Indian American official in Trump's entourage strikes an emotional note
Washington: Around five decades after his parents landed in the US, Indian American Ajit Pai is travelling to India on board the Air Force One along with President Donald Trump.
Pai (47), who is the first ever Indian American Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, wonders how his parents would have reacted years ago had they been told that their son would one day accompany the US president to India.
He is among the two Indian Americans travelling to India along with Trump, the other being Kesh Patel, special assistant to the president and senior director for counter-terrorism.
"If I could go back in time to 1971, just after my parents' weddings, I wonder what those two young adults would say if you told them that just one generation later their son would be representing the top levels of the United States government visiting the country in which they had grown up,"said Pai.
"I have a feeling that they would say what they often do now and a belief I carry in my bones, only in America," Pai said in a video posted on Twitter. Pai said during his India trip, they we will be discussing issues of mutual interest like 5G and bridging the digital divide.
"We will aim to deepen the friendship between the worlds oldest democracy and its largest," he added.
Looking forward to this trip not just professionally but personally, Pai said his mother grew up in Bengaluru while his father was raised in Hyderabad.
Shortly after their wedding in 1971, they came to America with just USD 8, a transistor radio and the "faith that the American dream would be within reach", he said.
"Like so many immigrants, they sacrificed to give me opportunities they did not have. And it was my grandparents who instilled in us the value of hard work and the vision to dream big," he said.
"As the first Indian American to serve as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, I feel a responsibility to them and other immigrants like them to be worthy of their sacrifices," Pai said.
In another tweet, that he had posted in 2019, Pai shared the passport of his maternal grandfather which was issued in 1937 to work as a clerk in Bahrain, where his mother was born in 1945.
Almost fifty years after my parents came to the U.S. from India, I’m looking forward to traveling to India along with @POTUS and other U.S. government officials, and participating in bilateral meetings aimed at deepening the friendship between our two nations! ???? pic.twitter.com/QTtSYY210k
— Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC) February 23, 2020
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Telangana CM urges Amit Shah to increase sanctioned strength of IPS officers in state
Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday night and urged him to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state in view of its growing administrative and security needs.
The two leaders also discussed the recent surrender of several senior Maoist leaders before the Telangana Police and other issues.
"During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the issue of Maoist surrenders and their rehabilitation. The chief minister informed Shah that significant improvements in policing have taken place in Telangana over the past two years," an official release here said.
Highlighting that 591 Maoists have laid down their arms and joined the mainstream of society during this period, the chief minister said the state government was providing them compensation and rehabilitation assistance as per the rules.
He requested the Union home minister to extend financial support from the central government for development works in the backward regions of the state.
Reddy also urged Shah to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state from 83 to 105 in line with the state's growing administrative and security needs, the statement said.
The first cadre review after the formation of Telangana was conducted in 2016, while the next review, due in 2021, was delayed and finally carried out in 2025. Even then, only seven additional IPS officers were allocated to the state, the chief minister informed Shah and requested that the third cadre review be conducted in 2026 as per the schedule.
Reddy explained that Telangana, like the rest of the country, is facing several modern challenges, including cybercrime, drug trafficking, white-collar crimes, and other emerging security threats.
He highlighted the reorganisation of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Malkajgiri Police Commissionerates, the proposed formation of the Future City Commissionerate and the rapidly growing population in Hyderabad to underline the increasing administrative requirements of the state.
