The 2014 India Elections have begun and as the election din and frenzy reaches its finale, it is now time to take a look at the major trends that have defined the exercise of political choice in the world’s largest democracy.

In this election, the youth forms a major chunk of the voting population. 150 million young Indians between the ages of 18 to 23 years are eligible to vote for the first time. That is staggeringly close to the total number of all registered voters in the 2012 presidential elections in the United States (169 million) and the sum equivalent of voters in most of the European countries.
In the nine-phase voting process that kick started across the country on April 7 and is scheduled to end on May 12, popular trends indicate that first-time voters are showing no signs of the voter lethargy that Indians are infamous for. On the contrary, young Indians are showing up at the voting booth in unprecedented numbers and voting has become a sign of impatience and assertiveness.

So what has brought about such a drastic change in the voting pattern? It is the sizable segment of first-time voters, who are the target of some finely orchestrated wooing by political parties and leaders. Opinion polls and experts, however, are working overtime to predict the mind of this young sizable voter pool.
Perhaps the defining point of this generation is the fact that they have grown up in and gotten used to a buoyant economic scenario. In the ongoing elections, these urban first-time voters are expressing considerable anxiety about India’s recent economic slide and the rise in corruption. They are a bunch who are unsatisfied with the current governance and want a change pronto. A lot has changed since the last general election in 2009 when India was nearing double-digit economic growth rates. Since then, the economy has slowed dramatically and is now projected to grow at 5.4% in 2014.

Who would have predicted two years ago that Narendra Modi would be this close to the prime minister’s seat? The poll predictions suggest this could be the BJP’s strongest showing in decades, and conversely suggest that this could be the ruling Congress Party’s worst performance yet.
But the election is far from over, and opinion polls have been wrong in the past. In 2004, when BJP ran its miscalculated “India Shining” campaign, opinion polls favored the NDA to win heavily, but it was beaten by the Congress, which since then has been at the helm of the ruling UPA coalition for the last ten years.
Young voters are also extremely concerned about the dwindling job prospects and lack of opportunities. It is a generation that is arriving to a damp job scenario after witnessing the generation before enjoy a long spell of plentiful employment opportunities, double-digit salary rises and job-hopping.
Real issues aside, first-timers are making it obvious on social networks that they are enamored by political idols and are going gaga in support of them. The boyish-faced Rahul Gandhi of the ruling Congress Party, the tough-talking Narendra Modi and the anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party have their own segment of young fans and a hysterical fan following to boot. Still, it is hard to say who this game changer of a generation will favor in the polling booth.

Arun Jaitley, the Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha has previously held the portfolios as the Union cabinet Minister for Commerce and Industry, and Law and Justice in the National Democratic Alliance government (1998-2004.) Born in New Delhi into a family of lawyers, social activists, and philanthropists he came into prominence as a leader of the movement against corruption, launched in 1973 by Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan. A year later Jaitley contested and won the election to the post of the president of the Delhi University student union, a prestigious win on sub national level. In an era where Congress Party had a stranglehold over university campuses Jaitley’s election  as an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidate marked a watershed in India’s student politics.  He subsequently joined the BJP, having been earlier a member of ABVP, the president of the Youth Wing of the BJP and the secretary of its Delhi unit. During the 1998-1999 General Election, Mr Jaitley became the Spokesperson of BJP wherein he successfully positioned the BJP as the main protagonist against the ruling party.

Mr Jaitley, made his first visit to the United States when he visited Washington from June 2011. He was accompanied by Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Janardhan Swamy and former Rajya Sabha member Chandan Mitra. Mr Jaitley met with several members of the US Congress, think tanks, and key members of the administration during this trip. He started his visit with an address at the Heritage Foundation on “Indian Foreign Policy — Priorities in a Shifting Global Landscape.” He interacted with prominent lawmakers on Capitol Hill and stressed the growing strength of the U.S.-India relationship and its strategic nature, and the convergence on various issues between the two countries especially relating to terrorism and growth of trade. The co-chairs of the India Caucus in the U.S. Congress  Congressmen Joe Crowley and Congressman Ed Royce held a reception on behalf of the caucus for Jaitley in the Rayburn Congressional Building. Representative Crowley welcomed Jaitley, and said, “Mr. Jaitley’s visit represents a great opportunity for the U.S. to continue building a strong relationship with India. In an increasingly globalized economy, it is important for the U.S. to continue to foster friendship with India, which is emerging as a leading growth economy despite the difficult economic landscape.”

In his capacity as the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mr. Jaitley has been credited for his excellent oratory which is matched equally by his intense research into the topic and his ability to succinctly convey the message without being shrill.

However, being in the party since 1980 he never contested any direct election until 2014.He is the BJP’s candidate for Amritsar for Indian general election, 2014. USINPAC wishes Mr Jaitley all the success in the Indian general election and his future endeavors.

India-born poet Vijay Seshadri has won the prestigious 2014 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry category for his collection of poems “3 Sections.”

The 98th annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music were announced yesterday by Columbia University here.

