Judges exercise complete independence in grading the applicants and have generally not been part of the organizing committee. We have recruited judges from parents of past winners, academia, and community leaders. Grading applicants is a gruelling task, so, at times, we have not been able to get required number of judges from known sources. In case we have faced a shortage of judges, we have taken the help of some members of the organizing committee. We have tried to make our selection criteria as transparent as we can.

If one of the objectives has been to force-teach applicants to learn about India and the struggle and contributions of Indian community in USA, why have the scholarships been limited to Indians only. Why has it not been opened to all students who would learn about India and Indian community history in USA?

The awards are not need based, so a criterion has been developed to select the top Indian American students for the awards. In addition to grading applicants for academic achievements, we also included a test for applicants’ knowledge about India and Indian Americans for which material is supplied in advance.