameer was Spyware Pegasus caught
youngest chess Grandmaster in the world. born in 2003. snooping on 50k phones
He picked up the title on June 30. Abhi, as we “I really just wanted to win a round, I
4
would like to call him, has made not just the didn’t expect this. I had a tough French Open, Pulitzer winner Indian
US but also his motherland India proud of him. lost to a good player. So here I just wanted to photojournalist killed in
Now, we have another youngster to keep my expectations low so that if I passed Afghanistan
celebrate—Sameer Banerjee. The 17-year-old them, then I’d be happy. But this was way
from New Jersey has entered the league of beyond my wildest dreams,” he said to a round Guru Purnima:
junior Wimbledon champions. He lifted the of applause from the crowd
Celebrating the guru in
Wimbledon boys’ singles trophy last week in Together, Abhi and Sameer have become
our lives
his second junior Grand Slam tournament. the youngest flag-bearers for the Indian-
5
When he entered the tournament, American community. Rahman, Ananya show the
Sameer wasn’t even a favorite. His 19th rank Here’s praying for their success in future Hindustani Way
was not enough to pitch him as a strong endeavors!
contender of the title. But on July 11, he FIA will celebrate the 75th Independence Michigan girl Vaidehi
defeated Victor Lilov to join a prestigious list Day of India on August 15 this year at the Times Dongre is Miss India USA
of Junior Grand Slam winners representing the Square. We are proud to announce that Abhi will
2021
United States. join us on the occasion.
www.fianynjct.org Federation of Indian Associations NY-NJ-CT (FIA) info@fianynjct.org
Tuesday,
July 20, 2021 THE DIASPORA BI-WEEKLY Page:03
2 Indian-Americans
to hold key posts in We are in war with virus,
health segment not Facebook: White House
D
r Rahul Gupta, former health
commissioner of West Virginia, has Prez Biden holds ground on ‘vaccine misinformation on social media’
been selected by US President Joe
#Washington Last Thursday, US Surgeon General Vivek
F
Biden to be the next director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy. If confirmed, Dr ollowing Facebook’s rebuttal of US Murthy, in his first advisory since taking up the
Gupta will be the first physician to become President Joe Biden’s remark that social position, had said that vaccine misinformation
the chief of the drug control office. media platforms were killing people with was a factor responsible for slowing down of
Surgeon and popular author Atul vaccine misinformation, the latter on Monday the country’s vaccination rate. He had also
Gawande has been nominated as assistant chose to rephrase his words. However, he called upon social media platforms to curb
administrator of the Bureau for Global held on to his initial summary, saying that misinformation related to the pandemic and
Health at the US Agency for International what he said was not to be taken literally, but the vaccines.
Development. as a challenge to do more to prevent spread A day later, Biden said that platforms like
of incorrect information regarding vaccine on FB were killing people with misinformation, a
Seema Nanda is social media platforms.
“Facebook isn’t killing people,” he said.
comment that the latter has strongly objected
to. A post on its website said FB was not the
Labour dept solicitor “My hope is that Facebook — instead of
taking it personally that somehow I’m saying
reason for US government missing the July 4
deadline to vaccinate 70% Americans.
I
ndian-American civil rights lawyer Seema Facebook is killing people — that they would “We permanently ban Pages, Groups, and
Nanda has been confirmed by the US do something about the misinformation, accounts that repeatedly break our rules on
Senate as the solicitor for the Department of the outrageous misinformation about the COVID misinformation, and this includes more
Labour. Nanda (48) has previously served as vaccine. That’s what I meant.” than a dozen Pages, Groups, and accounts
chief of staff, deputy chief of “We are not in a war or a battle with from some of the individuals referenced in the
staff and deputy solicitor Facebook,” said press secretary Jen Psaki, press briefing,” Facebook spokeswoman Dani
in the department adding “We are in a war with the virus.” Lever said in a statement Monday.
during the tenure of
Barack Obama. Prior
Spyware Pegasus caught
to that, she worked
for 15 years in various
roles as a labour
snooping on 50k phones
and employment
attorney.
Sirisha Bandla takes Most of the phone numbers in data obtained by the Amnesty
off on space flight International are clustered in 11 countries, including India
L T
ast week, when aeronautical engineer he current big news from the digital traces of the spyware. Around 50,000 phone
Sirisha Bandla took off with Richard world is the investigation into the numbers of potential targets have been
Branson and others on board Virgin leaked data from Israeli tech company leaked. These include heads of states, activists
Galactic’s flight to space, she became only the NSO. Its spyware Pegasus has raked up lot of and journalists, including Jamal Khashoggi’s
third woman of Indian origin to fly to space. controversy this week. family.
