Five meritorious students from the Indian-origin community in America have been selected for the Rhodes Scholarship 2022. The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest, most prestigious, and best-known academic award for international study at Oxford University. This scholarship is a fully funded fellowship for postgraduate studies at Oxford University. Since 1903, the Rhodes Scholarship has been an opportunity for the brightest students from across the world to study for a greater purpose.

Veer Sangha, Atharv Gupta, Amisha Kambath, Jupneet Singh, and Shreyas Hallur are the Indian American students among the 32 Rhodes Scholars from the USA in 2022. Two of them have interned at the US Capitol.   

Atharv Gupta, Amisha Kambath, Jupneet Singh, Shreyas Hallur (left to right)

Atharv Gupta, Virginia

One of the five Indian Americans among the Rhodes Scholars 2022, Atharv Gupta from Virginia wishes to take up Social Science of the Internet as a post-graduate discipline at Oxford. An M.Sc. degree in Social Science of the Internet will equip him with knowhow of local economies being shaped by digital technologies in the post-pandemic world. Atharv, a Georgetown University senior, has interned with the US State Department and the World Bank.

Studying the impact of digital technology on small-scale entrepreneurs in emerging markets became his interest on trip to India during the pandemic. His grandparents live in Rishikesh, north India. He saw his grandfather and other people pay for essential commodities with digital money through an app in the local market unlike the pre-pandemic times. “All of a sudden, my grandfather was a savvy digital payment user,” he said.

A major in science, technology, and international affairs; Atharv Gupta among the 2022 Rhodes Scholarship winners has researched on several international development institutions supporting emerging digital economies. He received Paul F. Pelosi Scholarship in 2021, which funded his full-time internship in public service. Interestingly, he also writes about television and cinema, an altogether different genre.

Amisha Kambath and Jupneet Singh, California

Two of the six Harvard College Seniors among the 2022 Rhodes Scholars are of Indian origin and from California. They are Amisha Kambath and Jupneet K Singh. A resident of San Ramon, Amisha is a Harvard College senior and a major in social studies. She will be pursuing a post-graduate degree in social studies and American studies at Oxford. Amisha Kambath, also a Truman Scholar, has been President of the Harvard College Project for Justice.

Criminal justice reform and economic opportunity in the American criminal legal system are the areas that she is passionate about. How the legal system can be leveraged to explore economic opportunities hidden in incarceration has been the focus of her research and studies. Community wealth building, labour market marginality, and alternatives to incarceration are her other interests. She is also a research assistant for a program in criminal justice policy and management.

Indian-origin Jupneet K Singh from California is one of the three MIT seniors selected for the Rhodes Scholarship 2022. She will do her postgraduate studies in evidence-based social intervention and policy evaluation at Oxford next fall. She studied the biochemistry of human innate immunity and microbial pathogenesis while majoring in Chemistry. Her portfolio includes her experience in natural products research at the Nolan Lab. She worked with de-addiction centers across India this summer 2022.

Jupneet Singh aspires to be a trauma surgeon in the US Air Force. Following Oxford, she wants to attend a medical school. Establishing the representation of minorities in health care through the US Public Health Commissioned Corps is one of her goals. She initiated a few programs, including Pathways to Promise, to support the health of the juvenile victims of domestic violence in Ventura. She supported the programs with her fellowships.

Shreyas Hallur, Arizona

Among the 2022 Rhodes Scholars from the USA, Indian-origin Shreyas Hallur is looking to study Medical Anthropology at Oxford University in 2023. A resident of Phoenix in Arizona, he is a research assistant for autism and brain development at Duke University, North Carolina. He is also a member of STEM Advisory Board at Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center. At the same time, he is an undergraduate research fellow at Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.

Shreyas Hallur, a staunch advocate for autistic individuals, interned at the US Department of Health and Human Services this year. He was also a staff intern at Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services. He launched a program to support the inclusion and representation of autistic students in museum-based STEM activities. He is co-president of the Duke Disability Alliance and co-director of Disability Policy for the Duke Student Government.

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Giving back to the community, that too in times of need, is the greatest religion in the world. Sikhs live by their faith in serving the community wherever they are. They are always at humankind’s disposal from cooking for hundreds of thousands of devotees at the Golden Temple in Amritsar to helping the wounded and sheltering the stranded in regions of geopolitical crises.

