|
10
OCTOBER: BIDWAI, NAIK
GET MACBRIDE AWARD
|
Noted anti-nuclear
campaigners Praful Bidwai and Achin Vanaik were selected by the International
Peace Bureau for its prestigious annual peace prize.
The award,
named after its former President and the Irish Nobel laureate Sean
MacBride, was formally given away at an impressive function in Paris
during a three-day function from 12 October. Bidwai and Vanaik have
been selected for the coveted hand crafted silver medals for their
joint work on the South Asian nuclear situation.
|
10
OCTOBER: ADITYA VIJ FIRST INDIAN
TO HEAD GENERAL MOTORS ARM
|
Aditya Vij
took over as President and Managing Director of General Motors India
Ltd, becoming the first Indian to head the operations of GM in India.
Aditya Vij succeeded Richard C Swando, who has since been posted to
GM headquarters at Detroit.
|
13
OCTOBER: INDIAN
SCIENTISTS' HONOURED
|
Indian plant
geneticist Surinder K Vasal has been awarded the prestigious Millennium
World Food Prize along with Mexican biochemist Evangelina Villegas
for lifetime work to develop a higher-yielding, protein-rich corn
that could help prevent malnutrition in millions of people.
The World
Bank made an announcement that the two awardees, Amritsar-born Vasal,
62, and Villegas, 76, were to receive $ 250,000 as prize money, at
a ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa.
In Gothenburg,
Indian environmental scientist Amulya KN Reddy has been awarded the
prestigious Volvo Environment Prize 2000, an honour considered akin
to a Nobel Prize for environment. The prize is worth Rs 7.5 million.
|
13
OCTOBER: INDO- AMERICAN
DENTIST HONOURED
|
The
International College of Dentists has honored Prof. Chad P. Gehani
of New York University for his active contribution to the dental profession
and community. He was granted a fellowship of the college.
The International
College of Dentists is the pre-eminent honorary organization of the
world's outstanding dentists who have demonstrated an abiding interest
and concern for their profession.
Prof. Gehani
graduated from the University of Bombay and completed post graduation
in Endodontics at the prestigious Columbia University in New York.
Currently, he is a member of the faculty at New York University College
of Dentistry.
He is also
the Chief of Department of Endodontics at Flushing Hospital Medical
Center.
|
20
OCTOBER: WIPRO 6TH INDIAN
COMPANY TO LIST ON US MARKET
|
A young
Stanford graduate who came back to India in 1967 to take over his
father's vegetable oil business in remote Jalgaon district returned
to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday having parlayed
the Rs 4 crore firm into a Rs 16,000 crore technology major.
Azim Hashim
Premji, who was briefly the world's second richest man, symbolically
threw his hat into the ring at the NYSE after ringing the opening
bell at 9:30 am to mark Wipro Technologies' debut in the American
stock market.
Wipro's
2.75 million American Depository Receipt (ADR), each representing
one equity share, was priced at a little over $ 41, a small discount
to its current trading price (around Rs 2200) in India. It touched
a peak of $ 47 before moving back to the mid 40s at noon.
|
22
OCTOBER: US AWARDS FOR
INDO-AMERICAN PROFESSOR
|
An
Indian American Assistant Professor bagged the prestigious Elmer F
Pierson Award for excellence in teaching at the University of Missouri-Kansas
City.
Jayesh
Thaker, 37, Assistant Professor in internal medicine, was among four
teachers who received the award, named after the late Elmer F Pierson,
a graduate of the University's School of Law, this year.
|
27
OCTOBER: BIRMINGHAM'S
POET LAUREATE IS INDIAN
|
A Jalandhar-born
writer became the first Indian to be appointed to the coveted position
of poet laureate of Birmingham City.
Roshan
Doug, 37, the author of two published works, told the selection committee:
"We should try and make English poetry available to the Asian community.
They cannot rely on Bhangra (Punjabi folk music and dance) music forever".
|
29
OCTOBER: INDIA SHINES
IN ASTRONOMY OLYMPAID
|
While at
Sydney, India may have come a cropper, Indian students did the country
proud again at the Fifth International Astronomy Olympiad held in
Russia, from the 19th to the 27th of October.
India won
two golds and three silvers, and came second in the Olympiad. The
host country Russia came first with three golds but it had a much
larger team of participants.
|
30
OCTOBER: INDIANS
WIN E-BIZ AWARD
|
An Indian
group of software experts from Pune was among the three teams which
won the first E-Biz Challenge Award, instituted by the Dubai Internet
City (DIC), for world class innovative e-business ideas.
