IAFPE Completes 20 years of Political Activism
[Reported by N.C. Srirekha, India Post News Service, New York - Nov. 1, 2002]
The Indian American Forum for Political Education (IAFPE) completes 20 meaningful years of striving for creating political awareness among Indian Americans, in December this year.
The milestone will be celebrated at a gala convention to be held at the Royal Albert Palace Centre in New Jersey on December 7, which is expected to be attended by over 500 members and other invited dignitaries.
"We have come a long way since 1982 when we started the Forum with the basic agenda of tacking domestic issues of the community and to foster Indo-US relations," said Dr. Sudhir Parikh who will be taking over as President of the Forum from Virginia-based Dr. Lalit Agarwal. "With 22 chapters across the country, we have successfully found recognition on Capitol Hill as the only serious minded organization with a clear agenda".
Proof of IAFPE's credibility is the large participation of Congressmen and Senators at its annual spring Congressional luncheon where issue concerning the Indian American Community and Indo-US relations are discussed. Significantly, the Republicans as well as the Democrats recognize the IAFPE.
"Domestic issues were in focus when we first started the forum with a group of doctors, "said Dr. Ved Chaudhary, co-convener of the forthcoming convention. "At that time we were talking about discrimination, immigration problems, issues concerning the medical profession and entrepreneurs."
It was the active involvement of the IAFPE in the campaign against he notorious "Dot Busters" in New Jersey in the late 1980s that finally brought about the Hate Crime Bill to be passed in 1992.
The IAFPE was instrumental in pioneering internships for Indian-American youth on Capitol Hill, which has resulted in over 200 second generation Indians in the US successfully serving internships in various Congressional and Senatorial office, including one in the office of the Chief of Staff of the Vice President
IAFPE also takes credit for being instrumental, along with the US-India Business Council, for President Bill Clinton's visit to India two years ago. Having established their strong presence in this country, the IAFPE is working towards getting the second generation Indians involved in taking their agenda forward. "The Indian American Community is highly educated and financially well positioned," said Dr. Chaudhary. "We therefore want that the second generation Indians should get more active in the political and civic process of this country."
Dr. Parikh, who is also the chairman of the coordination committee of the convention, informed that the theme for the convention is: Empowering the next Generation. The sessions involve four different panel discussions on different subject, the first being the convention theme; US-India Relations; Domestic Issues; and lastly Empowering Indian American Women.
Speakers on the various subjects range from South Asia political expert Stephen Cohen, Boston-based Dr. Dinesh Patel among others.
City NRI to join Clinton delegation's visit to India
Dr Sudhir Parikh, an NRI who hails from Ahmedabad has been invited to join the delegation accompanying President Bill Clinton on his visit to India from March 20 to March.
The delegation will participate in all major events along with the President’s team in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
Dr Parikh is consulting Allergy specialist in asthma and immunology, trustee of the American Association of the Physicians of Indian Origin, and executive vice president of the Political Forum.
Along with Dr Parikh, there are 15 other prominent NRI’s joining the delegation.
Major business events include a dinner hosted by the finance minister Mr Yaswant Sinha, along with US secretary of commerce William Daley and other distinguished guests.
In Hyderabad, Dr Parikh and the delegation will participate in the inauguration of CII Green Business Centre by President Clinton, and in Mumbai, a breakfast dialogue on Indo-US trade co-operation with Mr. Clinton sponsored by the Mumbai Young Presidents Organization.
The delegation will be traveling by charter flight from Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai along with the President's team.
City NRI to join Clinton delegation's visit to India
[The Dallas Morning News - March 23, 1997]
Breakfast with the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce Asian Task Force. Lunch with U.S. Rep. Martin Frost (D-Dallas). Another lunch with the Dallas Race Relations Commission. An early-afternoon meeting with the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce executive committee.
"This morning, I had to decide whether to attend the Greater Dallas chamber meeting or stay in bed," Mr. Mago says in his quiet, unassuming voice.
But staying in bed, he admits, isn't much of an option.
The task force is to hear a presentation from the secretary-general of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, which represents more than 1,200 of the largest companies and many countries in the region.
Mr. Mago, one of Dallas' most prominent Asian-American business leaders, wants to be at the meeting - even if it means getting downtown from his Far North Dallas home by 8 a.m.
He wants Dallas to bid for the council's annual meeting in 2001, which would bring some of Asia's most powerful chief executives and political leaders to North Texas.
The economic impact could be in the millions of dollars in new industry to the region, says Mr. Mago, chairman and president of Mago & Associates, a commercial real estate and investment firm.
He plans to attend the economic council's annual meeting in May in the Philippines to make a pitch for Dallas.
He maneuvered his way into the Lions Club, becoming president of the Indian Lions Club. A few years later, he became the first Asian governor of District 2X1 of Lions Club International.
He took the helm of the Asian Chamber after Mr. Hsueh served three terms. Mr. Mago was elected to four consecutive terms, leaving the chamber with a permanent office, a staff and tens of thousands of dollars in the bank.
And he has shattered other barriers, becoming the first Asian-American to be appointed to the Dallas Plan Commission and elected to the executive committee of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Mr. Mago, who serves on 15 Dallas boards, has also helped raise millions of dollars for Dallas Asian organizations. He is revered among many of Dallas' 30,000 East Indians, says longtime friend Sudhir Parikh, chairman of the Asian Chamber.
"I call him a professional beggar for nonprofit causes," Mr. Parikh says. "This guy has a zeal to serve that makes him very unique. I have not seen that kind of zeal in anybody else.".
It's not just in Dallas that Mr. Mago has left a mark. His frequent trips to India to drum up business between the subcontinent and Dallas have earned him the respect of Indian government officials. Besides having personal investments in India. Mago works as a consultant to North Texas business leaders who are interested in making investments for their companies.
"He's playing a very important role as a bridge or link between Dallas and India," says Swashpawan Singh, consul general of India in Houston. "We're very happy with what he has been doing. We need lots of people like him."
