|
TAMIL
|
US
|
KARTHICK RAMAKRISHNAN says Indian Americans identify more strongly with the Democratic Party than any other Asian American ethnic group in the US.
The associate professor of political science at the University of California, Riverside, says over 60 per cent of Indian Americans solidly backed Barack Obama, while only 14 per cent backed Republican
Jo hn McCain.
The Coimbatore-born professor is one of the authors of the National Asian American Survey, which has been described as the most comprehensive survey of Asian-American political views ever, with 4,394 people surveyed.
On Indians, Ramakrishnan says, “They have a higher rate of voter participation than many other Asian groups, but the same advantage does not extend to other forms of political participation.”
Higher voter participation is likely due to three main factors: a) South Asians tend to have higher incomes than other groups, b) they have the highest levels of English proficiency, and c) they have stronger party identification than other Asian groups.
Still, their participation is lower than the national average, with lower party attachments and lack of voter mobilisation being an important factor. On Indians and the Democratic Party, Ramakrishnan said: Their identification with the Democratic Party is second only to Japanese Americans. Still, one half are either independent or non-dartisan—don't think of themselves in terms of party labels.
This latter finding is due mostly to two factors: a) first-generation immigrants often take a long time to develop party attachments, and that cause is not helped by the fact that presidential campaigns do little to mobilize Asian American voters, most of whom live in "safe states", and b) many second-generation youth are still grappling with their political identities.
|
|
KANNADIGA
|
|
US
|
FAROOK SAIT, special counsel to the assistant secretary for civil rights, the US Department of Agriculture, is to receive the CAPAL Excellence Award, along with Chiling Tong, associate director of the Minority Business Development Agency, US Department of Commerce.
CAPAL is a charitable education organisation founded in 1989 by Asian Pacific American professionals as a non profit, non partisan education organisation. Its mission is to promote Asian Pacific Americans' interests and success in public sector careers, to provide information and education on policy issues affecting the community and to serve the community at large.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SINDHI
|
UK
|
AJIT LALVANI was presented with the Royal College of Physicians Weber-Parkes Trust Medal at the annual Harveian Oration. Son of the founder chairman of Britain's largest Vitamin production company 'VItabiotics' professor Lalvani is the chair of Infectious Diseases and Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Imperial College, London. At the Imperial College he developed a promising pipeline of new innovations to improve global TB control and is credited as one of the physician-scientists who took his research findings into clinical practice and public health policies and became a Clinical Lecturer in medicine at Oxford University in 1997 when he founded the Tuberculosis Immunology Group.
|
Australia
|
WITH PLASTIC garbage becoming the bane of modern societies, an Indian Australian scientist says 100 percent biodegradable bioplastics is the only way to go. As the chief technology officer of Melbourne-based Plantic Technologies Limited, Kishan Khemani manufactures starch-based polymers for packaging and other applications. The novel technology is based on the use of high-amylose corn starch, a material derived from annual harvesting of specialised non-genetically modified (hybrid) corn. "We provide bio-responsible material solutions for the world market that deliver all the functionality of conventional petrochemically derived plastics in an economical, totally organic and eco-sensitive way," says Khemani.
|
|
BENGALI
|
|
US
|
ANJAN MUKHERJEE, a management expert, has been roped in by US President-elect Barack Obama into his transition team, the fourth person
 from the community to be part of the 15-member high-profile group.
Mukherjee, a managing director of Corporate Private Equity group at Blackstone, has been appointed as one of the team leads in Economics and International Trade.
Mukherjee has been involved in the execution of a number of investments in a wide range of industries.
He has received a BA from Harvard University where he graduated magna cum laude as a Harry S Truman Scholar and an MBA from Harvard Business school.
Before joining Blackstone, he worked with Thomas H Lee Company and Morgan Stanley & Co. He has also worked at the Department of Education (in the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) as well as the Brookings Institution.
Obama will take over as the 44th president of the US on January 20, 2009.
The Indian-American community overwhelmingly supported Obama in elections.
|
|
