By Sanjay Kudrimoti
GROTON, MA—New England Indian-American community welcomed India’s New Consul General Randhir Jaiswal. Based in New York City, Indian Consul General oversees also overseen New England region. The welcome reception was organized by India Association of Greater Boston, known as IAGB.
Given the current conditions due to COVID-19, the welcome reception was limited by invitation only and was extended only to representatives of Indian American community organizations around New England area, IAGB said in a statement.
State recommended health and COVID-19 safety measures were observed. The New England Shirdi Sai Parivaar (NESSP) was to host the event in the banquet hall at Sai Temple in Groton, MA.
Mr. Jaiswal thanked the community for the warm welcome. He drew the parallel nature of Boston and India in terms of “India is a land of Knowledge, thought, introspection, spirituality, human progress, civilization wealth and this city of Boston is also a city of knowledge – counted as foremost in the world.”
He informed the community that all of the services provided by the consulate are back to normal and said he looked forward to collaborate with the community in extending the services and welcomed new ideas to make the experience enriching for all thus making India US friendship truly delightful and inspirational.
Mr. Jaiswal is a 1998 Indian Foreign Service officer and career diplomat. He assumed charge as Consul General of India in New York on July 19th. Prior to that, he served as Joint Secretary cum Social Secretary to the President of India since August 2017. In this role, he headed the foreign affairs office of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and advised the President on India’s foreign policy.
In his over two decades of diplomatic career so far, Mr. Jaiswal has served in Portugal, Cuba, South Africa and at the Permanent Mission of India in New York. He served in New Delhi at the Ministry of External Affairs, first as Deputy Secretary looking after India’s relations with the US, and then as Joint Secretary managing India’s relations with West European countries.
IAGB President Sanjay Gowda introduced Mr. Jaiswal. Mr. Gowda specifically thanked him for planning the visit even during this challenging times. He expressed that “IAGB has been working very closely with the consulate office, and looks forward to strengthening the partnership and collaborating with engaging relationships to serve the Indian Diaspora in the New England region.”
Mr. Jaiswal was accompanied by his wife Abha Jaiswal and their two teenage daughters. They were warmly received by the IAGB team members and Sai Temple President Mahender Singh and board members.
IAGB vice President Vaishali Gade emceed the event. She extended a warm welcome to all attendees and introduced each of the attendees and welcomed them to talk few words by introducing their respective organization to CGNY and briefly explaining their charter and activities.
The following were the attendees who spoke – Srinivas Gondi of Blackstone Valley India Society (BVIS); Ramakrishna Penumarthy, Sudha Mulpur from Telugu Assoc. Of Greater Boston (TAGB); Manoj Pillai of New England Malayalee Association (NEMA); Santosh Salvi from New England Marathi Mandal (NEMM); Sridhar Gorantla of North America Telugu Society (NATS) Boston Chapter; Balaji Radakrishnan of India Association of NH (IANH); Sivakumar Mallaiyasamy of Tamil Makkal Mandram (TMM); Deba Behera & Manabesh Dash of Orissa Society of New England (OSNE); Mohan Nannapaneni, Shankar Magapu representing Team Aid; Preetesh Shrivastava President of Hindi Manch; Subba Raju Datla of Sewa International; Aditi Soni, President of United India Association of New England (UIANE); Sharat Amin from India Society of Worcester (ISW); Revathy Ramakrishna, Co-founder of Vision-Aid; Nilesh Agrawal from Shishu Bharati School; Anil Saigal of Lokvani, and Latha Mangipudi- Member of New Hampshire House of State Representatives from district 35.
Harsha Seshanna of IAGB gave the vote of thanks. He reiterated IAGB’s commitment to work with Consul General as part of our civic duty and thanked all the representatives of the community organizations present there for their enthusiastic participation. IAGB, the Boston community and Consul General all are enthusiastic about this new chapter and are looking forward to work and serve the community in earnest.
