Monday, October 2, 2000
Plan for a Global Institute of Science and Technology in India
MENLO, PARK, Calif. - An ad-hoc group formed to raise $1 billion to establish a Global Institute of Science and Technology in India held a brainstorming session here Sept. 12.
P.C. Chatterjee of the Chatterjee Group in New York, a venture capital company affiliated with the Soros Fund Management firm; and venture capitalist and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, two of the entrepreneurs who are co-sponsoring the new institute, made brief comments at the meeting.
Chatterjee revealed that about $500 million of the $1 billion funding goal has been donated or pledged by Indian American entrepreneurs.
He also said, "in the next six months we hope to finalize a location" so that the GIST can begin accepting students by the year 2003. There would be about 2,000 students at first, with the idea to eventually grow to a world-class research facility of about 20,000 students, he said.
"The master's and doctoral (programs would be first and then the undergraduate program would be established, he said.
The GIST initiative was announced March 24 in New Delhi in a statement issued by the Indian government.
Sponsors announced at that time, which coincided with President Clinton's visit to India, included Khosla, Chatterjee, Sycamore Networks co-founder Desh Despande and Vinod Gupta, chairman of InfoUSA Inc.
"This initiative establishes a new standard for philanthropy in India," Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said in the March statement.
The University of California at Berkeley is in final stages of finalizing a Memorandum of Understanding with the sponsors to become a sister campus with GIST.
Dentist Guilty of Manslaughter
After three days of lively deliberations, a Circuit Court jury earlier this week found 28-year-old Canadian dentist Alpna Patel, guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of her husband.
The dentist's 32-year-old husband of 10 months, Viresh Patel, was stabbed to death with a steak knife in his Baltimore, Md. apartment in March last year.
Minutes after the verdict was handed down, a crying Patel, clad in a white-and-purple sari, was handcuffed, and whisked away by deputies. Patel could receive up to 10 years in prison when Circuit Court Judge John N. Prevas sentences her Oct. 24. However, because Patel has no prior criminal record, the sentence could be lighter.
Patel was placed under suicide watch on the night of Sept. 19.
The verdict brought the curtain down on a two-week dramatic retrial, at which Patel's parents testified that their only child, whose marriage they had arranged through a newspaper ad they took out, had married into an "old-fashioned" family, whose views on marriage clashed starkly with those of their daughter's.
Patel's attorney portrayed his client as a modern Hindu woman who was mentally abused by her traditional in-laws.
The media closely followed Patel's trial because footage of her wedding was telecast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for a report on the Indian custom of arranged marriages.
At her first trial earlier this year, she was acquitted of the murder charge, but the jury deadlocked on both the voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges.
Involuntary manslaughter is a death resulting from an accident. Voluntary manslaughter is intentional killing without malice or premeditation.
Driving School - Indian Style
Bharat Patel owns a driving school in Chicago, only it is not a school, but a driving license factory. Bharat Patel did what some driving instructors do in India. He bribed road test examiners to pass his unqualified students. Luckily, Patel got caught, and now faces a possible two years in prison.
A six-man, six-woman federal jury in Chicago deliberated less than two hours before deciding that the 49-year-old Patel was a briber who put dangerous drivers onto the streets.
"His skills weren't in teaching driving, his skills were in greasing palms," Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Guentert is quoted as saying in a Chicago Sun-Times report.4.
"Patel was running a license factory, not a driving school," he added.
Patel's sentencing has been set for Oct. 26.
After the verdict was handed down last week, The Office of the Secretary of State announced that it would retest about 500 driving school graduates of Delhi Driving School. If they don't take the test, they could lose their license.
Witnesses at Patel's trial told the jury that Patel would bribe examiners to pass his students, some of whom didn't even know how to start a car or put it in gear.
Some of the examiners who were on the take, cooperated with the government. They testified that Patel's students were among the worst they had tested. They would jump red lights and curbs, and turn into oncoming traffic.
Some said the students were so bad, that they, the instructors, returned the bribes and flunked them.
