From: halder@cs.umb.edu (Biswanath Halder)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala,alt.culture.tamil,alt.culture.karnataka,alt.culture.us.asian-indian
Subject: Re: Asian Indian Network
Keywords: AIN
Date: 23 Nov 92 01:22:40 GMT
Followup-To: halder@cs.umb.edu (Biswanath Halder)
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Boston, Dept of Math and CS


	We are in the process of establishing an Asian Indian Network
	(AIN).  This network will include and unite all Indians from 
	across the United States.  The backbone of the Network will be
	the group of people who have access to a wide-area computer
	network, i.e. who have e-mail addresses.  This task is enormous.
	It involves contacting all Indians throughout the United States
	who have e-mail addresses to find out if they are willing to be
	a part of the Network.  Once the Network becomes operational, it
	can be used for any valuable cause relating to the Indian
	community's needs, aspirations, and goals.

	Our first major project will be to hold a symposium to discuss
	and analyze the problem of discrimination faced by Asian Indians
	in the United States.  We need to contact all Indian
	Associations throughout the United States, locate all Indians
	who have filed charges and/or brought lawsuits on grounds of
	discrimination, and invite them to participate in the symposium.
	With the help of this Network, organizing such a symposium
	would become substantially easier.

	Several lawmakers in Washington are hurting India by introducing
	one piece of anti-Indian legislation after another in Congress.  
	The primary responsibility to counter such legislation lies with
	our Ambassador Siddhartha Shankar Ray and with the lobbyists
	working for the Indian Embassy.  At the same time, all of us owe
	it to our motherland to lobby our Senators and Congressmen.  If
	the Indian Embassy or any of the Indian political groups writes
	up a synopsis of the bill, and provides brief instructions of
	what we Indians can and should do, the Network can circulate
	this synopsis to thousands of Indians on the AIN within minutes.  
	And within a few weeks all Indians in the United States should
	be able to receive copies of it through Pick-up/Drop-off Centers 
	established all across the land.  Those who are familiar with
	the political process in this country are well aware that either
	House of Congress has yet to pass any anti-Israeli legislation. 
	The reason:  All legislators are besieged with phone calls,
	letters, and visits from Jewish people every time a bill
	concerning Israel is introduced to Congress.

	A joint Senate-House resolution, authorizing the Asian Indian
	community to establish a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi on federal
	property in Washington, DC, was passed in 1988.  However, the
	National Capital Planning Commission and Sen. Ted Stevens of
	Alaska have somehow blocked it.  Recently, Achamma
	Chandersekaran, chairperson of the Steering Committee for this
	National Memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, started mailing hundreds
	of letters to supporters of the memorial to urge their senators
	to persuade Sen. Stevens to let the bill go forward.  If the
	Asian Indian Network (AIN) was in place, Ms. Chandersekaran
	would have been able to put her ideas on the Network; and that
	would be equivalent to writing hundreds of thousands of letters.

	Every year several Indian organizations in the United States
	hold their annual conventions.  The existence of such a Network
	would be of immense value to them by serving as an efficient
	conduit for communication of events, schedules and agenda, as
	well as disseminating their resolutions.

	Last, and perhaps most important, the Network can serve as a
	catalyst for people who wish to, directly or indirectly, effect
	change in India.  The Asian Indian community here has a
	tremendous capacity to make a difference in the prevailing
	conditions of India.

	The above examples highlight a few good causes in which the
	Network can serve the Asian Indian community in the United
	States.  Of course, one can think of many more.

	If you are willing to help in this project, please contact

		Mr. Rajagopalan Venkataraman
		rajvenka@gn.ecn.purdue.edu	(H) 317-743-5223
				       OR
		Mr Lalit Katragadda 
		lalit@ri.cmu.edu		(H) 412-421-0837
				       OR
		Dr Samit Banerjee 	
		banerjee@phad.hsc.usc.edu	(H) 818-799-0724
				       OR
		Mr Nachiketa Tiwari 			
		ntiwari@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu		(H) 703-951-3979
				       OR
		Dr Ajay Kumar Pandey 	
		pandey@eagle.larc.nasa.gov 	(H) 804-827-0344
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala,soc.culture.indian.american,soc.culture.indian.telugu