EDISON, NJ: Ankur Vaidya has been elected as the President of Federation of Indian Associations (Tri-State) for the year 2014. Vaidya, 34, will be the youngest ever president to hold office of one of the largest non-profit Indian-American organizations in the US.
Vaidya with engineering and real estate background hails from Gujarat and started as a volunteer in the organization. He has been an integral part of the FIA Executive Committee. Along with Vaidya the 2014 Executive Committee that was elected includes: Anand Patel – Executive Vice President; Srujal Parikh – Vice President; Nishil Parikh- General Secretary; Chhavi Singh- Joint Secretary and Alok Kumar – Treasurer. Sanjay Amin will be immediate past president.
The new officers will take charge from Jan 1, 2014 and will be sworn at the end of January during FIA’s Republic Day Celebrations.
The 43-year-old premier Indian-American organization has been holding India Day Parade for the past 33 years in the streets of Manhattan to promote and project India in mainstream America.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Governors, US Senators and Congressmen, Indian Ambassadors patronized the parade by taking part in the previous years.
The celebrities who had led the parade in the past years include Amitabh Bachchan, Raj Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Dev Anand, Rajender Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Saif Ali Khan, Hema Malini, Madhuri Dixit, Anna Hazare, Sarath Kumar and Radikaa and Gen VK Singh.
Those who joined the celebrities in the past years include Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Dr. Baldwin Spencer, President of Guyana Bharat Jagdeo and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar. The New York Police Department (NYPD) estimated that 200,000 people had gathered last year on either side of the Madison Avenue and at the cultural program venue last year making it the largest ever Independence Day event in the world.
The FIA had done fund-raising for Woodbridge apartment fire victims, Uttarakhand flash foods and helped in the conduct of Vibrant Gujarat summit.
To address the issues of Immigration Bill that may be potentially harmful to Indians, the FIA is conducting an interactive session with Chairman of the US House of Representatives Rules Committee, Congressman Pete Sessions to address the issues facing the Indian community.
Prakash Swamy
