Washington, January 18 (Mint): US President-elect Joe Biden has nominated at least 20 Indian Americans, including 13 women, to key positions in his administration days before he is scheduled to be sworn in on 20 January. Among the Indians are Hindus, Muslims and Christians.
As many as 17 of them would be part of the White House complex. This comes as a feat for the small ethnic community that constitutes 1% of America’s population.
Kamala Harris is also the first person of South Asia descent to be sworn in as the vice president of the United States.
“The dedication that the Indian-American community has shown to public service over the years has been recognised in a big way at the very start of this administration! I am particularly pleased that the overwhelming majority are women. Our community has truly arrived in serving the nation,” Indiaspora founder M R Rangaswami told PTI.
Biden had assured the Indian-American community during a virtual celebration of India’s Independence Day on August 15, 2020 that he will continue to reply on the diaspora during his presidential stint.
“My constituents in Delaware, my staff in the Senate, the Obama-Biden administration, which had more Indian-Americans than any other administration in the history of this country and this campaign with Indian Americans at senior levels, which of course includes the top of the heap, our dear friend (Harris) who will be the first Indian-American vice president in the history of the United States of America,” Biden had said in his video address.
Here’s a list of all the India-Americans nominated so far:
Neera Tanden: She has been nominated as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Dr Vivek Murthy: He has been nominated as the US Surgeon General.
Vanita Gupta: She has been nominated as Associate Attorney General Department of Justice.
Uzra Zeya: She has been nominated under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.
Mala Adiga: She has been appointed as Policy Director to the future First Lady Dr Jill Biden.
Garima Verma: She has been nominated as the Digital Director of the Office of the First Lady.
Sabrina Singh: She has been named as the First Lady’s Deputy Press Secretary.
Aisha Shah: She has been named as Partnership Manager at the White House Office of Digital Strategy.
Sameera Fazili: She would occupy the key position of Deputy Director at the US National Economic Council (NEC) in the White House.
Bharat Ramamurti: He has been nominated as the Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council.
Gautam Raghavan: He has been nominated as Deputy Director in Office of Presidential Personnel.
Vinay Reddy: He has been named as Director of Speechwriting.
Vedant Patel: He has been nominated as Assistant Press Secretary to the President.
Sonia Aggarwal: She has been named Senior Advisor for Climate Policy and Innovation in the Office of the Domestic Climate Policy at the White House.
Vidur Sharma: He has been appointed as Policy Advisor for Testing for the White House Covid-19 Response Team.
Apart from them, three Indian-Americans have made their way to the crucial National Security Council of the White House, thus leaving a permanent imprint on the country’s foreign policy and national security.
They are Tarun Chhabra –Senior Director for Technology and National Security; Sumona Guha — Senior Director for South Asia; Shanthi Kalathil — Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights.
Two Indian-Americans women have been appointed to the Office of the White House Counsel — Neha Gupta as Associate Counsel and Reema Shah as Deputy Associate Counsel.
