India Association of Long Island, Inc NEWSLETTER 366 North Broadway, Suite 410, Jericho, NY 11753 Spring Issue 2102
Website: www.ialiny.org
Editor: Dr. Rohini B. Ramanathan
The President’s Message
I feel greatly honored to have been elected the president of the India Association of Long Island (IALI) for the year 2012. I consider it my privilege to serve this 34-year-old premiere, Indian-American organization and you. Co-serving with me is my duly elected and exemplary executive council (EC), a team of dedicated, hardworking and highly experienced individuals--some new faces and others old hands--with a high level of integrity and professionalism. Their past, community-based, voluntary work has been either with IALI or other organizations or both, and the community stands to gain much from their input and insight. Those of you who elected them deserve the ultimate credit. I thank each and every one of you for the trust and confidence you have placed in my team, and me. We are your choice and thus we will be your voice during our entire term of office. This process begins right this minute. For instance, during the lengthy election process, some of you aired your feelings about how you find the process to be an unnecessarily stressful, wasteful and contentious exercise that creates unnecessary animosities as well. To address these alleged “problems,” the 2012 EC will form a committee of past presidents and legal advisors to recommend constitutional modifications to the electoral process. For example, the costly yearly elections can be avoided or at least improved, either by, 1. Selecting the executive council through a nomination process like many other community organizations do, or 2. The executive council can be elected for a 2-year-term. The Constitution Committee will make other appropriate changes as well. Other areas that will receive immediate attention from the EC and me will be: India Center: We have been talking about establishing an India Center for a long time now. Many past presidents have made a sincere effort to achieve this goal. Despite their best efforts, this dream remains elusive. The 2012 EC will form yet another committee of community leaders, past presidents, donors, real estate experts and developers and financial consultants. This committee will guide IALI and provide answers and various options to fulfill this long-held dream of the Indian-American community on Long Island to have a communal space of its own, which can be used for various worthwhile activities. Health: We will organize more frequent health seminars. Seniors: We will work with other senior organizations to make IALI’s Senior Program for the aging members of our growing community, which is the need of the hour, more successful. As a medical professional, I will personally invite my fellow health professionals to make presentations on health-oriented and other topics related to seniors. Youth: In the past few years, IALI has made great strides in reaching out to and energizing the youth in the community through the various Youth Forum activities. We will continue to improve upon this effort and make this forum stronger by increasing the number of programs of consequence to the youth. Women: IALI’s popular Women’s Forum Program holds monthly meetings where it organizes a number of activities relevant to women of all ages. This year, besides the usual chairperson, we have added few co-chairs to make the program more interesting and meaningful and to increase participation. Collaborating: Our presence is more palpable and more momentous when we join hands with others. The Town of North Hempstead has been celebrating Asian American Festival for last two years. Five countries from Asia--China, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and India--participate in this festival to showcase their culture. IALI will continue to take the lead to represent India in this highly visible event. Once again, my congratulations to all of you for your membership and support for this outstanding, secular organization and our heartfelt thanks from the executive council and me personally, for maintaining the Indian-American community’s presence on Long through IALI, which you could make your own, by staying involved. We welcome your ideas, suggestions and concerns. Please feel free to communicate with me directly at ssranu00@hotmail.com. I look forward to serving you and working with you.
BE A MEMBER OF INDIA ASSOCIATION OF LONG ISLAND
For Membership Application log on to www.ialiny.org. Newsletter currently mailed to IALI members only