Sohan Joshi elected as a President at NFIA Chicago Convention

Chicago IL: National Federation of Indian-American Associations NFIA hold its17th Biennial Convention during October 12-14, 2012 at Holiday Inn, 3405 Algonquin Rd, Rolling Meadows, IL. National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA) Invited guests and keynote speakers: Minister of Overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi, Prime Minister of Trinidad Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, Secretary of State Jesse White, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Consul General of India, Mukta Dutta Tomer, Congressmen Danny Davis, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Clerk Dorothy Brown, Past & Present Leaders of NFIA

Program of the convention was, Inauguration: Friday October 12, 2012 6:30PM followed by Cultural Program and Dinner. Saturday October 13, 2012 9:00AM to 5:00PM Conferences. 7:00PM-11PM Public Meeting, Entertainment program, Award Ceremony, Grand Gala Banquet. Sunday 9AM-12:30PM General Body meeting, Lunch. Convention theme was ‘Unity/Empowerment of Youth and Women’ Message from the President Lal K. Motwani, “I am grateful to all of you for placing your confidence in me by electing me to head this association during the national convention in New York in September 2010, which also marked the 30th anniversary of the illustrious, umbrella organization for the Indian American community. I am proud to say that having been associated with NFIA from its inception; I have seen it grow to emerge as the voice of Indians in America. It is the ONLY organization that provides a common platform to address concerns of our growing Indian community, regardless of their professional backgrounds or affiliations. At present, NFIA represents nearly 3.0 million Indian Americans.

I also take pride in reporting that NFIA has played a major role over the years in strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the US and India, the oldest and largest democracies, respectively. We are also striving to take the growing partnership to a new level, so the two nations united can serve as one powerful source to provide solutions to the intractable problems our world is facing. NFIA and the US Congress can also work together on common goals like trade and technological advancement, homeland security, combating global terrorism and global warming.

The enviable growth of the Indian community in the US is not just in numbers, but also in financial and professional success as well as rising political clout—which I have watched closely being an architect by profession, and having served three decades in New York with major organizations such as Port Authority and the Housing Authority. I was also elected President for one term of the Society of the Indo American Engineers and Architects. I believe that it is imperative at this juncture for us to stay alert and remain united to protect our culture, our rights and the way of our life. Rest assured that like in the past, NFIA will continue to address the issues impacting our community.

Based on my experience of active involvement in a few apex community organizations (Founding Member of GOPIO–Global Organization of People of Indian Origin, and first Coordinator of FIA’s India Day Parade in New York, to name just two), I have come to the conclusion that for any non-profit organization to succeed it needs to secure cooperation from the business community for funds and a committed team of volunteers to carry out the work. During my two-year term as NFIA President I am focusing on both these fronts. After ascertaining other priority areas of the Indian community, I have taken initiative to get more involvement of youths, women and senior citizens. To serve that end, three committees have been formed, one each for these three groups. I am blessed to be working with an active and cooperative Executive Committee. With their support and cooperation from the community, we hope to achieve many more milestones for NFIA and the community.” The culmination of the 33rd national annual convention of the National Federation of Indian Associations(NFIA) held in Chicago from October 12-14 was the election of ‘Son of the Soil’ Sohan Joshi as its President for the coming year and induction of two other ‘Sons of the Soil’ Kanti Patel as Executive Vice President and Satheeshan Nair as Secretary.

Unlike the Convention that was held 10 years ago, this Convention achieved a fair degree of success, judging from the number of attendees not only from Chicagoland but also from other parts of the country, and the smooth manner in which various overall performances. At the Saturday Dinner Banquet there was presentation of Awards to a number of community activists from across the USA. Dr Hemant Patel, Past President of AAPI was recognized for his contributions in the field of Medicine and Public Health, Sid Gautam for Promoting Entrepreneurship, Harkrishan Majumdar for Community Services, Nitin Shah for excelling in Hospitality and Financial business, Ratna Kumar for contribution in Performing Arts, Indo American Center for Extraordinary Services to the Community, Najma Sultana for Community Services, Sudhir Vaishnav for Art and TV, Rajiv Bhambri for his contributions in Print Media and Hema Potla for Community Services.

A source of concern for Indian Americans is the recent IRS cracking down on unreported gains from investment abroad .The concern got aggravated with two medical professionals – one in Wisconsin and the other in New York landing themselves in huge trouble with fine and criminal prosecution. It was in this context that a seminar on Investments in India and Tax Implications assumed significance. The Tax Seminar had four Tax Attorneys participating one from Chicago and three from India. It was moderated by a Prominent Financial Advisor Ajit Gandhi and Co-Moderated by a Tax Expert Sushila Gidwaney from New York.

The Chicago land attorney was Michael Sawyier and he touched upon the essential requirements that IRS seeks in reporting income from investments abroad and penalties involved in failure to so. He eloquently distinguished the status in willful hiding and uninten seminars and sessions were conducted. The highlight of the three day Convention from October 12 at Holiday Inn in Rolling Meadows was the session on Investment in India and Tax Implication. This was held on Saturday morning. Another session that generated great interest was on pulse reading by a great master from India, Dr Pankaj Naram.

The cultural show presentations during the Kick Off session on Friday and the Dinner Banquet on Saturday were well conducted affairs. The three Indian Attorneys Rajesh Dhruva from Rajkot, Anil Jain and Deepender Kumar from New Delhi – had telecast addresses from India. Rajesh Dhruva from Rajkot defined the status of NRIs and permissible areas of investments. He said that NRIs could not invest in RBI bonds or postal schemes and deposits in Indian companies. “NRIs are forbidden from investments in Post Office schemes; Public Provident Fund accounts ; Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bonds and deposits with Indian companies,” he observed Ajit Gandhi moderated the session beautifully and observed that IRS regulations at some stage need detailed and minute interpretation which in turn would require an expert involvement and advice. The question answer session that followed was lively too and many participants sought clarifications for their specific problems. As put by Ajit Gandhi, the problems involved are so vast that they could not be compressed or addressed effectively in one hour session. “Even the tax experts need time to explain and the constraint of time really came in the way of their furnishing explanation or exposition of the subject, or effective answering of the questions put,” he said.

The following is the new NFIA Board for 2012 -2014:
President: Sohan P Joshi, Exec Vice President: Kanti S Patel, Vice Presidents: Angela Anand, Chandrakant ‘CK’ Patel, Hari Har Singh, Secretary: Satheesan Nair, Joint Secretary: Yogendra Gupta, Treasurer: Anil Kumar, Director At-Large: Rajasekhar Reddy, Arvind Joshi, Satish Mishra, Varghese Paramayil, Arvind Pillai, Ashwin Shah, Gulshan Bajaj

Photographs and Press release by: Asian Media USA

Suresh Bodiwala
Chairman
Asian Media USA
Bus: (847) 679-8583
Fax: (847) 679-5336
Cell: (847)420-4789
[email protected]

Copyrights (c) 2010 – Asian Media USA
No one shall download or otherwise duplicate the graphics, images, press release and written content from the PDF without our express written permission. Likewise, no one shall reuse the aforesaid things, as the same are the intellectual property of the Company, we hereby reserve all rights

Disclaimer: – Asian Media USA
“The information in this e-mail and any attachments is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee or addressees. If you are not an intended recipient, please delete the message and any attachments and notify the sender of misdelivery. Any use or disclosure of the contents of either is unauthorized and may be unlawful. All liability for viruses is excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender states them, with requisite authority, to be those of the Asian Media USA