Event features talks by Swadesh Chatterjee, Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy.
By Surekha Vij
Dozens of prominent Indian Americans attended the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas celebrations hosted by the Embassy of India in Washington, DC, on January 8.
The highlight of the evening was talks by prominent Indian American community leader Swadesh Chatterjee and technology leader Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy.
In his opening remarks, Indian Ambassador to the United States Arun K. Singh pointed out that Indian Americans played a very important role during a key moment in India-US relations — in the run up to the 2008e civil nuclear agreement between the two countries.
When there were doubts about the nuclear deal within the higher echelons of the administration and Congress, the community played a key role “in organizing and conveying the message how the deal was important, not just for India,” but also for the United States and the for the India-US relations,” the ambassador said.
He added that “once the deal went through in 2008, between then and now, the political relationship between the two countries has been completely transformed.
The ambassador also pointed out that Indian American entrepreneurs and technology professionals are also playing a big role in continuing to keep the United States as a global center of innovation and driving the bilateral business relations. He praised the Indian American community for their contribution to both their adopted country and to the country of their birth.
Chatterjee, a recipient of Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award, spoke about “Building bridges: How Indian Americans brought the US and India closer together.”
“We have seen the [US-India] relationship come from the worst depths to the great heights of expectations,” Chatterjee, a resident of North Carolina, said.
Listing the accomplishment of Indian Americans, he said the community came of age as a lobbying group when it lobbied against the American sanctions on India following nuclear tests by New Delhi in 1998.
Chatterjee, Chairman and Co-founder of the U.S.-India Friendship Council, an advocacy group, also highlighted the contribution of Indian Americans in various fields including in the field of energy cooperation.
The North Carolina businessman and political activist, described how convinced the arch-conservative US Senator Jesse Helms to soften his attitude towards India.
Dr. Priyadarshy, the Chief Data Scientist of Halliburton in Houston, spoke on the subject “India’s flagship projects and Indian Americans: Promising possibilities.”
Dr. Priyadarshy, who is also the president of the DC chapter of TiE, drew attention to the various ways the Indian American community can contribute to India’s flagship projects, including “Smart City Mission,” “Skill India,” “Digital India,” “Make In India” and “Swatch Bharat.” He also pointed out how these projects are organically connected to each other.
He said, for the success of these flagship projects, several factors are needed, among them, disruptive innovation, empowerment, streaming focus, hard work, partnership beyond teams, resourceful beyond boundaries, education outside the classroom and mentoring in the true sense.
Explaining The Young Entrepreneurs program that he launched as part of TiE EC, Dr. Priyadarshy spoke about the importance of mentoring.
He said the advice from the cosmic powers is that everyone should leverage one’s infinite potential that was bestowed upon us, and have faith in our parent’s upbringing to achieve the success one wanted.
“Unless you want to build a career for yourself, no one will build your career,” he added.
He also pointed out how these projects are organically connected to each other.
The event concluded with an interactive session with audience through Q&A. Both the speakers emphasized how Indian Americans, especially the second generation, can contribute to the United States and, at the same time, remain connected with their culture and the country of their parents.
Parvasi Bhartiya Diwas is marked on the day Mahatma Gandhi returned to India after living in South Africa for 21 years and transformed the Indian history.
Parvasi Diwas is celebrated in India and overseas to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the development of India. The day also commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Bombay on January 9, 1915.
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