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Prime Minister at the UN Millennium Summit

India's Prime Minister on Friday justified his country's nuclear arms arsenal and pressed a demand for membership on the UN Security Council.

In a speech to the UN Millennium Summit, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said India had to take up the nuclear option although it preferred disarmament. 'The spread of nuclear weapons in our neighborhood made us especially vulnerable,'' Vajpayee said in reference to Pakistan, which also became a declared nuclear power when both countries conducted tests in 1998. "India's bitter experience has taught her that she has to be strong to defend peace," he said, departing from his prepared text.

Vajpayee stressed India's demands for a role on the Security Council. "India is ready to play its role in an expanded Security Council," he said.

Bay Area disappointed by Prime Minister's Cancellation of Visit Indian technologists in the Silicon Valley are disappointed that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has cancelled the San Francisco Bay Area leg of his trip to the U.S. But the feeling among Indian Corporate clubs is that it will not harm the long-term business between India and the U.S.

Vajpayee's visit to Silicon Valley would have been an excellent opportunity for him to get a first hand feel of India's contribution to the software industry there.

The Prime Minister's doctors have advised him to stay off his feet because of a flare-up of osteoarthritis that was causing severe pain in his knees, according to reports.

Some of the valley technologists are altering their plans so they can meet with Mr. Vajpayee either in Washington or in New York.

One of the immediate outcomes of the change in Vajpayee's plans

There has been a sharp drop in the number of India's business leaders who were going to fly into the U.S. during Vajpayee's visit. The original size of a Confederation of Indian Industry delegation, headed by Bharat Ram, to attend the round table summit has dropped from 50 to 20. Congressional sources stressed that Vajpayee's Washington schedule will remain unchanged.

The Prime Minister has delayed his departure to the U.S. by two days to Sept. 7, on the advice of his doctors.

Itinerary of PM's visit

Arrive in Washington on Sep, 13th

Address a joint session of Congress at 10 a.m. Sep, 14th

Meeting with President Clinton at the Oval Office for a one-on-one talk, which will be preceded and followed by joint statements from the two leaders on Sep, 15th Following that, Vice President Al Gore will host him for lunch, along with Secretary of State Madeline Albright, at the State Department's banquet room.

Sept. 16, Vajpayee will be honored at a community reception. The next day, President Clinton will host an official banquet for him at the White House.

First Lady Hillary Clinton is expected to break away from her Senate campaigning in New York and fly into Washington to co-host the dinner, before flying back to New York.

Setting the Record Straight on H1-B Visa Legislation

In cities around the United States, extremist groups masquerading under names such as the Coalition for the Future American Worker and the Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR) are running ads unfairly attacking members of Congress-Republican and Democrat-for encouraging the immigration of highly skilled workers to this country.

These extremist groups, some urging a 50-year ban on immigration, are targeting members for their support of the high-tech industry's efforts to pass what is known as H1-B visa legislation.

The ads are cheap political shots and we want to set the record straight.

In the last five years, the high-tech industry has created over one million jobs in the United States. Due to this rapid growth and record high employment rates, our industry can't find enough skilled workers and as a result thousands of high-tech jobs are going unfilled and America's technological leadership is being put at risk.

Why aren't we filling all these jobs with American workers?

There are a few simple reasons.

There is an extremely low unemployment rate for technology workers. Due to the explosive growth in the IT industry, the unemployment rate for highly skilled technology workers is very low. The unemployment rate for engineers is 1.6 percent, electrical engineers 1.4 percent, and computer systems analysts 1.7 percent. Fewer American students are pursuing degrees in high-tech fields. Currently fewer American students are receiving degrees that prepare them for the high-tech workforce. Between 1987 and 1997, the number of mathematics degrees declined 21 percent, computer science degrees declined 37 percent, and electrical engineering degrees declined 45 percent.

