Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going to ascend to theirrespective roles as the President and Vice President of America.
While the world is watching the twists and turns in thechange of administration, it has come to light that around 20 Indian-Americanshave been either nominated or named for key roles in the administration led byBiden & Harris.
It is a new record where 20 Indian Americans, including13 women are suspected to have bagged key roles. 17 of these 20 will a part ofthe White House complex.
Joe Biden will swear in as the 46th President of UnitedStates of America. It is historic because, Kamala Harris will be the firstwoman to become the Vice President on January 20, less than 100 hours later.
As per the PTI report, it is for the first time that somany Indian Americans have been roped in for key roles in the upcomingadministration.
NeeraTanden tops the list with a nomination as the Director of theWhite House Office of Management and Budget. Dr Vivek Murthy has been nominated as the US Surgeon General.
VanitaGupta will be Associate Attorney General Department of Justice,nominated on Saturday. Uzra Zeya, formerforeign service official, has been nominated as the Under Secretary of Statefor Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.
Indiaspora founder M R Rangaswami was quoted as saying byPTI, "The dedication that the Indian-American community has shown topublic service over the years has been recognised in a big way at the verystart of this administration! I am particularly pleased that the overwhelmingmajority are women. Our community has truly arrived in serving the nation."
Dr Jill, who is a upcoming first lady will have Mala Adiga as her Policy director whilethe Deputy Press Secretary will be SabrinaSingh.
AishaShah has been nominated as Partnership Manager at the WhiteHouse Office of Digital Strategy and SameeraFazili is expected to be the Deputy Director at the US National EconomicCouncil (NEC) in the White House. It is historic because they both traces theirroots back to Kashmir and perhaps first time, Kashmiri origin people will beinducted in the administration.
BharatRamamurti will be a Deputy Director of White House NationalEconomic Council. Similarly, GautamRaghavan is expected to be a White House Deputy Director in Office ofPresidential Personnel. He earlier also served in the Obama administration.
VinayReddy is expected to be inducted in the inner circle of Biden.He has been named as the Director Speechwriter.
Vedant Patel willoccupy a seat as Assistant Press Secretary to the President in the White House,behind the briefing room. If reports are to be believed, three Indian-Americanwill be included in the National Security Council of the White House. It issaid to be a crucial development that will have a larger impact on the foreignpolicy and national security of the country.
The names of the three Indian-Americansare Tarun Chhabra who will be SeniorDirector for Technology and National Security, Sumona Guha, Senior Director for South Asia and Shanthi Kalathil who will be Coordinatorfor Democracy and Human Rights.
Another significant member Sonia Aggarwal is named as SeniorAdvisor for Climate Policy and Innovation at White House. Vidur Sharma has been appointed as Policy Advisor for Testing forthe White House COVID-19 Response Team.
Neha Gupta and Reema Shah havebeen appointed to the office of the White House Counsel as Associate Counseland Deputy Associate Counsel respectively.
It is a historic development wherethe White House would have three South Asians in key positions. Ali Zaidi has been named as DeputyNational Climate Advisor White House. He is a Pakistani-American. Similarly, Rohini Kosoglu, a Sri Lankan-Americanwill be Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President.
Similarly, a Bangladeshi-American Zayn Siddique will be a Senior Advisorto the White House Deputy Chief of Staff.
"As President, I'll alsocontinue to rely on Indian-American diaspora, that keeps our two nationstogether, as I have throughout my career," Biden had addressed theIndian-American community on the Independence day in 2020. So, these appointmentsare in line with his earlier promises.