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Indian-American group plans to raise $5 mn for Hillary |
Confident of topping the list of fund-raisers among ethnic groups, an Indian-American grouping has aimed to raise at least $5 million for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Having already raised a sum around $1 million, Indian Americans For Hillary 2008 (IAFH), which mainly consists of community leaders, prominent businesspersons, physicians and investment bankers, is confident of surpassing its target. As part of the efforts, it plans to hold a major fund raiser on June 24.
Announcing the fund-raiser, leading hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, the founder of the organisation said more than 1,000 guests, including steel baron Lakshmi Mittal and leading NRI businessman S.P. Hindujas, were expected to attend the fundraiser dinner.
Lauding Hillary, Chatwal said, “She is the only candidate who has continuously supported India, contributed to improvement of Indo-US relations and championed the causes of the Indian-American community.”
Both former President Bill Clinton and Hillary have a special place for India in their hearts, he said. He also referred to the contribution the former US President had made to the relief efforts after the devastating earthquake in Gujarat.
Urging the Indian-American community for a “payback”, Chatwal added, “If there was ever a time for our community to mobilise, it is now. If there was ever a candidate whom we should support, the candidate is Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
“I have witnessed first-hand her initiatives and her efforts for our community,” he told the leading community leaders who attended the function.
Chatwal also cited Hillary’s support to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and her frequent visits to India as examples of her “unwavering loyalty and dedication” to Indians nationwide and globally.
IAHF also plans another event in August, which, it said is likely to be attended by Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek and Aishwarya
Rai.
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Indian professor recreates flight of the Argentavis
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Professor Sankar Chatterjee and colleagues Jack Templin and Kenneth Campbell of the Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, US, have recreated the flight plan of the enormous Argentine bird that flew the skies over the grassy pampas some six million years ago.
Using software written for helicopters, the team analysed the aerodynamics of the giant bird that, with a seven metre wingspan was the size of today’s Cessna 152 aircraft, and had a 20 inch skull and eagle like beak. The bird was of the extinct Teratornithidae predatory group of birds related to storks and vultures. The remarkable aerodynamics of the massive Argentavis has been under study for over two decades.
Professor Chatterjee, a graduate of Kolkata’s Jadavpur University and his team’s finds indicate the bird was a lazy glider that relied on updrafts in the Andes or thermals on the pampas to provide sufficient lifting power. It was a glider with a turning radius of 100 feet, enough to circle round in search of prey on the pampas. The bird used some techniques used by today’s hang glider pilots such as taking off on slopes or receiving thrust from a headwind.
Chatterjee, also a Fellow of London University, said finding the aerodynamics of the aggressive bird was like a tale from the Arabian Nights.
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NRIs create device to help disabled people
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Engineers Ravi Vaidyanathan and Lalit Gupta of Southern Illinois University in the US have created a device that detects ear pressure changes to determine the movement of a person’s tongue.
Tests were carried out asking subjects to perform four basic tongue movements. While making these movements they wore a custom earplug with a microphone pointing into the ear. The microphone picks up subtle pressure changes in the ear caused by the tongue and each movement creates a distinctive signal that can be mapped to a computer command or a wheelchair control.
Think-A-Move, a US company, plans to release a wheelchair that uses the device which will be primarily aimed at quadriplegics who currently use steering devices that go inside the mouth and are operated by sucking and blowing or controlled movement of the tongue.
The new system avoids the hygiene and irritation problems caused and leaves the mouth free for talking. The system is said to possibly significantly improve the quality of life for quadriplegic users.
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US no big attraction for Indian IT professionals anymore
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Tech workers from India go to the US on the H-1B visa, which is valid for three years and extendable. During that time the visa holder can apply for a green card which gives a person permanent residence in the US. In recent times, however, more and more Indians have not applied for ‘green cards’ saying it’s too difficult. Also, with with India’s economy booming, prospects are just as good or even better.
Two US senators have stated that Indian IT companies are misusing the H-1B visas to cut costs by rotating their workers, an example quoted being that of Wipro with 19,450 visa holders of which just 69 have applied for green cards. Oddly enough the demand for more H-1B visas will continue because there is a dearth of Americans who are equipped and inclined for the jobs available in information technology. In 2005 as many as 60,000 visa holders returned to India.
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NRI wins award at International Congress in France
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Himanshu Jain, director of the International Materials Institute for New Functionalities in Glass at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania was chosen to receive the Otto Schott Research Award at the International Congress on Glass in Strasbourg, France. The biennial award carries a cash prize of $34,055. Professor Jain shares the award with Walter Kob of the University of Montpellier in France.
The Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Science in Germany that administers the award, noted that Jain’s research into unique light-induced phenoma in glass, his studies of the corrosion of glass in nuclear environments and his work with sensors, infrared optics, waveguides, photolithography, nanolithography and other photonic applications of glass were of critical importance.
Jain was inspired by the jellyfish he saw when taking a boat ride to the Isle of Skye off Scotland, noticing that the invertebrates did not swim but wiggled as they drifted in the water.
He proposed that a group of atoms sat in one place but wiggled like jellyfish, and coined the term ‘jellyfish fluctuations of atoms in solids’.
His model has been validated in computer simulations and has significant applications to cell phones, satellites and devices that contain glass and rely on microwave frequencies. Jain has worked with engineers and scientists in Germany, France, the Czech Republic, India, Ukraine, Japan, Greece, Portugal, Egypt, China, the UK and the US.
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| Two NRIs in list of most influential in British media industry |
Arun Sarin, Vodafone Chief Executive and Zarin Patel, Group Finance Director of the BBC are in the top 100 list of people who wield the most power in the British media industry.
Sarin 52, and Patel 49, are in the company of Eric Schmidt CEO of Google who leads the list followed by Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation and Richard Branson, founder of VIrgin.
Sarin, who heads Europe’s largest mobile phone company, has done some mega content deals that are going to impact the mobile phone industry.
Patel, who is in charge of the £4 billion purse of the BBC, will be significant in the progress of the Corporation, following a shake up of the Beeb last year.
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