She follows the path first walked by Kalpana NSO has claimed that Pegasus is
Chawla and Sunita Williams. Born in Andhra intended for use against terrorists and How it works
Pradesh in India, Bandla grew up in Houston. criminals. Turns out they are not the only According to AI, Pegasus allows the
The flight was delayed by 90 minutes ones the spyware has been snooping on. hacker to gain access to messages, emails,
due to bad weather. Just before t h e media, microphone, camera, calls and
take-off, she tweeted, “I am s o The investigation contacts on the target’s phone. Investigation
incredibly honoured to be a The Pegasus Project is a ground-breaking has identified potential clients of NSO with
part of the amazing crew of collaboration by more than 80 journalists clusters in 11 countries, namely Azerbaijan,
#Unity22, and to be a part from 17 media organizations in 10 countries. Bahrain, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico,
of a company whose The efforts are coordinated by Paris-based Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Togo and
mission is to make Forbidden Stories with the technical support UAE.
space available to of Amnesty International, which conducted In India, the investigation is being done
all.” forensic tests on mobile phones to identify by The Wire.
www.fianynjct.org Federation of Indian Associations NY-NJ-CT (FIA) info@fianynjct.org
Tuesday,
July 20, 2021 THE DIASPORA BI-WEEKLY Page:04
Indian photojournalist Covid case rise: India
drops to 4th place
killed in Afghanistan
#New Delhi
T
hanks to the consistently declining
figures of daily cases of Covid-19, India
has now dropped to the fourth place in
earthquake of 2015, the pro-democracy
D
terms of new cases reported in seven days
anish Siddiqui, an Indian photojournalist protests in Hong Kong in 2019, the communal ending last Friday. At the top of the list was
associated with news agency Reuters riots that coincided with then US President Indonesia with 3.24 lakh cases, followed
in India since 2010, was killed on July Donald Trump’s visit to New Delhi in February by Brazil with 2.87 lakh. UK was at the third
16 while covering a clash between Afghan 2020, and the Covid-19 pandemic in India. position with 2.75 lakh while India reported
security forces and Taliban fighters near a He had also extensively covered the wars in 2.69 lakh cases during this period. However,
border crossing with Pakistan. Danish, 38, is Afghanistan and Iraq. the active caseload is over 4.2 lakh.
survived by his wife Rike and two children. He was laid to rest in the graveyard
According to the Indian embassy in Kabul,
G’nagar gets India’s
of New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia, his alma
Danish died of multiple gunshot wounds. He mater, after his mortal remains were flown
1st airport-like rly stn
was embedded with Afghan Special Forces in from Afghanistan on the evening of July 18.
Kandahar. On the fateful day, he was covering UN Secretary-
T
the clashes between the Taliban and the General Antonio
he next time you go to Gandhinagar,
Afghan security forces. The Taliban denied any Guterres and
you might want to visit the redeveloped
role in his death and expressed regret over the A f g h a n i s t a n
railway station that was inaugurated
incident. President Ashraf
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.
Danish was part of a team that was Ghani also condoled
The premises, which gives the feel of an
awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Danish’s death. Political
airport, boasts of state-of-the-art amenities,
Photography in 2018 for documenting the leaders in India also
a five-star hotel, a centrally air-conditioned
Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar. condoled Danish’s
multipurpose hall, baby feeding room,
Danish had also chronicled the Nepal death.
prayer room as well as a first-aid room. Train-
travelling be just one of the many features of
Guru Purnima: Celebrating
this station, which aims to function as a city
centre rail mall.
the guru in our lives
Chandrakant Trivedi Traditionally, Hindus pay tribute to Sage
Vyas as well as their spiritual leader on this day.
G
uru Purnima is very popular religious Vyasa, the author of author of Mahabharata
and spiritual day among Hindu and son of Sage Parasar and Matsyagandha,
community word wide. It is annually
celebrated on full moon day of the month of
was born on this day. He is believed to have
started writing Brahma Sutras on Ashadha Govt cancels Kanwar
Ashadh (Purnima; in July/ August). It is also
known as Vyasa Purnima and Gyan Purnima.
