Imagine a remote, community-led initiative with the power to cultivate India's fastest athletes, all born from a shared dream, unshod and resolute. Deep within the lush confines of Karnataka's jungle, numerous communities struggle for recognition and voice. It was amidst these whispers of forgotten dreams that I first encountered the spark of potential. When we proposed our sports program to the community, their leader posed a poignant question: why couldn't we implement it right here in the community itself? Memories resurfaced of the government's Special Area Games in the 1980s, which iden ..read more

It is hard to escape any development conversation without the two holy words ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Digital Health’.  Amusingly the two are connected like Siamese twins. In the context of Digital Health there is more grist to the mill with AI, ML, IoMT, SaMD, Robotics, Personalized/Precision Medicine that make for bleeding edge speaking circuit opportunities. Lost in this melee is the one that matters i.e., Healthcare Outcomes.  Nevertheless, the potential of Digital Health to deliver scale, equity, safety and sustainability of healthcare, and fuel innovation is HUGE and life transfor ..read more

My first close brush to the issue was when I entered a red-light district way back in 2000 and saw young girls there. My probing and curiosity of where these girls come from took me to Sunderbans. Here I saw a whole village of ladies, young and old, had been trafficked, lured, conned, black mailed to Sonagachi- Asia’s largest red-light district. Most of these young women were primarily victims of a lack of education, awareness and extreme poverty. I founded a non-profit, Missing Link Trust, to address this issue. Missing Link Trust began working in Sundarbans, a remote part of West Bengal, wh ..read more

Strolling around the Tidal Basin in Washington DC amidst the season of cherry blossoms where trees become celeb-trees and people buzz around them like bees is a time every year which symbolizes a new cycle of vitality and vibrancy, I as a strong advocate of the US-India defense partnership was thinking of a road that the two (oldest and largest democracies) are going to take in the 21st century. Towards this end, on March 13 in Washington DC, my organization, CUTS International, a global public policy research and advocacy group along with the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) org ..read more

It is a pleasure to get this opportunity to reach out to readers of Indiaspora. I am an alumnus of IIT Madras, and work in Mumbai as a film director. My previous film as director is the supernatural thriller: EK THI DAAYAN. I was also one of the writers of the action-comedy DAUD. I finished my MFA in Film at Temple University in Philadelphia, before joining Bollywood as Shekhar Kapur’s assistant in the acclaimed film BANDIT QUEEN. I wish to draw your attention to my film Ae Watan Mere Watan streaming now on AMAZON PRIME VIDEO. As all of you would know, India attained freedom from British rul ..read more

I have just published my 10th book on history and completed my 78th heritage tour. What keeps me going? Certainly not the money but a sense of reconnecting with the happiest part of my childhood – summer vacations in a 10,000 sq. ft home in Palayamkottai that has been in our family for 6 generations! Pouring over a 5000 sq ft attic filled with relics of all sorts – old clothes, newspapers to furniture and discarded lamps, and an old pankah wheel on the door lintel, the trips were magical. Sunday visits to temples spread over multiple acres with no one but me and a priest and the lip-smacking f ..read more

In December 2023, I was enroute to Mayfair in Central London when a mail in my inbox caught my attention - “Usha Venkatraman, you are nominated to The 68th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, taking place next year from 11 - 22 March 2024.”  Signed by Indian Development Foundation. I thought I had landed on the MOON!  IDF Background Indian Development foundation (IDF), an NGO having special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council nominated 18 successful Women S ..read more

In his seminal book ‘Brave New World’, Aldous Huxley, has one of his main characters extort — “But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin.” I don’t know so much about sin, but it set me thinking, isn’t this character seeking challenge, growth and transformation? The desire for adventure is universal, the longing to seek a newer horizon is potent in every heart and every human being is on a journey of self-actualization in one form or the other. A Narrative of Transformation through Adventure As I hold an author’s copy o ..read more

The Indian American community stands as a beacon of achievement in technology, medicine, business and leadership. Yet, amidst our triumphs, 2024 has unveiled a grim reality: in just the first two months of the year, ten students have died to violent murder, suicide, and drug overdose. In addition, an entire family has committed suicide, and a motel owner has also been brutally murdered. These events have stirred anguish and fear among families, friends, and well-wishers.  They serve as a stark reminder: violence knows no bounds in America—it strikes regardless of skin color, socio-economi ..read more

For nearly twenty years, I’ve devoted my life to protecting this country. I’ve worked on critical US national security in some of the most dangerous places in the world. From the Middle East to South Asia, with the CIA, US Central Command, the US Air Force and the broader Department of Defense, I served proudly under Secretary Austin and Mattis.  I was one of the youngest Directors at the Department of Defense (GS-15) holding the highest civilian rank.  I have studied and worked on strengthening US-India relations throughout my career.  I’ve helped protect this country wher ..read more