NEW YORK (TIP): November, 2013 was a month of elections. December, 2013 was a month of celebrations. And January 2014 is a month of Inaugurations. The Indian Panorama brings alive for our readers some of the more important inaugurations that took place in the first week of January.

Inauguration of Bill de Blasio as Mayor of New York City
Bill de Blasio was elected 109th Mayor of New York City in November elections. In his landslide victory, he defeated his Republican rival Joe Lhota by a colossal margin. Blasio was earlier Public Advocate of New York. In the beginning of the race for a Democratic nomination, he was considered an underdog, trailing almost behind everyone (there were three other contenders) but he came on top.

Early on in his campaign he established a huge lead over his Republican rival who was no match for him. In his inauguration speech , January 1, in front of City Hall, Bill de Blasio laid out a mayoralty that emphasized social and economic justice. Also inaugurated were Letitia James as Public Advocate and Scott M. Stringer as City Comptroller. Letitia has been a Councilwoman while Scott has been the Manhattan borough president.