Houston
Mrs. Arushi Nishank Pant, Daughter of HRD Minister of India Sri Ramesh Pokhriyal, visited Houston on March 3rd, 2020 at the invitation of Houston Tamil Studies Chair (HTSC). She was accompanied by her husband Abhinav Pant, Dr. Vijay Prabhakar and Ms. Santosh Kumar of Chicago. HTSC conferred the title “Cultural Ambassador of the Houston Tamil Studies Chair” to Arushi Nishank. In that role, Ms. Arushi will appraise the Indian central Government about the HTSC mission to set up a Tamil studies chair at the University of Houston and also help with fundraising for HTSC in India. HTSC was established in 2018 as a Texas non-profit 501(C)(3) tax exempt organization with the mission to establish a Tamil Studies Chair at the University of Houston. Donation and pledges to date have crossed half million mark towards the 2 million goal. We are honored by the endorsement of Tamil Nadu Govt., with a donation of One Crore Rupees. We thank many generous Founding Donors who have pledged, and are recognized in the Electronic Donor Wall, later to be recognized in University of Houston building donor wall.
Arushi received “Top 20 Global Women of Excellence” award in Chicago during this visit to USA. Arushi is a champion of educational and environmental causes. Arushi is also an accomplished Kathak dancer and has a MBA, an International Cambridge PGDM from Cambridge University and is currently pursuing her PhD in human resource management in India. She is also the chairperson of her own Himalayan Ayurvedic Medical College & Hospital in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Arushi has been an active promoter for Namami Gange Mission which is a project started by the Govt of India to clean river Ganga. Arushi has been active in activities aimed at social reforms and programs for the upliftment and empowerment of women globally.
Arushi met with Dr. Susan Scarrow and Kim Howard at the Department of India Studies offices at UH and discussed about possible future collaboration. HTSC held a fundraising reception at Meenakshi Temple with Arushi as the Guest of Honor wherein the Mayor of Pearland, Hon. Tom Reid conferred the “Cultural Ambassador of Houston Tamil Studies Chair” title to Dr. Arushi. MTS Chairman Dhani Kannan, Secretary Parthasarathy, Treasurer Bhargavi Golla and the temple priests welcomed Arushi to MTS. Also present was TNF Houston chapter president Mala Gopal. Rajan Radhakrishnan and Abirami Kannappan also honored the guests.
On her acceptance speech, Arushi talked about her leadership in Sparsh Ganga project and requested HTSC President Sockalingam Sam Kannappan to be the Ambassador Sparash Ganga Abhiyan Houston, Texas.
HTSC Board members Sam Kannappan, Dr. SG Appan, Tupil Narasiman, Dr. Thiruvengadam Arumugam and Perumal Annamalai made a presentation about HTSC to Arushi. On March 4, Arushi met with Hon. Aseem Mahajan, Consul General of India at Houston and Hon. Surendra Adhana Deputy Consul General of India at the Consulate.
For any additional information, please contact Sam Kannappan at [email protected]