The testimony of Mattie Lucks, one of the few longtime test examiners at the West Side facility who was honest, according to the Sun-Times, bolstered the prosecution's case.
Lucks said Patel tried to bribe her, too. She said she refused.
Patel is only the second person to go on trial out of the 37 people charged in the investigation
Vajpayee Stresses 'Shared Values' in Historic Capitol Address
WASHINGTON - Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, warmly received on a visit to Capitol Hill Sept. 14, urged America to end the "shadow of hesitation" in Indo-U.S. ties and called for the two nations to strengthen their emerging new partnership.
"Security issues have cast a shadow on our relationship. I believe this is unnecessary. We have much in common and no clash of interests," Vajpayee said in a speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
"We are at an historic moment in our ties. Let us remove the shadow of hesitation that lies between us and our joint vision."
Vajpayee's address to both chambers of Congress - a rare honor that marked a new stage in the warming relationship between the United States and India - kicked off a four-day official visit to Washington following his participation in the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York last week.
Elaborate preparations were made for Vajpayee's Washington visit and he was given a usually warm reception on Capitol Hill. After his speech he met with members of the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives International Relations committees and attended a luncheon in his honor hosted by congressional leaders.
Despite some criticism in the Indian press that Vajpayee's visit would be overshadowed by the looming U.S. presidential elections in November, his trip was seen in Washington as the next step in building a special Indo-U.S. relationship begun with President Bill Clinton's visit to India in March.
Malleshawari Wins Bronze in Weightlifting
Sydney: Woman weightlifter Karnam Malleshwari figured in the medal brackets (the first Indian to do so) by winning a bronze in the 69-kg category.
Olympic Hockey News
A 2-1 loss to Britain on Thursday left India with a final game against Argentina on Friday for seventh spot. On Friday India ended a disappointing Olympic men's hockey campaign on a winning note on Friday, downing Argentina 3-1 in the playoff for seventh spot.
Jaswant Singh meets with The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE)
Santa Clara, California: India's External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh met with The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE) at a private dinner party on Thursday night.
At the dinner party, a group of about 120 people, including current TiE president Kanwal Rekhi and Suhas Patil, were present. Others attending the party were, Naresh Chandra, India's ambassador to the United States, and R.M. Abhyankar, the consul general of India based in San Francisco.
On Wednesday, Jaswant Singh addressed the World Affairs Council in San Francisco.
Singh's appearance helped to alleviate some of the disappointment caused by the cancellation of Prime Minister Vajpayee's visit, said TiE President-elect Kailash Joshi.
As Joshi explained, the success of the Indian Americans in SiliconValley has improved relations between India and the US.
"The Clinton visit turned the page," said Joshi, "India is a critical part of world's economic growth - there are several strategic advantages for the two democracies to work together."
Singh spoke with vision and clarity. He briefed the audience on the progress that was made during Prime Minister Vajpayee's meeting with Clinton in Washington
"His primary goal is to remove obstacles that have in the past hindered business progress and the entrepreneurial environment," said Raj Desai, executive director of TiE. "He is trying to minimize and remove red tape and bureaucracy."
Upon being asked about the possibility of India entering the U.N. Security Council - Singh had an interesting response. He told the crowd that Indian officials were working on gaining trust and respect within the Council. Singh said India would rather be invited to the Security Council - rather than insist on being granted membership.
Clinton supports Indian Americans in cabinet
If The Vice President Al Gore wins the presidential elections, you may see an Indian American face in the cabinet soon. President Bill Clinton has hinted at the possibility at a fund-raiser meeting on the West Coast that he attended along with representatives of the Indo-American foundation.
According to a press release of the foundation, the President agreed to a remark by the foundation Chief Sunil Aghi that Gore's choice of Lieberman, a Jew, as his running mate,
could lead to induction of Indo-Americans to the cabinet, if Gore is elected to power.
Clinton has appointed Indian Americans as senior officials but not as cabinet ministers.
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