Picture Credit: 3TV/CBS 5

Jaswiendre Singh, an Indian-origin Sikh in Arizona, proved that one does not need to be affluent to lend a helping hand to the community. Jaswiendre who owns a Valero Gas Station and Food Mart in Phoenix is selling gas to his customers at a lower price than the purchase price in view of the skyrocketing fuel prices. He buys fuel at $5.66 a gallon, but selling it at a price nearly half a dollar less than other gas owners is incurring a daily $500 loss to him.

However, the blessing he is reaping and the value he is passing on to others weigh a lot more than the loss on the scale of deeds. “My parents did teach us to help if you have something. If you have something, you have to share it with other people. We teach our children the same thing,” said Jaswiendre Singh.

He has been calling Phoenix his home for more than two decades. He got a means of sustenance, made friends, and raised three children in Phoenix thousands of miles away from India. He said he wakes up at 4 a.m. and works till midnight every day. His wife gives him a hand at the store as and when needed.

It is not that he is immune to the impact of keeping the fuel price low at his gas station. He has a family to provide for; he has household expenses to bear; he pays property taxes and insurance premiums every year. Losing out on $500 a day at the gas station is obviously impacting the cost of running both home and the store. But the value of “helping humanity” that the Sikh religion and community instilled into him has influenced the business decision.

Jaswiendre said without hesitation that he is happier about what he is doing than he is bothered about the loss. “Most of the cars driving through my station are not Mercedes. Hence, many car owners are in the need of saving on the current fuel prices. I can make up for the loss from the selling of gas with purchases inside the store. I can make the money somewhere, someday, but not right now. It’s time to help people,” he said nonchalantly.

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The United States recorded as many as 70,237 cases of drug overdose deaths in the year 2017. Unchecked intake of opioids is the main instrument having pushed the number of drug overdose deaths by 9% from 2016 to 2017 in the US. West Virginia, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Ohio, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Utah and Tennessee are the top 10 US states with drug overdose deaths, according to American Addiction Centers.

In a bizarre incidence of the US opioid crisis, Indian-origin John Kapoor, a billionaire pharmaceutical entrepreneur in Arizona, has been convicted of bribing doctors to unnecessarily prescribe addictive painkillers to patients, and thereby contributing towards the country’s opioid epidemic. 75-year-old John Kapoor, the founder of Insys Therapeutics, was the fifth richest of Indian-origin billionaires in USA, with net worth $1.8 billion, on Forbes’ 2018 list

Picture Credit: Forbes

A Boston jury has also found John Kapoor guilty of having conspired with his four colleagues in tricking insurance companies towards pushing the sales of Subsys, a fentanyl spray painkiller which is much stronger than morphine. Basically, Subsys, a synthetic opioid was approved to be prescribed only to terminal cancer patients. But, John Kapoor’s Insys Therapeutics aimed at people with non-life-threatening chronic pain in order to ensure a meteoric rise in sales of Subsys and the figures of his profit.

John Kapoor, a resident of Phoenix, and his four business accomplices have been sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment. Based on the investigation reports, prosecutors meted out the verdict that pharmaceutical billionaire John Kapoor’s unethical ways to fill his coffers with profits from the suffering of people fueled the US’ opioid crisis further, which has claimed 400,000 lives in the past two decades.

Born in Amritsar, Punjab, John Kapoor holds a PhD degree in medicinal chemistry from the State University of New York, Buffalo. The completion of his studies on pharmacy at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai drove him to shift to the US and fulfill his American Dreams, which came true with the formation of Insys Therapeutics in 1990.

He is also a restaurateur. He owns several restaurants in Chicago and San Francisco. He also helms the John and Editha Kapoor Charitable Foundation for those suffering from breast cancer. John Kapoor’s arrest coincided with the day President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency in 2017.

The judicial investigation into John Kapoor’s sale of addictive painkillers unearthed more shocking facts about him. According to the investigative reports, he masterminded a marketing strategy which required doctors to speak at educational events and promote Subsys targeting those who did not need it at all. The events were basically regular social gatherings at swanky New York restaurants. In return, the doctors were bribed and given free access to strip clubs. Details of bribes to the doctors and the profits that Insys Therapeutics made from each doctor were shown to the jury.