While the above numbers are declining, the demand for technology skills is growing. The Department of Labor estimates that by 2008 the top three areas of employment growth will be in the technology field:
computer engineers (108 percent), computer support specialists (102 percent), and systems analysts (94 percent).
Our K-12 education system is not preparing students for future studies in math and science.
A recent study found that American twelfth graders rank nineteenth out of twenty-one in math and sixteenth out of twenty-one in science when compared to other countries. We need to do a better job of instilling, at an early age, the importance of math and science education.
Responsible members of Congress should be hailed, not nailed for the doing the right thing.
We believe that strengthening our education system is the ultimate goal. Already our technology companies are investing billions of dollars in an effort to help train teachers, to fund math and science scholarships, to wire schools, and even aid in worker retraining programs.

If we are going to find a long-term solution to our labor shortage, then we must prepare our workforce for the digital world.

But in the short term, America's economy needs Congress to act, in the next few months, to increase the number of H1-B visas that can be granted. Responsible members of Congress should be hailed, not nailed for the doing the right thing.

The H1-B visa bill, now working its way through Congress, addresses this problem by increasing the number of temporary visas that allow foreign professionals to fill specialty high-tech jobs that cannot be filled by American workers due to this shortage of skilled workers. The United States is leading the world in the Information Age. Our success and prosperity is the direct result of the innovation, hard work, and ingenuity of our American citizens. That prosperity will continue if we can solve some of our short-term technology labor shortages today and start repairing our children for the digital world.

A Bridge Builder in Texas

Kalpana Sutaria designs bridges both of concrete and of understanding in her dual roles of architect and social worker.

An architect for the city of Austin for the last decade and a social worker, she is the founding member of the eight-year-old Saheli, a group to assist victims of domestic violence. Sutaria divides her time between these two positions.

She enjoys her challenging work for the city of Austin. She finds it rewarding to oversee a project that begins as a plan on paper then grows into a stone, brick, and mortar structure. She considers her greatest skill as an architect to be her ability to gauge what people are looking for in their projects. "I got very good at it," Sutaria said.

After years of working at big architectural firms like Grabers, Simmons and Couran and PSP Kinnoy, Kaler & Crews Architects designing office and institutional buildings, she enjoys her current position and feels she is helping to form the character of the city. "Austin probably has the largest number of bridges for people to walk, jog or bike on," she said.

Sutaria was born in Ahmedabad. Her parents hoped she would become a doctor but Sutaria, who was good at both mathematics and drawing, was attracted to architecture, which she pursued, graduating among the top in her class from the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad.

But now, she is convinced that social work suits her well too, especially with her gentle manner and soothing voice. The outrage and sadness she feels towards the situations these women find themselves in is not something she shares often.

The stories that hundreds of women have related about their experiences in abusive situations are often disturbing. "I still feel a heaviness in my heart but I have learned to distance myself and not get emotionally involved," Sutaria observed.

Sutaria hears stories from the women she counsels that are both bizarre and cruel. "One woman told us her husband kept her indoors for three years until she developed a skin disease. He had scared her about the people in a foreign country, sexually abused her and [made] her sleep on the floor," she recalled.

Still this woman refused all attempts to bring her husband to justice, insisting instead on returning to India. "We really wanted her to take a stand but she didn't want to. We don't force people. We help them as much as they want or as little as they want," Sutaria said.

But she admits that being an advocate for these women is difficult. "We have to eventually face what we as a society do to our daughters. We place these heavy expectations on them, and we never think that they are getting crushed under the force of ensuring that they keep their marriage intact, even in extreme circumstances." Sutaria said. But seeing women bounce back from destructive situations is the greatest reward she can have.

Saheli was born when Sutaria and a few friends met informally with women, typically immigrants, in abusive relationships. As individuals, the support and assistance they could offer was limited. They realized that simply referring the women to another organization was unrealistic. After seven months with just voicemail and a post office box, Saheli has grown into a large organization with dozens of women volunteering their skills and time. Saheli helps women financially, emotionally, socially and legally, while raising money through outreach and fundraisers.

During the seventies, Sutaria was at the University of Texas pursuing a master's degree in architecture. She met and eventually married Swadesh Mahajan, a physics professor at the university.

"I think I was very naïve about marrying a man with two children.... it was overwhelming and initially there were glitches but it all worked out," said Sutaria who now shares a warm, close relationship with her stepsons Rahul and Romi.

