Indians in America appear to be a confident and secure lot. Overall, there is greater prosperity, and better education among Indian immigrants. Indian-born adults are part of a vibrant work force. A spotlight report released by the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute in June has come up with exhaustive details. Some of the major findings say that nearly three quarters of Indian born adults are equipped with a bachelor’s degree or higher, making them better educated than adults in other immigrant communities. About one-quarter of Indian-born men in the labour force work in the information technology industry while one-third of employed Indian-born women work in management, business, finance and IT. The report says that the Indian immigrant population is less likely to live in poverty than natives, and as likely to own their own homes as other immigrants. We thought of putting this spotlight study on our cover.

On the subject of immigrants, a tricky, politically-loaded, and polarizing question on immigrants may well have cost Morgan Elizabeth Woolard the Miss USA title. Tipped to win the title at Las Vegas in May, she ended runner-up to the first ever Arab-American winner of the widely-viewed contest. Woolard had to field a dodgy question on Arizona’s new law against illegal immigrants, a subject that would be of concern and interest to all immigrants. Whether Oscar Nunez’s question was in order at a beauty pageant is quite debatable. It certainly became the subject matter of much discussions on radio and TV channels across America. Woolard had really no choice but to come up with an answer, and that may have just edged her out of the title. As she was to tell an American television station later, it was situation where you were “doomed if you do, and doomed if you don’t…” Picking up from the controversy, we did an interview with Woolard. 
Crimes by overseas Indians seem to be on the up, some of them are by highly educated men and women. A number of the offenders have received convictions for acts ranging from multi-million dollar healthcare frauds to economic violations to hiring killers. Worryingly, many of those found guilty are in their late 50s or early 60s. Some other Indians have been at the receiving end as well of crimes by locals.

A survey on Indian bureaucracy by two Middle-East based professors also throws up interesting observations on what has traditionally been known as the Steel Frame, and attracted some of the finest talents in the country. Looks like the bureaucracy is often far too politicized for the good of India, and needs to be insulated from being used for political gains. Can it ever be?

There are a range of other stories featuring tourism, archaeology, books, meditation, a Temple in Malaysia, illegal Bangladeshis in India, and a young organization called GYIPS.

Hope you enjoy the read.