GLEN COVE, NY (TIP): Gobind Munjal, the National President of The Association of Indians in America (AIA), was sworn-in once again for the 2nd term 2024 & 2025 along with his National Executive Committee in an exciting Inauguration ceremony arranged at Metropolitan Caterers in Glen Cove, Long Island on Saturday, March 16th, 2024. Since AIA is a National organization, its out of State Members attended the ceremony via zoom.
The occasion was graced by the chief guest Honorable Consul General Binaya S. Pradhan. The Inauguration and Oath ceremony was attended by about one hundred attendees. This included AIA founding members, board of Trustees, AIA National Past Presidents, chapter Presidents, community leaders, AIA members, friends, and the media partners.
Chief Guest Hon. Consul General of India in New York, Binaya S. Pradhan, in his opening Remarks, praised AIA for all that it has done for the community during its 56 years of history and commended the organization for its various achievements. He also suggested that if AIA could work on supporting the students coming from India to study here in the United States to get them internships and/or jobs, that will be very helpful. Consul General however pledged to work with AIA for outreach to the community.
National President Gobind Munjal was sworn-in by Honorable Consul General, Binaya Pradhan ji, who also administered the oath to Vice Presidents; Uma Swaminathan (NJ), Sushma Kotahwala (NY), Dr. Yash Pal Arya (NY), Santosh Pandey (IL), Secretary Gunjan Rastogi (NY) and Treasurer Gobind Bathija (NY). He also administered the oath to the members at large from all the states, namely Anita Thakkar (NY), Aridaman Jain (NJ), Beena Kothari (NY), Indu Gajwani (NY), Jasbir Singh (NY), Manoranjan Mishra (IL), Mohinder Taneja (NY). Neelam Modi (NY), Om Dhirgra (IL), Prem Mehrotra (IL), Rajeev Chaudhary(NY), Ram Tirumala (NJ), Ramola Motwani (FL), Salil Misra (IL), Santosh Khera (CA), Satish Anand (NY), Sharmistha Dutta (FL), Shashi Malik (NY), Sujata Seth (NY), Uma Eniasivam (FL), Usha Bansal (NY), Vijay Sharma (WI).
In his speech, National President Munjal welcomed everyone and shared some of the NEC’s achievements during his first term.
o Honor Banquet and Celebration of 75th Anniversary of India’s Independence on May 6th, 2023 – attended by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer & NYC Mayor Eric Adams.
o RESTARTED AIA National Newsletter (“BETWEEN US”) after a gap of about 20 years
o INITIATED Investment Advisory Committee to invest life membership funds for income and long-term growth,
Amended Bylaws of National AIA in 2023 after 30 years of gap.
o Energized young members and made them life members
o Energized and Improved communications between the chapters
President also shared his Vision for the 2nd term:
He reiterated that since the elections are over now, we will all work together as a unified team.
In pursuing the AIA’s moto of “Indian Heritage and American Commitment”, he emphasized that:
“We are here to serve the community needs. As we continue to direct our help to the people in India, our homeland, we should equally remain committed to the community right here in the United States, our adopted country. We hope to work towards increasing that commitment.
As the demographic profile of the Indian American Community has changed in past 5 decades since the founding of AIA, so are their needs. We remain committed to understanding the changing requirements of the community, and then will develop Programs to help both – the Youth and the Elderly. NEC pledges support to all the Chapter Presidents and its members, so they all can build and expand on these programs across the nation. This way together, we can make the next two years most productive.
President Munjal also shared his initiative of working on the immigration bill to reduce the time delay for Indian citizens to get the green card as well as H1 B visas. He said “AIA (NEC) is joining GOPIO International and rallying some other organizations to join us in this initiative. Today it takes almost 15 to 20 years for an Indian citizen to get a green card, whereas some other nationalities get a green card in 1 year. We all are planning to go to Washington DC sometime in the end of April 2024 to meet the congressional leaders requesting them to support this bill”
All AIA leadership extended their good wishes and support. The program concluded with a traditional vote of thanks by the secretary.
The Association of Indians in America (AIA) is the oldest not-for-profit organization of Asian Indians in America founded on August 20, 1967. It is the grassroots national organization of Asian immigrants in United States. With chapters and membership spread across the United States of America, AIA represents the hopes and aspirations of those immigrants who are united by their common bond of Indian Heritage and American Commitment.