Also check: Indian American Consultants Convicted of H1B Visa Fraud

Thus, sales of Subsys skyrocketed from $14 million in 2012 to half a billion dollars early in 2017. The former CEO, the former vice president, and the vice president of sales at John Kapoor’s Insys Therapeutics have also been convicted of pawning the lives of people and exploiting their pain in the illegal money-minting game.

The conviction of John Kapoor is the first such criminal case, which has shocked the Indian American community, in the US healthcare industry. It has drawn a shark contrast to Florida-based Dr. Kiran Patel, an Indian American billionaire entrepreneur cum philanthropist who often makes headlines for right reasons, such as his $20-million funding of a tuition-free charter school in Florida, his $60-million funding of clinical testing of new cardiac devices, and his whopping $200-million donation to Florida’s Nova Southeastern University.

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Gun violence in the United States has become a catastrophic threat to the American civilization, resulting in hundreds of thousands of fatal injuries and deaths over the years. Though it has inflicted severe wounds to the being of the nation and shaken the collective conscience of the people innumerable times since the University of Texas Tower Shooting in 1966, there is no concrete sign of the waning of gun violence in America. The recent homicides – the Parkland School shooting in Florida and the Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas – bear witness to the proliferation of gun violence in the USA. The more we talk about it, the more we feel depressed.

Among the myriads of voices protesting unchecked prevalence of gun violence in the US is a 63-year-old Indian American with two artificial knees. A realtor in Arizona, Raj Kohli is an activist too. He set out on a mission to raise awareness about the rampant gun violence and mass shootings in the US which he calls home, by peddling a bicycle from the Trump Tower in New York to Washington DC.

Just as little drops of water make a mighty ocean, he believes that his individual mission connects with the public unrest against gun violence in America. Raj Kohli started the bicycle ride on the Memorial Day, May 28 to send out his message, “Charity begins at home.”

“Gun violence in the United States claims over 35,000 lives every year. We have not stopped it yet. While the US government has spent more than $7 trillion on fighting wars against terrorism overseas, it has done a very little to control gun violence and curb homicides under its own roof,” Indian American Raj Kohli was quoted in a press release.

A native of Uttar Pradesh in India and a resident of Tucson in Arizona, Raj Kohli does not mince words while saying, “All the promises made the current US government to bring in rigorous gun laws post the Florida Parkland school shooting have taken a backseat after President Trump’s meeting with the NRA (National Rifle Association) executives in Washington DC.”

During his bicycle ride from New York to Washington DC, Raj Kohli is pleading with people to boycott NRA and stop buying gun stocks as well as investing in funds with gun related stocks. He opined precisely, “The more guns we have, the more people will die.  It’s a numbers game!”

The current bicycle ride against gun violence in the USA is not his first undertaking. He embarked on several such missions for world peace in the past four decades. In 2017, he peddled a bicycle from Tokyo to Hiroshima to spread the message of peace and harmony on the 72^nd anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in the World War II. Raj Kohli’s bicycle ride to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan from 1981 to 1983 was his first mission to promote world peace.

Indian American Raj Kohli’s crusade against violence, terrorism, extremism and inhumanity will continue as he plans a bicycle ride throughout Europe to tell the stories of the survivors of terrorist attacks, later in 2018.

We at Travel Beats, an Indian American community portal by Indian Eagle Travel booking best flights to India, believe in the power of inspiring stories. We strive to spread the word about good work by Indians worldwide. You can send positive stories of humans like Raj Kohli to share@blogbox.indianeagle.com.     

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Indian American women are taking the bull by the horns in business, philanthropy and politics. Kamala Harris in the US Senate and Pramila Jayapal in the US House of Representatives have got a strong foothold into the US politics. Now more four Indian American women leaders from different walks of life are all set to run for the US Congress in 2018. They are promising, strong, determined and confident. The other Indian American candidates for US Congress in 2018 are Harry Arora from Connecticut, Sapan Saha from Illinois and Jitendra Diganvker from Illinois. We at Indian Eagle celebrate the Indian American women power.   