Saheli can be reached at 512-703-8745. Its mailing address is: P.O. Box 3665, 1806 S. 5th Street, Austin, TX 78764-3665

Houston's Police Officer Muzaffer Siddiqi

"One thing that'll help you with cops is to be truthful and cooperative," Siddiqi said. Being a policeman is more than a job for Siddiqi.
"I feel good when I talk to people," he said. "There's a lot of adventure when you're making your rounds at eight in the morning. "But people call me all hours of the day. If someone needs me to be there at 3 a.m., I'll be there," he said.

Siddiqi has been with the Houston Police Department for the last four years. He migrated to the United States from Pakistan 10 years ago to be with his mother and sister.
"Back in Pakistan, I was in the police force for seven years. I wanted to help people. But there's no place for an honest man like me," he explained. "I don't want someone to force me to do bad things and that's why I left Pakistan."

Siddiqi earned a master's degree in mathematics at the University of Karachi and an undergraduate degree in criminal justice from the University of Houston. His family operates a gas station and gift shop in the Houston area. But the stable life of a businessman has little allure for Siddiqi.
"Once you've experienced the thrill of being an officer, you don't always want to give it up."

He underwent a rigorous training program for a year and passed a civil service exam to pursue his life's passion.
"If you're going to be a police officer, you get to be everything:
doctor, teacher, brother," Siddiqi said. "I love my profession." His commitment to duty has a stiff price: Siddiqi's wife, Zahida, an internal medicine doctor, and their two-and-a-half year-old daughter Hiba, live apart from him in Chicago.
'My wife doesn't want me to be a police officer," he explained. "She wants me to operate my businesses."

Still, he travels to Chicago three times a month to be with his family.
"All the flight attendants know me," he said with a chuckle. Earlier this year, Siddiqi began assuming a new responsibility:
serving as liaison to Houston's South Asian community, a commitment that keeps him tied to the city.
"In Houston, there's a perception in the South Asian community that the police department is corrupt," he said. "Therefore, I am trying to bring the community together and help clear up some of the misunderstanding."

His duties include dealing with civil matters, issues of domestic abuse, and conducting general investigations of crimes that involve the South Asian community. "Our culture is totally different and this type of duty helps me be visible.

"When I have solved someone else's problems and go home, it's like winning a million-dollar lottery," he continued. "People genuinely appreciate the help I have given."

Prior to this special assignment, Siddiqi served as a special operations officer, dealing with dignitaries visiting Houston. He has also been close to Bollywood film stars when they tour the country to perform concerts. Siddiqi relishes the opportunity to serve the stars since watching Indian movies is one of his favorite hobbies.
"Ajay Devgan and Juhi Chawla are my favorites," he said.

In spite of the positive feedback he has received from the South Asian community in Houston, there are some who can't believe that he'd risk his life in the dangerous profession.

Even out of uniform, Siddiqi said he is noticed everywhere. "I don't have any privacy when I go out. When I'm eating in a restaurant, everyone wants to come up and talk to me. But I like it because they are comfortable dealing with me."

Ninth Annual NetIp Convention

SAN FRANCISCO - It wasn't just about the money at the ninth annual conference of the Network of Indian Professionals Sept. 2. Author Chitra Divakaruni, television actor Anjul Nigam and Kathak master Chitresh Das inspired those considering careers in the arts; while Berkeley, Calif., city attorney Manuela Albuquerque, civil rights attorney Hina B. Shah and educator Darren Zook drew capacity crowds to a series of panels on social and political issues.

The variety of topics and the low-pressure atmosphere of the conference were among the top reasons this year's event sold out its 1,000 reservations far in advance - and even turned away another 500 hopefuls and would-be gate crashers, volunteer Manish Patel told India-West.

The conference, held at the Embarcadero Hyatt Hotel, included stimulating panel discussions, a company showcase, yoga lessons, a scavenger hunt across the city, a networking mixer and a night out at 1015 Folsom, one of San Francisco's most popular clubs.

The panel discussions on Saturday, the second day of the three-day-long gathering, were organized into four tracks: Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital, Internet Technologies, Arts and Entertainment, and Social and Political Issues. After each track's keynote address Saturday morning, attendees surged from room to room for the rest of the day, dropping in on panel discussions and question/answer sessions.