The US-India SME Council honors Chris Van Hollen and Aruna Miller with leadership awards

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Greenbelt, Maryland: During its 20^th anniversary celebrations and the second anniversary of the Incredible Inc 50 (II50) Awards Gala, held on August 10, 2023, at Martin’s Crosswinds, the US-India Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Council honored United States Senator from Maryland, Chris Van Hollen with the 2023 Mahatma Gandhi Global Leadership Peace Award, and the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, Aruna Miller, with the Asian American Trailblazer Award.

Accepting the award, Senator Van Hollen, who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, where his father worked for the US State Department, and attended High School in Kodaikanal, in Tamil Nadu, India, reminisced about his 10^th grade experience. He recounted being tasked with memorizing and delivering a speech in his public speaking class during which he chose Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. According to him, that memorization process helped him understand the “deep influence the impact that Mahatma Gandhi had on the thinking and philosophy of Dr. King, including the whole doctrine of civil disobedience.”

Senator Van Hollen noted, “Those two individuals, Dr. King and Mahatma Gandhi, have deeply influenced my own philosophy and my own thinking. Those principles that were laid out by Mahatma Gandhi of tolerance, of respect for diversity, of respect for pluralism, and different views, and embracing people from different backgrounds and faiths is one that is so important and to our world. And it is certainly important in the United States and important in India.”

He applauded the work of the SME Council in bringing the community together and supporting entrepreneurs focused on small and medium sized businesses, as well as minority and women owned businesses.

CEO of the SME Council, Elisha Pulivarti provided an overview of the Council’s work and the role it has been playing over the last 20 years in uplifting the cause of small, medium, and women owned enterprises in Maryland and India. He said SMEs play a vital role and are crucial to the growth of the nation’s economy.

Lieutenant Governor Miller, who received the Asian American Trailblazer Award for her extraordinary leadership in empowering and inspiring future generations of women talked about Trailblazers in Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) descent like Daleep Singh Saund, and Kumar Barve and their extraordinary achievements.

Miller pointed out that Saund helped pass the Luce-Cellar Act in 1946 in the US Congress that enabled the path to naturalization rights for Indian immigrants for the first time. After becoming a US Citizen, Saund got elected to the US Congress from California’s 29^th district in 1956. As such, he became the first AAPI member and an Indian-American lawmaker.

Referring to another trailblazer, Kumar Barve, Miller said, “Kumar Barve in 1992 not only became the first Indian American to be elected to the Maryland General Assembly, he was [also] the first Indian American ever to be elected to a state legislature in the entire United States of America,” noting Barve helped pave the way for her to serve in her current role.

Miller said Maryland Governor Wes Moore and her have created the most diverse cabinet in Maryland’s history. “In fact, 50 per cent of the Secretaries in our cabinet are people of color, 48 per cent of our Cabinet Secretaries are women, and 100 per cent of our Cabinet Secretaries are folks that are dedicated to the State of Maryland, incredible public servants,” Miller said while noting Maryland has the highest percentage of AAPI Cabinet Secretaries in the entire nation recognizing Maryland Secretary of State, Susan Lee and Maryland Acting Secretary for Higher Education, Sanjay Rai, who were in attendance at the event.

Congratulating all the awardees, Miller praised Senator Van Hollen and said “That award is so fitting to you – to be able to receive the Mahatma Gandhi Global Leadership Award. There is no one I could think of better than you to be receiving the award.”

Comptroller of Maryland, Brooke Lierman, highlighted the initiatives of her office to further the mission of organizations like the SME Council, and to promote immigrant owned businesses in Maryland. “My vision for the Comptroller’s office is to help us, all of us in this room, rebuild a State that is more equitable, more resilient, and more prosperous so that every Marylander can reach their full potential,” Lierman said.

The Government of India has created a beautiful environment for US-India cooperation on several areas, primarily with policies related to startups, said Chairman of the SME Council, Sudhakar Gande. He requested Senator Van Hollen to help enable cooperation not only at big corporate levels but at SMEs as well. “The SMEs of US companies should also have a partnership with SMEs in India, because SMEs accelerate growth in a big way,” Gande added.

Director of Program Management, US Small Business Administration, Ben Raju, former Maryland Deputy Secretary of State, Rajan Natarajan, and Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Social Change, Jesse Singh also spoke on the occasion, where the SME Council recognized 25 SMEs in the United States with II50 awards in addition to acknowledging a few outstanding individuals with special awards.

Washington Bureau Chief of News India Times, T. Vishnudatta Jayaraman, received an “Outstanding Journalist Award” for “Fostering US-India Relations and strengthening the Indian diaspora through responsible, ethical, and objective reporting.”