Aruna Miller, Maryland

A member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Indian American Aruna Miller is all set to run for the US Congress this year. A 53-year-old Democrat, she is the second Indian American delegate from Maryland. A civil engineer by profession, Aruna Miller is also a member of the Land Use and Transportation Committee of Montgomery County in Maryland, USA. She serves on the executive board of the women legislators of Maryland too.

One of the most promising Indian American candidates for US Congress in 2018, Aruna Miller has selected jobs, economy and infrastructure as her focus areas. She came to New York from India at the age of 7 and made America her home. When she was a high school senior, she had to take a job at a fast food restaurant after her father lost his job due to a serious health problem.

Democratic Aruna Miller has championed many causes in the House of Delegates, including family welfare, marriage equality, end of capital punishment, background check for gun purchases in Maryland. She has also moved the House of Delegates to increase the minimum wage and raise renewable energy targets in Maryland.

A diehard animal rights advocate, Aruna Miller has established funding for rape crisis centers, implemented GPS tracking of domestic abusers, and banned the sale of e-cigarettes to underage smokers in the state of Maryland. If elected, she will replace John Delaney who has announced to run for presidential elections in 2020.

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Dr. Hiral Tipirneni, Arizona

One of the most determined Indian American candidates for US Congress in 2018; Phoenix-based Dr. Hiral Tipirneni is a Democrat from Arizona’s second congressional district. Since she came to the United States from India at the age of 3, she has had an eventful journey from Cleveland, Ohio to Phoenix, Arizona, from an emergency room to cancer research advocacy.

An alumnus of Northeast Ohio Medical University, Dr. Hiral Tipirneni has worked as an emergency room physician at several hospitals in Phoenix for 20 years. Her mother was a social worker and the director of a senior care center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was her mother who introduced the Meals on Wheels program in Cleveland, and encouraged Dr. Hiral to serve the community.

A member on several nonprofit boards of directors including Maricopa Health Foundation, Indian American Dr. Hiral Tipirneni is at the helm of leading teams of researchers, physicians and health advocates to treat patients of breast cancer, prostate cancer and childhood leukemia. She was the chief organizer of a TEDx event focused on positive changes in the Northwest Valley.

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Anita Malik, Arizona

Among the Indian American candidates for US Congress in 2018 is Anita Malik, a digital media entrepreneur and a Democrat. A former journalist, Anita Malik is running for a seat in the US Congress from Arizona’s 6^th Congressional District. Indian American Anita Malik believes that fair tax reform is a must to level the playing field for both small businesses and individuals in Arizona. Gender equality at workplace and low-cost health coverage for everyone will also be on her agenda.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri and brought up in Arizona, Anita Malik is a graduate in information technology and finance from Arizona State University. She is a mentor to women in marketing and an advocate of affordable childcare programs. She will be using her content marketing experience, story-telling power and digital media knowledge to support the collective voice of all South Asians in her campaigns.

Apart from working with several tech startups and government agencies, Anita Malik instituted East West Magazine, a national publication for the Asian American community. One of her recent achievements is ListenforHer, a tool to help women at work. She believes in leading by listening and solving problems by uniting resources.

Also Check: Inspiring Stories of Young Indians in America 

Vandana Jhingan, Illinois

One of the Republican Indian American candidates for US Congress in 2018, Vandana Jhingan is a journalist, community activist and business woman. Based in a Chicago suburb, she is the Midwest Bureau Chief of TV Asia, an Indian American cable network. She is supported by Indians in Illinois, and the Republican Hindu Coalition, a most powerful Hindu organization in the US.

Vandana Jhingan will contest against Indian American Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi. She promises to bring jobs, fiscal responsibility and firm foreign policy to the state of Illinois and the USA at large. Indian American Republican Vandana moved to the United States from India in pursuit of her American Dream, on completion of her business administration studies in New Delhi.

“I have demonstrated my commitment by serving the community for more than 20 years. I will serve as tireless advocate for the people and businesses of my district. I promise that I will handle these issues with the utmost integrity and responsibility,” said Vandana Jhingan in a statement of her candidacy.