The team
received $ 1,50,000 to develop e-business plans at the Internet City.
|
30
OCTOBER: BARD WITH
AN INDIAN FLAVOUR
|
Kuchipudi
dance, western ballet and Shakespearean plays - all come naturally
to this young Indian dancer who achieved the rare distinction of being
the first Indian to perform in two plays of Shakespeare and in a ballet
by famed German choreographer Pina Baush.
Blessed
with rhythm and graceful movement, Paris-based Shantala Shivalingppa
stole the limelight in Pina Baush's new ballet titled 'O Dido' staged
recently at theatre De La Ville in Paris. Shantala's admirable performance
in the multi national choreographic outfit won accolades from the
French art critics, who were unanimous in their praise for the young
dancer.
|
3
NOVEMBER: AMERICAN-INDIAN CEOs
BOOK ON NYT BESTSELLER LIST
|
An Indian
American software business executive's book has been ranked sixth
on the New York Times business bestseller's list for showing companies
how to use real-time information to respond instantly to new opportunities
and business strategies.
TIBCO Software
Inc Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vivek Ranadive's The
Power of Now: How Winning Companies Sense and Respond to Change Using
Real-Time Technology, provides a model in which corporations develop
and deliver superior goods and services for their customers through
a continual dialogue with them.
Vivek Ranadive
set up TIBCO Software Inc in the 1980s. He is credited with pioneering
real-time software technologies that brought Wall Street into the
digital era.
|
5
NOVEMBER: WEB SITE
FOR INDIAN DIASPORA
|
The Indian
government launched the first official portal on the Indian Diaspora
as part of its efforts to reach out to the vast number of overseas
Indians and tap their potential to contribute to the country's growth.
Called www.Indiandiaspora.nic.in, it is projected as the first official
interface between the government and the estimated 20-million odd
people of Indian origin living abroad. The portal will be hosted by
the National Informatics Centre and linked to the Ministry of External
Affairs.
|
26
NOVEMBER: 'ASIAN
OF THE
YEAR' AWARD FOR AN INDIAN
|
The President
of the Liberal Democrats, Lord Navnit Dholakia, first Asian to head
a major British political party, was declared the Asian of the Year
2000.
Charles
Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, who was the chief guest,
said that the presence of so many Asian peers and MPs in the two Houses
of parliament symbolised the integration of the community and the
role they play in British society and politics.
|
5
DECEMBER: US
INDIAN HONOURED
|
US President
Bill Clinton named an Indian as a trustee of the prestigious Christopher
Colombus Fellowship Foundation.
The individual,
Arun Bhumitra, is the founder and CEO of Arjay Telecom, is a mechanical
engineering graduate from Nagpur University and an MBA from Dowling
College in New York.
Board of
trustees award fellowships of 100,000 dollars to outstanding individuals.
|
6
DECEMBER: US INDIAN WOMAN
BECOMES PRESIDENT OF PEPSICO INC.
|
Indra Nooyi,
Corporate America's highest ranking Indian woman executive was named
President of Pepsico Inc; in addition to her current job as chief
financial officer following her widely-acclaimed role in restoring
the fortunes of one of the world's premier brands. The
Chennai-born
Nooyi, 44, joined Pepsico as chief strategist only six years back
and has been involved in every major strategic decision the company
has made in the last few years.
|
7
DECEMBER: INDIAN
AMERICAN ON ATESTO BOARD
|
An Indian
American Professor at Stanford University, Rajeev Motwani, who also
doubles as a leading authority on Internet technologies was appointed
to the board of directors of Atesto Technologies, an automated Web-testing
service.
|
8
DECEMBER: INDIAN ARTWORKS
FETCH A RECORD PRICE IN NEW YORK
|
The Sothebys
auctioned off works of art by top league Indian artists, which fetched
a whopping Rs 6.36 crore in New York. Works for the auction were drawn
from the collection of the Chester and Davida Herwitz Charitable Trust.
MF Husain's works alone fetched 2.47 core while Raza's fetched a cool
Rs Rs 1.95 crore. Tyeb Mehta's works were auctioned for Rs 1.10 crore
and the rest were auctioned for Rs 1.84 crore.
|
12
DECEMBER: CLINTON HONOURS
INDIAN AMERICAN CARDIOLOGIST
|
US President
Bill Clinton lauded Kerala-born cardiologist Zachariah P Zachariah
and five other honourees of the 2000 Ellis Island American Legends
Awards, saying, "Each of you in different ways has made a contribution
that is distinct to the progress of our nation."
Zachariah
was the only Asian American among the six honourees and only the second
physician, after the famous Dr Michael E DeBakey, to receive the Ellis
Island American Legends Award, which is sponsored and held under the
aegis of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organisations.
|
14
DECEMBER: 2 US INDIANS
GET RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS
|
Two Indian
Americans are among 32 college and university students from the United
States who were selected for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship for
the year 2001.