Suda Padyami that ended on this day.
This is also said to be the day when Lord Yatra after SC rap
T
In Sanskrit, Gu means darkness of ignorance Shiv became the ‘Adi guru’ or the first guru to he Uttar Pradesh government has
and Ru means light of knowledge. A guru is the Saptarishi or the seven sages. announced cancellation of the Kanwar
regarded as the supreme human who has Source: Wikipedia yatra this year, after initially giving it the
attained this power through intense ‘sadhana’ go-ahead. The annual pilgrimage, which leads
and is willing to help his disciples and others. to one of the largest religious gatherings in
This year, Guru Purnima falls on Sunday July the country every year, was called off after
25th. Supreme Court raised objection citing the
likelihood of the third wave of the pandemic.
Why celebrate
Chosen as the day to honour the
teacher, Guru Purnima is when we express
gratitude for all that we have achieved in the
past year, and when we resolve to do what
we are here for. Let us thank all the masters
of the tradition who have preserved this
Knowledge from ages and brought it to us.
www.fianynjct.org Federation of Indian Associations NY-NJ-CT (FIA) info@fianynjct.org
Tuesday,
July 20, 2021 THE DIASPORA BI-WEEKLY Page:05
On Olympic Track
AR Rahman and
Ananya show the
Hindustani Way
That’s the title of the anthem the
duo has prepared to cheer the Indian Rising from the earth we strike
contingent at Tokyo Olympics 2020 Tiger stripes Kohinoor eyes
Here we come
#Mumbai
A
It’s our time India
fter weeks of anxious waiting, the
We are here to fight
Olympics week is finally here. The
And if we fall,
Games will kick off on July 13. The
we get back up
Indian contingent is ready. And, so is India… to
We’re born to win
cheer them as they put their best foot forward
We never stop
in the march to the medal podium.
Music legend AR Rahman has teamed
up with singer-songwriter Ananya Birla past Olympics, starting from Atlanta in 1996
to compose an Olympics anthem for the and going on to Athens in 2004, Beijing 2008, Want to advertise with us?
participants. It’s titled ‘The Hindustani Way’. London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Ananya has written the lyrics and sang the One can see medal winners Leander We can help you
song, while Rahman has composed the Paes, Vijender Singh, Abhinav Bindra, Mary
take your brand farther.
music. The song was launched by Minister of Kom, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, PV Sindhu,
Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar and others in
Get in touch with us at
last week. their winning moments. Remember Dipa’s
True to the mood across the country, sensational Produnova vault? It had the entire
diaspora@fianynjct.org
the song is a peppy number that plays in country hold its breath. Those and many more
the background as heartbeats soar at critical such moments have been captured in the
moments in matches. The viewers are treated video.
to match-winning finishes by Indians from the Just feel the energy! Published by
Federation of Indian Associations
(NY-NJ-CT-PA-MA-NH)
Michigan girl Vaidehi Dongre Editor
Chitra Nair
crowned Miss India USA 2021 Voluntary Design & Graphics
Gracia Marcom
Arshi Lalani, Mira Kasari named 1st and 2nd runner-ups respectively
#New Jersey feels like a dream. Because my state did not
V
aidehi Dongre’s Instagram post, put up have a pageant let alone, a pageant Write to us!
before she participated in the final round director to support me,” her post Got feedback for us? We would love to hear
of the Miss India USA 2021 pageant, read. about it. Have an event you want others
said she has always straddled between Indian Diana Hayden, Miss World to know about? Tell us. Clicked a pic worth
and American culture and values. 1997, was the chief guest and sharing? Send it across. Your inputs are
Vaidehi (25), who is from Michigan, was chief judge at the event.
invaluable. You can mail your comments to
crowned Miss India USA 2021 at the event held There were 61
editor@fianynjct.org
over the weekend. She was also crowned Miss contestants from 30 states.
Talented for her Kathak performance. They participated in three
Arshi Lalani from Georgia was named different pageants—Miss
You can also follow us on
the first runner-up while Mira Kasari from India USA, Mrs India USA @fianynjct.org
North Carolina became the second runner-up. and Miss Teen India USA.
For Arshi, the win was even bigger, for she Miss India USA is the federationofindianassocations
had faced many a hurdle on the way, including longest running Indian
@FIANYNJCTorg
a brain tumour. “Winning this pageant.... pageant outside India.
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