Nivedha Ram, a junior from Acton-Acton-Boxborough High School in Acton, Mass., won the Sixth Annual Central Massachusetts Brain Bee competition on Feb. 4 and will be representing Massachusetts in the National Brain Bee competition on March 4-5 in Maryland. Winners from each National Brain Bee then go on to compete in the International Brain Bee against students from around the world.

The Food-for-Education program of Akshaya Patra has received a $441,264 grant from the Caterpillar Foundation to support its school feeding program and the centralized kitchens in India. This is the second year Akshaya Patra has received a grant from the Caterpillar Foundation.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has announced plans to open two new hotels in Pakistan. According to the Stamford, Conn.-based hotel giant, the Pakistan properties will ride a surge of international expansion throughout 2012, 2013 and into 2014. India is already one of the company’s key markets.

 

Sanam Rastegar, 17, of Weston, Conn., was named one of Connecticut's top two youth volunteers for 2012 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. Sanam was nominated by Hopkins School in New Haven. The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, now in its 17th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Om P. Ganda, M.D., a physician and researcher at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, has been appointed a Commissioner of the Massachusetts Asian American Commission.  

Created by state legislation in 2006, the Asian American Commission's goal is to recognize and highlight the vital contributions of Asian Americans to the social, cultural, economic and political life of the Commonwealth; to identify and address the needs and challenges facing residents of Asian ancestry; and to promote the well-being of this dynamic and diverse community and thereby, advance the interests of all persons who call Massachusetts home.

The Massachusetts chapter of The Indian American Forum for Political Education held a panel discussion on Sunday, Feb. 26 called "President Elections & the Economy" at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, Mass. The program ran from noon to 2 p.m., followed by a lunch.

Raj Sharma, managing director of investments and head of The Sharma Group at Merrill Lynch, moderated the event.

The Milford, Mass.-based Manhattan Software, a business real estate software company, has signed a deal with Indiabulls Real Estate to launch its products in India and the Middle East. Indiabulls Real Estate is one of the largest real estate companies in India with development projects including high-end office and commercial complexes, premium residential developments, mega townships, retail spaces, state of the art special economic zones and infrastructure development.

Prat Moghe has been named the new president of the Boston chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs. In this role, he will be responsible for the overall vision and direction of TiE’s mission of fostering entrepreneurship for the growing organization, the organization said.

World Academy second-grader Nina Mahalingam, 8, recently received a national President’s Volunteer Service Award in recognition of her service to the community. This award was established in 2003 by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers are making in our communities and to encourage more people to serve.

Anupa Murali, 17, of Bishop Brady High School in Concord, N.H., has been named a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search. He is the only Indian-American winner from a New England state and will receive a $1,000 award from the Intel Foundation, with an added $1,000 going to his school. He will continue to compete for a possible $100,000 scholarship as the competition competes later this year.

Skystream Markets Inc., a provider of institutional transaction platforms for the renewable energy markets, has received an investment from a group that includes Connecticut Innovations, Ironwood Capital Connecticut’s Connecticut Growth Fund and the Clean Energy Venture Group. The investment syndicate also includes several accomplished angel investors from the financial technology and trading spheres. The company will also relocate its headquarters from New York City to Stamford, Conn.

Summit Partners has opened a new office in Mumbai. The firm said it is opening the office to increase investment activity in India and to support its North American and European-based portfolio companies with their expansion efforts in the region.

 

Following on the heels of some very successful events in 2011, including a Holi celebration and New Year's Eve party, the United India Association of New England is holding a Desi-style "Valentine's Bash" on Friday, Feb. 10 from 7 p.m. to midnight at Mantra restaurant in Boston.

The Massachusetts chapter of The Indian American Forum for Political Education has elected Ramesh Advani as its new president. The election for the group's new leaders was held this past weekend at an event that also included a panel discussion on the current presidential election. Advani will begin his role as president immediately.

Indian Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao spoke to a packed house at Emmanuel College in Boston on Feb. 15 telling the crowd that India's booming growth in the last decade has given it a new place in the world order — a role which it fully intends to shoulder and uphold. Rao spoke on a number of topics from the growth of India's middle class to its relationship with China, Pakistan and Iran, as well as its growing economic partnership with the United States.