The Indian
American scholars were Lipika Goyal' of Scotch Plains, New Jersey,
and Raju Raval' of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
A Rhodes
Scholarship provides for two-three years of study at the University
of Oxford in Britain.
|
15
DECEMBER: INDO-CANADIAN
SCRIBE WINS CIVILIAN AWARD
|
An Indo-Canadian
journalist, Haroon Siddiqui, won Ontario's highest civilian award
- the Order of Ontario - for his outstanding contributions in various
fields.
Haroon
Siddiqui, Editorial Page Editor (Emeritus) of The Toronto Star, received
the award from Ontario Lt. Governor Hillary Weston at a formal investiture
ceremony this week at Queen's Park, the seat of the Ontario government.
|
20
DECEMBER: 100
PER CENT SCORED
BY AN INDIAN STUDENT IN AUSTRALIA
|
For this
young Indian student, a perfect score in the university examinations
catapulted both him and his Australian College to fame.
'Rominder
Grover', a student at Canberra's Narrabundah College, became the first
to score 100 percent marks in the university entrance examinations.
He is the
first to reach this mark since the current grading system was introduced
nine yeas ago. Grover's score was made up of the highest possible
results in the four subjects that combined to make his final marks.
|
21
DECEMBER: AMITABH WAXES
ELOQUENT IN LONDON MUSEUM
|
Amitabh
Bachchan became the latest Indian to be immortalized at Madam Tussaud's
wax London Museum.
He could
not restrain himself from saying -" wonderful "- as he unveiled his
wax figure in the Garden Party areas of London Museum. His wax figure
was dressed in a buttoned-up black Jodhpuri jacket (bandgale coat),
matching trousers, black shirt and a pair of black slip-ons, a colourful
embroidered silk shawl wrapped around his shoulder and falling on
his right arm giving it a stunning aura.
|
22
DECEMBER: SATVEER CHOUDHRY
FIRST INDIAN SENATOR IN US
|
31 year
old Satveer Choudhry was elected as DLF Candidate for State Senate
on 17th July 2000, defeating the Republic opponent Dan Coughlin.
Satveer
Choudhry's parents migrated to USA in 1960s. He was in Colombia Heights
High School and did his B. A. from St. Olaf College.
He studied
British & American Foreign policy at Oxford University and worked
as Foreign Policy aide for US Senator Adward M. Canady. He is the
cofounder of Minnesota Asian Indian Democratic Association.
|
25
DECEMBER: FIRST
WOMEN
FOREIGN SECRETARY CHOKILA IYER
APPOINTED AS US AMBASSADOR
|
Chokila
Iyer, India's Ambassador to Ireland, was appointed as the new Foreign
Secretary, the first woman to occupy the coveted post.
A 1964 batch
Indian Foreign Service Officer, Chokila served in Mexico before her
stint in Dublin.
|
25
DECEMBER: KAIFI
AZMI READS
POETRY FOR US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
|
Eminent
Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi joined the company of renowned world literary
figures by recording his poetry in his own voice for the United States
Library of Congress (USLOC) in Washington. The recording was held
at the American Centre in New Delhi in the presence of an audience.
The project to record South Asian writers' reading from their works
was launched last April by US Ambassador Richard Celeste.
Among the
writers already recorded are Nirmal Verma, Arundhati Roy, Upamanyu
Chatterjee, Khushwant Singh, K Satchidandan and K Ashokmithran.
|
26
DECEMBER: INDO-CANADIAN
HOTELIER BAGS COVETED AWARD
|
An Canadian
hotelier of Indian origin, Steve Gupta, won Canada's most coveted
hotel and food industry award - The Pinnacle - for his contributions
to its development and promotion over the last 27 years.
He was
presented the award at a formal luncheon at the Royal York Hotel,
Toronto's oldest hotel, in the presence of prominent personalities
of the Canadian hotel industry.
|
27
DECEMBER: INDIAN
AMERICANS TO
PROVIDE MICRO CREDIT TO THE NEEDY
|
A group
of Indian American business professionals looked into the possibility
of expanding the umbrella of micro credit services to enrich the lives
of needy people back home. The project known as 'MicrocreditIndia.org'
was developed in Chicago by a group of about 20 people.
The project
includes Sabeer Bhatia and Robert Chatwani, two senior executives
of software firm, MonkeyBin.
|
27
DECEMBER: NEW
YORK
AWARD FOR AN INDIAN AUTHOR
|
Prof. Srinivas
Aravamudan of the University of Washington was awarded The Modern
Language Association of America's seventh annual prize for his first
book, Tropicopolitans : Colonialism and Agency, 1688-1804, published
by Duke University Press.
Prof. Aravamudan
received $ 1,000 and a certificate.
