Federation of Indian Associations Holds Annual Meeting, Announces 2021 Executive Committee

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The Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut held its annual general body meeting on Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020, according to a press release from the organization.  

The was attended by representatives of over 57 member organizations, community leaders and board of directors and trustees via video conferencing.

Board member and General Secretary, Jayesh Patel welcomed all the member organizations and participants. Board member Chandrakant Trivedi paid a tribute on behalf of the FIA fraternity to FIA veteran and a community leader, Michael Phulwani, who passed away on Dec. 26^, 2020.

FIA President Anil Bansal applauded the team for successfully “hosting the first ever Indian tri-color flag hoisting ceremony at Times Square” on Aug. 15, 2020 to commemorate India’s Independence Day.

According to the press release, the FIA community newsletter started from 2,300 subscribers has now surpassed the reach of over 58,000 community members. Bansal expressed his confidence in the ambitious goal of the e-newsletter to cross over a hundred thousand subscribers by the end of 2021.

Current Board Member and advisor to the Chairman, Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh addressed the gathering. He commended the efforts of the president and the executive team while paying his respects to late Phulwani.  He credited the progress of the organization under such challenging times to the vision of its late Chairman Ramesh Patel and to the current Chairman Ankur Vaidya.

Parveen Bansal, General Secretary, 2020 Executive Committee, presented his annual report, summarizing the over 20 events and activities FIA conducted during the calendar year. A tribute to FIA’s late Ramesh Patel was also cited in the report.

Membership Committee Chair and past resident Alok Kumar provided an update on all the new organizations that have been added in August under the FIA umbrella.

Election committee chair Jayesh Patel along with Vice Chairman of the Board Bipin Patel and board member Srujal Parikh announced the 2021 president and the executive committee.

The 2021 executive committee consists of Anil Bansal continuing as the president, Himan Bhatia continuing as executive vice president, Saurin Parikh contonuing as the vice president, Haresh Shah as the second vice president, Parveen Bansal continuing as general secretary, Smita Miki Patel as the Jt. Secretary, Amit Ringasia continuing as the Treasurer and Mahesh Dubal as the Jt. Treasurer.

Chairman Ankur Vaidya mentioned the requests FIA has been receiving from community organizations outside of the tristate area for inclusion in FIA under its umbrella and that board is performing an in-depth review to assess these inclusions. He thanked the board of trustees and the member organizations for their participation and support.

The FIA-Tristate is one of the oldest and largest non-profit grassroots umbrella organizations comprising diversified Indian Associations in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and soon expanding into few more North East States in the U.S.