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Indian youth should enter politics: Tamil actor |
Noted Tamil film actor-turned-politician Sarath Kumar believes that young people in India should increasingly enter politics and try to make a difference rather than just complaining about the nation’s ills.
“They (students) complain about corruption... Why don’t they correct it by taking things into their hands?” Sarath Kumar complained. He was chief guest at the annual convention of the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America.
His wife Radhikaa, a veteran actress, television producer, and CEO of Radaan Mediaworks, was the other chief guest at the three-day meeting.
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Indian movie sets US box office record |
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Never Say Goodbye), a new Bollywood film shot in New York city, has set a box office record for a Hindi film in North America with a collection of $1.4 million in the opening weekend.
The previous record for a Bollywood opening was $1 million for 2001’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, which like Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was directed by Karan Johar.
With $21,122 average collection from 64 locations Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna scored the best per-theatre average of any film in the Top 40, boxofficeguru.com said in its weekly box office report.
The three-hour-plus extravaganza, relating the tale of two soulmates, married to other people, was given the widest release ever for a Bollywood film in North America opening across 95 screens in 64 theatre locations.
The previous record was 88 screens for 2004’s Veer-Zaara.
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NRI remittances increase as interest rates increase
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With the increase in interest rates on NRI deposits and states competing with each other, the government is expecting a jump in NRI remittances and investment in infrastructure sector which requires $150 billion in the next few years. NRI remittances having crossed $23 billion, against $21.7 billion last year, the government has urged the state governments to take specific measures to attract NRI investment in priority areas, especially the infrastructure sector.
According to the Finance Ministry, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, along with Punjab have succeeded to a great extent in attracting NRI investments. Out of the $23 billion that comes into India, an estimated $8-9 billion comes from the US, and $5 billion from the Gulf.
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US senator in racial slur row |
A leading US Senator is in trouble for using a pejorative term to refer to an Indian American. Republican George Allen, otherwise counted among the friends of India on Capitol Hill, is at the receiving end after repeatedly using the word “macaca” (a genus of monkey) for the Indian youth working for Democratic challenger Jim Webb in the upcoming Congressional elections.
After being slammed by Indian American organisations, Democrats and a Washington Post editorial, Allen has now tendered an apology even while insisting he had no idea that “macaca” meant a monkey and a term viewed as a racial slur.
The Virginia Senator was on a campaign trail when he singled out 20-year-old Indian student, S.R. Sidarth, who was videotaping Allen for his opponent.
“The fellow over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca or whatever his name is, he’s with my opponent. Let’s give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia,” Allen remarked, prompting his supporters to break into laughter.
All that was captured in Sidarth’s video camera. Soon Sidarth was on various TV channels and Allen in damage control mode.
Several Indian bodies jumped in. “It is unacceptable that Senator Allen used a racial slur to refer to a 20-year-old Virginian of Indian descent,” said Indian American Leadership Initiative’s president Jay
Chaudhuri. |
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Indian American to head new bank in Michigan |
A new bank to be launched in Michigan State in December will have an Indian American as its head. The City Central Bank, to come up at Novi, a small township in the state’s Oakland County, is a result of the efforts of Satish Jasti and a group of 20 investors, 19 of them South Asians.
The Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Services and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp recently gave their approval to Jasti and his group to organise a new Michigan state bank. “There is no South Asian Indian-owned bank in Michigan,” Jasti, its proposed president and chief executive officer, told the Indus Business Journal, an ethnic newspaper. “We have the advantage of being first in the market.”
Jasti, 47, who came to the Detroit area of Michigan from India in 1975, has 22 years of banking experience. Holder of a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Wayne State University and an MBA from the University of Chicago, he began his banking career with the Federal Reserve in Detroit.
He later worked in the National Bank of Detroit, Standard Federal Bank and then the Key Bank in Birmingham, also in Oakland County. He left the last job to start his Novi venture.
By targeting specialised groups, Jasti hopes to insulate it from Michigan’s sluggish economy, the Novi Times reported. The bank plans to offer loans up to $1.5 million. |
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