FCC’s Ajit Pai conferred with Zee Entertainment National Leadership Award

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WASHINGTON, DC

Zee Entertainment launched an annual program here to identify and honor individuals and organizations who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the media and entertainment sector.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was conferred with the inaugural “Zee Entertainment National Leadership Award” at a special event on Capitol Hill this past week.

Pai is the first Indian American to lead the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US. Zee Entertainment is the biggest multicultural programmer in the United States with 35 networks in 14 languages.

Amit Goenka, CEO, International Broadcast Business, Zee Entertainment, said, “The selection of our inaugural honoree was not a difficult choice as he demonstrated a great commitment to promoting and protecting consumer interests particularly in our case in the areas of healthy living, wellness, news and entertainment.”

The exclusive, by invite-only event saw more than 200 people in attendance from Washington DC’s power corridors, which included nearly 25 congressmen and other notable dignitaries.

The 44-year old Republican attorney Pai came across as very affable, conscious of his humble beginnings and deeply appreciative of his meteoric rise to the top of the federal agency.

At the event, Pai acknowledged Dr. Subhash Chandra’s incredible achievement in creating a company like Zee, quite literally from nothing into the multimedia conglomerate that entertains about a billion people worldwide, despite the many roadblocks.

Zee pioneered and changed the way people had access to content from India accessible to the Indian diaspora across the world 20 years ago.

In continuation with Zee’s ethos, “Vasudhaiya Kutumbakam” (The World is my Family), Zee speaks not only to the Indians here but also to millions of Americans via Z Living which is a Health and Wellness network.

It is America’s fastest growing network and stands firm behind its mantra “Prevention is better than cure”.

Zee also speaks to the millions of Latino audiences in the country through its unique Bollywood in Spanish channel – Zee Mundo.

An extension to this core belief in health and wellness, Zee has a one-of-its-kind Natural Wellness Center, YO1 which stands for yoga and oneness. The idea behind this wellness center which is spread over 1300 acres in upstate New York is to focus on bringing mind, body and soul as one.

Along with entertainment, Zee strongly believes in giving back to the community with its initiatives like Sarthi, ZEE is Green, Ekal Vidyalaya and the DSC foundation.

The Zee is Green initiative was conferred a special excellence award at IAA Olive Crown Awards 2016 for its leadership in various environmental projects. Also, Ekal Vidyalaya popularly known as ‘A People’s Movement’ has been educating 1.5 million students across 54,000 free schools in India.

Since Zee Entertainment has become synonymous with the Indian culture and Indians globally, it was a natural choice for the Republican Party to engage and partner with Zee Network to engage the Indian diaspora during the Trump presidential campaign.

Zee not only effectively planned and executed a 360 degree campaign, but it also coined the winning phrase; Ab ki Baar Trump Sarkar (This time, A Trump Government).

The Republicans were smart enough to understand Indian Americans’ influence on the larger canvas, said Sameer Targe.

Efforts included a Bollywood gala in New Jersey which had Donald Trump as the keynote speaker and Zee’s own SRGMP singers who were the real crowd pullers.