0
0
Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) Annual Report 2020
We would like to present the annual report of the 2020 activities of the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies(FIIDS). In this unparalleled and challenging year for the entire world, the FIIDS adjusted our activities like most of us. We started the year 2020 with conferences, expert dialogues, and awareness programs on issues related to India and the Indian diaspora. During the period, we launched campaigns and hosted events on increasing Indo-American’s participation in the US election process. Due to the pandemic, we moved to online/virtual activities. During the year, we conducted programs, surveys, policy analysis, and engaging with experts and elected officials. Among others, these were the initiatives that were of our primary focus:
Key Highlights of 2021:
- Indo-American’s Civic Engagement and Participation in the US elections:
- 2020 being the US election year, FIIDS hosted a series of Public Awareness events on the Indo-American’s Civic Engagement: Role of Indo-Americans http://www.fiids-usa.org/feb2020/ We invited congressional candidates and city council members to this event.
- TheFIIDS orchestrated an awareness campaign to register as voters. http://www.fiids-usa.org/voter-registration-and-vote/
We engaged with Indo-American candidates at a variety of levels. - The FIIDS hosted a survey of Indo-American’s (http://www.fiids-usa.org/survey-on-us-election-2020/) on the US presidential elections
- We also sent Indo-American’s position papers to both the presidential candidates and their campaign office to educate them about issues important to Indo-American voters and their perspective.
- We are happy to note that this is the first ever US presidential election where both the candidates realized the importance of Indo-American community and approached the community. Rather, the president-elect Biden chose an Indo-American, Kamala Haris, as his vice presidential candidate. We hosted a meet-n-greet session with Indo-American new congressional candidates (http://www.fiids-usa.org/meet-greet-aug-2020/ ).
- All the existing Indo-American congress representatives (Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorty, and Pramila Jaypal) got elected in the election. Unfortunately, Sri Preston Kulkarni(D-Texas), and Dr. Hiral Tipirneni(D-Arizona) lost the election with a thin margin. We are also proud that Niraj Antani(R) and Ash Kalra(D) got elected to the Ohio-senate and California-state assembly respectively. Rishi Kumar(D-CA), Manga Anantamula(R-VA), Nisha Sharma(R-CA), Ritesh Tandon(R-CA), Rik Mehta(R-NJ), and Sara Gideon(R-NJ) fought well to come second. We wish all of them good luck for the future elections.
- We are happy to see increased participation of Indo-American’s in the electoral politics and civic offices is growing. As a result, we are also proud to see that Dr. Raj Salwan got re-elected as Fremont(CA) vice-mayor.
- Covid-19:
- We hosted the first-ever survey on the impact of Covid-19 on Indo-Americans.
- We hosted panel discussions of leaders of community organizations (Hindu Yuva, Fremont Temple, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh), professional organizations like (Asian American Hotel Owners Association, The Indus Entrepreneur, Global Indian Technology Professionals Association GITPRO, American association of physicians of Indian origin AAPIO), and charity organizations like Sewa International. http://www.fiids-usa.org/report-on-survey-analysis-and-panel-discussion/
- We also collected reports on Indo-American’s service to the local community.
- Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act HR.1044: The FIIDS has submitted a position paper and appealed to pass a bill to remove country-wise green card quota (HR.1044) to the Senate and upon passing in the senate, to the congress. We are creating awareness on this issue among the elected officials http://www.fiids-usa.org/fiids-report-pemanent-residency/
- India-China Conflict 2020: In the background of the pandemic, Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) carried out incursions in Ladakh, India. On 15th June, about 20 Indian soldiers and (reportedly) 40+ Chinese soldiers died in the bloody conflict in the Galwan valley. FIIDS hosted four zoom conferences on this issue engaging experts from India and from the USA.
- We continue to create awareness about an important development in India:
- Hosted event on Facts on India’s Farmers Bill 2020 http://www.fiids-usa.org/facts-on-india-farmers-bill-2020/
- Citizenship Amendment Act http://www.fiids-usa.org/fiids-to-uscirf-on-cab/
- FIIDS 2020 Internship Program: During Jun-Aug 2020, twelve high-schooler participated in FIIDS internship program working on (1) Covid Impact on Indo-Americans (2) Studying Voting Records of the US congress representatives on issues important to Indo-American (3) India Centers, India-Indian-Diaspora studies in Universities (4) India-China conflict (5) Content Development (6) Studying Main-stream and Social media on issues important to Indo-American issues (7) website development and (8) newsletter and other infrastructures. These interns made studies and reports useful for FIIDS future activities. Out of them, Marut Yelgalawadi and Atharva Kulkarni decided to be FIIDS youth analysts.
We humbly request you to support FIIDS by contributing before the end of this year online at http://fiids-usa.org/donate or by mailing a check payable to FIIDS, 22395 Dolomite Hills Drive, Ashburn, VA 20148 The FIIDS is a non-profit 501(C)(3) compliant non-profit organization. It is likely that your company allows matching contributions.
Your donation will be applied towards raising issues of NRIs, representing India’s and its interest, connecting with Indian diaspora, engaging policy experts, government officials, and elected officials, and building international relations.
Please share with your family & friends to encourage them to contribute and connect with the FIIDS http://www.fiids-usa.org/contact/
Thanks,
The FIIDS Fundraiser Team