Travel Beats is a leading Indian American portal by Indian Eagle, a trusted travel partner of Indians in USA booking their cheap air tickets even for last-minute flights to India. Subscribe to Travel Beats’ free newsletter for the latest immigration, visa, air travel and community news. 

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Forbes’ 2016 list of the 400 richest Americans features five Indian American billionaires. These richest Indians in USA are among the few who made their American Dreams come true and whose stories of success are worth sharing. Born in India, they belong to the Indian American community of techies, engineers, entrepreneurs and investors. They stared from scratch and gradually took a leap to dizzying heights of infinite success. Here is a brief about those five richest Indian Americans.

Romesh Wadhwani (left), Bharat Desai (middle), Rakesh Gangwal (right)

Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, California

One of the five Indian American billionaires, Dr. Romesh Wadhwani is the founder and chairman of Symphony Technology Group in USA. With his net worth of 3 billion US dollars, he stands 222^nd on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans for the year 2016. An IIT-Bombay graduate from India, Mr. Wadhwani earned masters and PhD degree from Carnegie Mellon University. A self-made serial entrepreneur in the Indian Community of Palo Alto in California, he is currently the owner of a thriving empire of 17 data, technology, heath care and analytics companies. In 2015, he announced to invest up to $1 billion in entrepreneurial initiatives in India. Dr. Romesh Wadhwani is a philanthropist too. He founded the Wadhwani Foundation aiming to drive economic development in developing nations including India.

Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi, Michigan     

Forbes Magazine featured Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi, co-founders of Syntel Inc. in USA, at the 274^th position on its 2016 list of the 400 richest Americans. With a net worth of $2.5 billion, the husband and wife duo is next to Romesh Wadhwani among the richest Indian Americans this year. Born in Kenya and brought up in Ahmedabad, India, Bharat Desai graduated in electrical engineering from IIT Bombay. After a stint as a programmer at Tata Consulting Services, he sowed the seed of Syntel Inc. with an initial investment of $2000 at his apartment in Michigan in 1980. Today, the company has a global strength of 24,000 employees and generates revenues worth over $950 million a year. Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi are jointly ranked 85^th among the richest tech billionaires in the United States in 2016.

Rakesh Gangwal, Miami in Florida

With a net worth of $2.4 billion, Miami-based Indian American entrepreneur Rakesh Gangwal made it to Forbes’ 2016 list of richest Americans and occupied the 321^st ranking out of 400. Born in Kolkata, he is an IIT-Kanpur graduate and an MBA from Wharton School of Pennsylvania University. His career journeyed from strategic planning for United Airlines in 1984 to the Chairman of US Airways Group to the inception of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. in 2000. InterGlobe Aviation owns IndiGo, India’s largest budget airline by domestic market share, which Rakesh Gangwal cofounded with just one aircraft in 2006. Forbes’ list of 100 richest Indians in 2015 featured him at the 70^th rank.

Johnn Kapoor (left) and Kavitark Ram Shriram (right)

John Kapoor, Phoenix in Arizona

Among the five Indian American billionaires on Forbes Magazine’s 2016 list, John Kapoor is the Chairman of two drug companies: Akom Inc. and Insys Therapeutics Inc. The former deals in ‘difficult-to-manufacture’ prescription drugs and the latter produces opioids for cancer patients. The 73-year-old entrepreneur ranks at 335^th among the 400 richest Americans for his net worth of $2.1 billion. Born in Amritsar, he traveled to USA from India for a PhD degree in medicinal chemistry. A resident of Phoenix in Arizona, John Kapoor also owns restaurants in Chicago and San Francisco.

Kavitark Ram Shriram, California

Chennai-born Kavitark Ram Shriram is the fifth richest in the Indian American community, with a net worth of $1.9 billion. Forbes’ 2016 list of 400 richest Americans ranks him at 361^st. One of the Silicon Valley angel investors in California, he owns Sherpalo Ventures which invests in technology startups. Being one of the first investors in Google, he is still on the board of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Like other India-born ambitious entrepreneurs, Kavitark Ram Shriram moved to USA in 1994 and joined Netscape to make his ‘American Dream’ come true. Then he served as vice president of business development at Amazon Inc. after it Junglee in 1998. He donated $61 million to the funding of engineering initiatives at Stanford University.

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