Category: PIO’s

** How Bengal Heritage Foundation sustains the ‘living bridge’ between India and the UK

“There is no stronger or more important ‘living bridge’ than what the United Kingdom shares with India, and especially Bengal. It has been fantastic to see how the Bengal Heritage Foundation (BHF) has been nourishing and developing this unique bond over the years,” said Nick Low, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata, at The Bengal Club on December 27.

Low was speaking at the Bengal Heritage Dinner organised by the BHF — set up by a group of Bengali families in London in 2009 — to shed light on the wide-ranging work that the Foundation does to bolster Indo-British ties, apart from promoting the distinctive qualities of Bengal and Bengalis in the UK.

West Bengal

** Uzra Zeya appointed U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibet

The coordinator’s role involves promoting “substantive dialogue” between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.

U.S. official Uzra Zeya has been appointed the country’s new Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues. She will hold the position concurrently with her current role as Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said via a statement.

** Portugal now led by PM, 2 cabinet members of Indian origin

In a twist to that claim, Portugal is now led by people of Indian descent with family ties to the former colony: Prime Minister Antonio Costa, Finance Minister Joao Leao and Planning Minister Nelson de Sousa.

“I am very proud of visiting my father’s land as prime minister, and especially the first prime minister of Indian origin in the European Union. This visit has a strong emotional side in the personal motivation,” Costa said during a visit to India in 2017.

Costa’s grandfather Luis Afonso Maria da Costa was from Margao, where his relatives still live and his 200-year-old ancestral home is located, according to the Portuguese American Journal.

Luis Costa emigrated to what was then another Portuguese colony, Mozambique, where the prime minister’s father Orlando da Costa was born in the capital Maputo.

The elder Costa was a writer and his son released an English translation of his book, Sem Flores Nem Coroas (Without Flowers or Wreaths) while visiting India.

** Narinder Singh Kapany: The relentless innovator behind the science of fibre optics

Known as the ‘Father of Fibre Optics’, Dr Narinder Singh Kapany had over 100 patents under his name.

For someone who was hailed as one of the seven unsung heroes of the 20th century for his Nobel Prize-deserving invention in 1999 by Fortune magazine, Narinder Singh Kapany remains relatively unknown.

The Indian American scientist was a multi-faceted personality—physicist, innovator, entrepreneur, farmer, philanthropist, and an avid art collector.

he also invented Retinal laser coagulation treatment. He became the first Indian Sikh to take a company public in Silicon Valley. 

In 1967, Kapany created the Sikh Foundation that pioneered the display of Sikh Arts at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and established the first permanent Sikh Art Gallery in the United States and Canada

** Indian-American mathematician Nikhil Srivastava among 3 selected for inaugural Ciprian Foias Prize

Along with Prof. Srivastava, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, the two other awardees are Adam Marcus and Daniel Spielman

Eminent Indian-American mathematician Nikhil Srivastava, has been jointly selected for the inaugural $5,000 Ciprian Foias Prize for the “highly original work” in Operator Theory by the American Mathematical Society (AMS).

** Gita Gopinath to take on new role at IMF as First Deputy Managing Director

Indian-American Gita Gopinath, the chief economist of International Monetary Fund, is being promoted as IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director, the fund announced Thursday.

She would replace Geoffrey Okamoto who plans to leave the Fund early next year. Gopinath, who was scheduled to return to her academic position at Harvard University in January 2022, has served as the IMF’s chief economist for three years.

** Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict has impacted an unlikely group—hundreds of Indian professors

Indian educators have historically played an important role in Ethiopia, Robert Shetkintong, India’s Ambassador in Addis Ababa, told indianexpress.com.

** 6 lakh Indians renounced citizenship

10,645 foreigners applied for Indian citizenship from 2016 to 2020, says Centre

More than six lakh Indians renounced citizenship in the past five years, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. This year, till September 30, 1,11,287 Indians gave up their citizenship.

The reason for a large number of Indians surrendering their citizenship was not stated in the reply. Though, in 2018, the MHA revised Form XXII under Citizenship Rules for declaration of renunciation of citizenship, which, for the first time, included a column on “circumstances/reasons due to which applicant intends to acquire foreign citizenship and renounce Indian citizenship”. Recently, the MHA had simplified the process and provisions were made for the applicants to upload documents online and an upper limit of 60 days was fixed for the renunciation process to be completed.