Indian Ambassador to the United States Nirumpama Rao will in Boston next week and speak twice in events open to the public.

Rao will first speak at Emmanuel College in Boston on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 4:30 p.m. Her talk, which will be held at the Janet M. Daley Library Lecture Hall, is the college's Spring Wyant Lecture. Rao will talk on "India's Role in the Changing Global Landscape in the 21st Century."

 

British actress Amy Jackson is making her Bollywood debut opposite popular young heartthrob Prateik in A.R. Rahman's new musical romance, "Ek Deewana Tha," which released in theaters on Feb. 17. Having already starred in a successful Tamil film, the former Miss Teen World winner won a modeling contract in the United States, which led to her being discovered by the Indian film industry at the age of only 17. Jackson sat down to talk about her new film which features Rahman's latest hit song "Hosanna," which has reached No. 1 on the music charts in India.

 

 

For the third year in a row the South Asian Showdown sold out and for the second year in a row dance team Broad Street Baadshaz won the overall competition prize — the team also took first place in the Hindi-film/fusion category. The event rocked Boston's John Hancock Hall in Boston for almost four hours on Saturday, Feb. 11.

According to updates from his Twitter account late last week, Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh is winning his fight against cancer, which according to reports he is undergoing at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

 

 

 

The United India Association reveled in another successful event with about 200 people turning out for its "Valentine's Bash" on Feb. 10 at Mantra restaurant in Boston. According to organizers, the evening's proceedings received great compliments from attendees and drew members from throughout Massachusetts, with some coming from neighboring states such as New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

 

 

Grammy-nominated, composer-pianist Vijay Iyer was once again performing in New England with an experimental music performance at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., on Feb. 10. Iyer was joined by experimental music scholar George Lewis on trombone and a digital device designed by Lewis capable of improvisation in an experimental music trio.

Aliya Khalidi has been appointed assistant district attorney in Middlesex District Attorney's Office. Khalidi, who is from Wayland, Mass., will work out of the Framingham District Attorney's office. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and Suffolk University Law School.

The Immigrant Learning Center announced the Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards Dinner to be held on May 9, 2012, at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, Mass. The event will honor the significant contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs in Massachusetts.

Saffron Road has debuted its newest products at Whole Foods Market stores. All the items are all-natural, Halal-certified, vegetarian entrees and side dishes, according to Saffron Road, which is the packaged food brand of Stamford, Conn.-based American Halal Co.

 

The Telugu Association of Greater Boston celebrated "Sankranthi Sambaralu — 2012" on Jan. 28 at Littleton High School in Littleton, Mass. The cultural program put on display local talent from all ages performing a wide variety of numbers, including Bollywood and classical songs and dances, as well as several skits. The day-long event also featured art and rangoli.

The India Women Physician's Forum held its first meeting of the New Year on Feb. 5 at the Burlington Public Library in Burlington, Mass. The event included networking, as well as a talk about Ayurveda.

Iran wants to produce electricity using nuclear technology and that is its right as a sovereign nation. No one is trying to deny Iran that right, but the way it is going about achieving it as a non-proliferation treaty signatory, is a cause of great concern for the entire world, and especially Israel, whose very existence is at stake.

Thomson Reuters has acquired the business and operations of RedEgg, a provider of media intelligence products for public relations and marketing professionals. The acquisition builds on an existing relationship with RedEgg whose MyMediaInfo media contact database and MyNewsBrief service are already available to Thomson ONE Public Relations and Thomson Reuters InPublic customers, the company said.

India's top plastics trade association, Plastindia Foundation, has signed a deal with the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and the University of Wisconsin to build a university specializing in the study of polymers in India, according to Plastics News.

Tabla superstar Zakir Hussain is coming back to New England in March, bringing with him some of the finest percussionists from India's classical and folk traditions for the Master's of Percussion tour. Hussain and the Masters of Percussion will play the Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, Mass., on Sunday, March 18.