Association of Indians In America swears in National Executive Committee, outlines future objectives

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Gobind Munjal, the National President of The Association of Indians in America (AIA), was sworn-in once again for the 2^nd term 2024 & 2025 along with his National Executive Committee in an inauguration ceremony held at Metropolitan Caterers in Glen Cove, Long Island on Saturday March 16, 2024. Since AIA is a national organization, its out-of-state members attended the ceremony via zoom, a press release from organizers said. Close to 100 people attended in person.

Considered the oldest organization of Indian immigrants, the AIA was founded on August 20, 1967.

The chief guest at the swearing-in was India’s Consul General Binaya Srikant Pradhan. Attendees included AIA founding members, board of Trustees, AIA National Past Presidents, chapter Presidents, community leaders, AIA members, and friends.

In his speech, Consul General Pradhan praised AIA for all that it has done for the community during its 56 years of history and  also suggested AIA could work on supporting the students coming from India to study, with internships and/or jobs. He  pledged to work with AIA for outreach to the community.

Consul General Pradhan administered the oath to President Munjal, and Vice Presidents Uma Swaminathan (NJ), Sushma Kotahwala (NY), Dr. Yash Pal Arya (NY), Santosh Pandey (IL), Secretary Gunjan Rastogi (NY) and Treasurer Gobind Bathija (NY). He also administered the oath to the members at large from all the states, namely Anita Thakkar (NY), Aridaman Jain (NJ), Beena Kothari (NY), Indu Gajwani (NY), Jasbir Singh (NY), Manoranjan Mishra (IL), Mohinder Taneja (NY). Neelam Modi (NY), OM Dhirgra (IL), Prem Mehrotra (IL), Rajeev Chaudhary(NY), Ram Tirumala (NJ), Ramola Motwani (FL), Salil Misra (IL), Santosh Khera (CA), Satish Anand (NY), Sharmistha Dutta (FL), Shashi Malik (NY), Sujata Seth (NY), Uma Eniasivam (FL), Usha Bansal (NY), Vijay Sharma (WI).

Munjal welcomed everyone and shared some of the National Executive Committee’s achievements during his first term. These included:

o Honor Banquet and Celebration of 75th Anniversary of India’s Independence on May 6th, 2023 – attended by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer & NYC Mayor Eric Adams.

o Restarting AIA National Newsletter (“BETWEEN US”) after a gap of about 20 years

o Initiating Investment Advisory Committee to invest life membership funds for income and long-term growth,

o Amending Bylaws of National AIA in 2023 after 30 years of gap.

o Energizing young members and making them life members

o Energizing and improving communications between the chapters

The AIA would work as a unified team to pursue the organization’s moto of “Indian Heritage and American Commitment,” Munjal said.

“We are here to serve the community needs. As we continue to direct our help to the people in India, our homeland, we should equally remain committed to the community right here in the United States, our adopted country. We hope to work towards increasing that commitment,” Munjal said.

As the demographic profile of the Indian American community has changed in past 5 decades since the founding of AIA, so have their needs. “We remain committed to understanding the changing requirements of the community, and then will develop programs to help both – the Youth and the Elderly. NEC pledges support to all the Chapter Presidents and its members, so they all can build and expand on these programs across the nation. This way together, we can make the next two years most productive,” Munjal said.

He talked of the efforts directed at the Immigration bill, to reduce the time delay for Indian citizens to get the green card as well as H1 B visas. “AIA (NEC) is joining GOPIO International and rallying some other organizations to join us in this initiative. Today it takes almost 15 to 20 years for an Indian citizen to get a green card, whereas some other nationalities get a green card in 1 year. We all are planning to go to Washington DC sometime in the end of April 2024 to meet the congressional leaders requesting them to support this bill,” Munjal said.

All AIA leadership extended their good wishes and support. The program concluded with a traditional vote of thanks by the secretary.