Over 20 Indian-Americans named in Biden's agency review teams
Washington: US President-elect Joe Biden has named more than 20 Indian-Americans as members, including three as team leads, to his agency review teams (ARTs) that are responsible for evaluating the operations of the key federal agencies in the current administration to ensure a smooth transfer of power.
Biden's transition team said this is one of the most diverse agency review teams in presidential transition history.
Of the hundreds of ART members, more than half are women, and approximately 40 percent represent communities historically underrepresented in the federal government, including people of color, people who identify as LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities.
Agency review teams are responsible for understanding the operations of each agency, ensuring a smooth transfer of power, and preparing for President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and their Cabinet to hit the ground running on Day One.
At least three Indian Americans have been named as team leads to various ARTs.
Arun Majumdar from the prestigious Stanford University is the team lead for the Department of Energy ART. Rahul Gupta is the team lead for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Kiran Ahuja has been named Team Lead for the Office of Personnel Management. Puneet Talwar has been named to the Department of State ART. Pav Singh has been named two ARTs for the National Security Council and Office of Science and Technology.
Similarly, Arun Venkatraman has been named to two ARTs Department of Commerce and USTR.
Other prominent Indian Americans named to ARTs are Pravina Raghavan, Atman Trivedi for Department of Commerce and Shital Shah for Department of Education; R Ramesh and Rama Zakaria for the Department of Energy; Subhasri Ramanathan for the Department of Homeland Security; Raj De for Department of Justice; and Seema Nanda and Raj Nayak for Department of Labour.
Reena Aggarwal and Satyam Khanna have been named to the Federal Reserve, Banking and Securities Regulators ARTs; Bhavya Lal for NASA; Dilpreet Sidhu for National Security Council, Divya Kumaraiah for Office of Management and Budget; Kumar Chandran for Department of Agriculture; and Aneesh Chopra to US Postal Service. Almost all of them are volunteers.
These teams are composed of highly experienced and talented professionals with deep backgrounds in crucial policy areas across the federal government.
Our nation is grappling with a pandemic, an economic crisis, urgent calls for racial justice, and the existential threat of climate change. We must be prepared for a seamless transfer of knowledge to the incoming administration to protect our interests at home and abroad. The agency review process will help lay the foundation for meeting these challenges on Day One, said Senator Ted Kaufman, Co-Chair, Biden-Harris Transition.
The work of the agency review teams is critical for protecting national security, addressing the ongoing public health crisis, and demonstrating that America remains the beacon of democracy for the world, he said.
The transition team announced the agency review teams even as outgoing President Donald Trump's administration has yet to formally recognize Biden as the president-elect.
Formal recognition from the General Services Administration is needed to allow transition staff access to federal workers and much of the information they will need.
Trump, a Republican, has declined to concede the closely-fought November 3 presidential race to Democrat Biden and is mounting legal fights in several key battleground states alleging voter irregularities or widespread fraud in the election -- billed as one of the most divisive and bitter in recent American history.
President Trump has made repeated and baseless claims that the Democratic Party has tried to steal the election.
Once the GSA Administrator ascertains the results of the election, the ART members will work directly with staff in federal agencies to ensure that the incoming Biden-Harris administration is able to effectively achieve the policy goals of the President and Vice President-elect.
The ARTs will proceed by meeting with former agency officials and experts who closely follow federal agencies, and with officials from think tanks, labor groups, trade associations, and other NGOs.
Many of the ART members have had long careers in the federal agencies they will now help prepare for the incoming Biden-Harris administration, the transition said.
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Tell US President Donald Trump to stop West Asia conflict: Owaisi to PM Modi
Hyderabad (PTI): AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "break his silence" on the conflict in West Asia and ask US President Donald Trump to end the war.
Addressing a gathering here, he also asked the PM to provide a full account of the sinking of an Iranian ship, IRIS Dena, off Sri Lanka by a US military submarine two days ago.
Taking strong exception to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's recent announcement regarding Indian oil imports, he said the BJP-RSS should give a strong response to the American official and assert that India would purchase oil according to its own will.
He accused the BJP-RSS combine of being "scared" of US President Donald Trump.
"This war should end. Prime Minister should break his silence. Take the phone and tell Trump to stop this tamasha. They (US) are not suffering any losses. Our citizens are suffering. Who is dying there? Indians are dying. You maintained silence over Gaza," he said.
Owaisi dismissed the argument that the Iranian vessel sank outside the Indian waters, saying it is important to realise that it occurred close to India.
"If a Chinese ship comes close to our nation, what would you do? You say that it was not in Indian waters. Water does not have borders. You see how close the enemy has come. It is the Constitutional responsibility of the Prime Minister to tell the country what happened. We are with America in Quad," he said.
Pointing to India's strategic agreements with the US, the AIMIM leader said the Iranian frigate had visited Visakhapatnam at the invitation of India, while America had refused to participate in the naval exercise there.
Highlighting that one crore Indian citizens work in the Gulf region, a widening war lead to job losses for Indian diaspora.
He alleged that Israel aims to create a 'Greater Israel', encompassing much of the Arab region.
"The evil eye of these oppressors extends up to the holy city of Madinah."
Responding to US Treasury Secretary's comments that America is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil, Owaisi wondered if India truly is a sovereign country.
"Have you mortagaged India before US. Speak out BJP-RSS people. A (US)minister says you purchase for a month. Is this what we have secured freedom from the English that a white-skinned person says you purchase for a month ? But, they will not speak. They are scared of Trump," he said.
Quoting America's trade minister as saying that the US would not let India emerge like China, the AIMIM leader asked whether "India is a slave of America?"
He further questioned, "What is America's role in the progress of India?"
"BJP and RSS people are terrified of speaking against the white-skinned officials," he alleged.
He also hit out at the Centre for allegedly providing funds to a right-wing organisation to hold an event.
The organisation has openly favoured making India a 'Hindu Rashtra', "converting the religion of Muslims and throwing away 25 crore people," he alleged.