Seshadri’s ’3 Sections’ is a “compelling collection of poems that examine human consciousness, from birth to dementia, in a voice that is by turns witty and grave, compassionate and remorseless,” the announcement said.

The prize for the poetry category was given for a “distinguished volume of original verse” by an American author.

A Columbia University alum, Seshadri would receive USD 10,000 reward.

According to Seshadri’s biography on the Pulitzer website, he currently teaches poetry and nonfiction writing at liberal arts college Sarah Lawrence in New York. Born in Bangalore in 1954, Seshadri came to America at the age of five and grew up in Columbus, Ohio.

His collections of poems include James Laughlin Award winner The Long Meadow and Wild Kingdom (1996). His poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in prestigious publications including the American Scholar, the Nation, the New Yorker, the Paris Review, Yale Review, the Times Book Review, the Philadelphia Enquirer and in many anthologies, including Under 35: The New Generation of American Poets and The Best American Poetry 1997 and 2003.

Seshadri has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, and has been awarded the Paris Review’s Bernard F Conners Long Poem Prize and the MacDowell Colony’s Fellowship for Distinguished Poetic Achievement.

Seshadri is the fifth person of Indian origin to bag the prestigious award, the first being Gobind Behari Lal in 1937. Lal, a science editor, was awarded the Pulitzer in the Reporting category for his coverage of science at the tercentenary of Harvard University when he was working for Universal Service. He died of cancer in 1992.

Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri got Pulitzer for fiction in 2000 for her collection of stories “Interpreters of Maladies”.

Journalist-writer of Indian origin Geeta Anand was the next to get the award. Anand was the investigative reporter and feature writer for the Wall Street Journal and won the award in 2003 for “clear, concise and comprehensive stories that illuminated the roots, significance and impact of corporate scandals in America”.

Indian-American physician Siddhartha Mukherjee’s acclaimed book on cancer, ‘The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,’ won the 2011 Pulitzer prize in the general non-fiction category.

Source: Business Standard

Though the sudden resignation of US Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell continues to spin the rumour mills, the names of Rajiv Shah, chief of the US Agency for International Development, and Richard Verma, former assistant secretary in the state department under Hillary Clinton, are reported to have emerged as front runners to succeed her.

Apparently, the US administration has also shortlisted two more names. One is of Ashton Carter, who recently quit the Barack Obama administration as deputy secretary for defence. The other is Fred Hochberg, a fund-raiser for President Obama’s poll campaign and currently the head of the US Export-Import Bank.

Sources say the US authorities will take a decision only after the general elections in India get over and a new government is in place.

Shah, 41, is the highest-ranking Indian-American in the Obama administration. He earned accolades as head of USAID for his response to earthquake-hit Haiti and floods in Pakistan.

Shah also has a close acquaintance with some stalwarts of Indian industry. Born to immigrant parents who hailed from Gujarat, he did an MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an MSc in health economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Verma, called ‘Rich’, served for a little more than two years as (then secretary of state) Hillary Clinton’s principal Congressional affairs advisor, in his capacity of assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs. Verma is believed to be also close to the present secretary of state, John Kerry. He was a confidant of Clinton and continues to be a senior outside advisor to her. His parents are from Punjab and he served in the US Air Force, being decorated more than once. He’s also served as the senior national security advisor to Senate majority leader Harry Reid.

As for Carter, former US deputy secretary for defence, he’s a known quantity here, as military cooperation between both countries has begun to ripen. He views China, India, Australia and New Zealand as the US’ future security partners.

As for Hochberg, a businessman who is now head of the US Exim Bank, it is believed that if he becomes the next ambassador, he might be able to fix the growing strain in Indo-US relations on trade and industrial policies.

The strategic and bilateral relationship has been simmering with tension for quite a while. The US government raised its fees for professional visas; then, a series of trade spats soured the relation.

It then hit a low when Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, when posted in New York, was arrested and strip-searched over allegations of visa fraud and making false statements.

Source: BusinessStandard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement in advance of India’s national election:

“On April 7, 800 million Indians of astounding linguistic and religious diversity will head to the polls for India’s 16th national election since independence. This will be the largest exercise of democracy in history.  On behalf of the United States Senate, I convey my admiration and best wishes to the people of India.

“As the world’s oldest and largest democracies, the U.S. and India have a strong partnership grounded in common values and shared interests.   The partnership has grown to unprecedented levels over the past decade. The potential and promise of what President Obama has called the leading partnership of the 21st century is real:  bilateral trade has reached $100 billion, Indian companies have invested $17 billion in the U.S., 100,000 Indian students study in the United States, and a 3 million strong Indian-American community underpins the relationship.  This is a relationship that enjoys broad bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.  I’m a proud member of the India Caucus – among the largest in Congress – and am privileged to have jurisdiction over U.S.-India issues as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs.

“The United States will continue to work with the new government to further strengthen the ties between our two great democracies.  At a time of growing global challenges, our partnership is more crucial than ever to the peace and prosperity of Asia Pacific and beyond.  Governments come and go, ministers may change portfolios, but our people-to-people ties, democratic values and shared interests are enduring.”

Source:  U.S. Senator Tim Kaine