The Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut held its annual general body meeting on Sunday, December 27, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and citing the health and safety of all of its members, FIA chose the hybrid approach for this year’s annual general body meeting. The unique meeting was well received and attended by representatives of over 57 member organizations, community leaders and board of directors and trustees via a conference call on a virtual platform.
Board member and General Secretary, Jayesh Patel welcomed all the member organizations and participants. Current Board member Chandrakant Trivedi paid a tribute on behalf of the FIA fraternity to FIA veteran and a distinguished community leader, Michael Phulwani, who passed away on December 26, 2020.
Parveen Bansal, General Secretary, 2020 Executive Committee, presented his annual report in a digital format, summarizing the over 20 events and activities FIA conducted during the calendar year. A tribute to FIA’s emeritus Chairman late Ramesh Patel was also cited in the report.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, over 11 events, including Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu's reception, events surrounding FIA’s flagship India Day Parade, women empowerment celebration, Long Island Diwali Gala, visa assistance camps, among other events had to be called off. While facing the dire impact of the pandemic, including on its fundraising activities, FIA has continued with the challenges faced, to serve and uplift the community in these unprecedented times.
Among the unique initiatives introduced during the challenging year were assistance to first responders which included serving meals in local hospitals and to NYPD, including front line heroes, hot meals in the International Diwali Soup Kitchen Drive in the U.S.and India, Bi-Weekly Diaspora newsletter which will complete one year in January 2021; historic flag hoisting ceremony at Times Square on India’s Independence Day, accommodation assistance in partnership with the Consulate General of India in NewYork to find accommodations for the students from India who were stranded in the U.S. due to COVID-19 travel ban; OCI & visa Town Hall; and several other events on the hybrid as well as exclusively virtual platforms. For its work during the pandemic, the FIA, along with its core members, was recognized as COVID Heroes by Brooklyn Borough President, Hon. Eric Adams.
Amit Ringasia, Treasurer, 2020 Executive Committee, presented fiscal year’s financial reports prepared by KP-CPA LLP. In the report he also mentioned several lost opportunities for fund raising due to COVID-19 and thanked all the members and supporters for their contributions to fund all the events during these difficult times.
President Anil Bansal, addressed the hybrid gathering and mentioned several of FIA’s first and historic events including the international hot meal drive of the Diwali Soup Kitchen, which started with the goal of a 1,000 meals and ended up serving over 10,000 meals in the U.S. and India. He applauded the team in the success of the historic flag hoisting at the Times Square which received global accolades and commended the volunteer editorial team of the Diaspora Bi-weekly for its efforts.
The FIA community newsletter which started from 2,300 emails, has now surpassed the reach of over 58,000 community members. President Bansal expressed his confidence in the ambitious goal of the e-newsletter to cross over a hundred thousand emails by the end of 2021. He applauded his team's effort to end the challenging year on a high note with many firsts under the belt of FIA and concluding the year 2020 positively for the non-profit. He expressed his optimism and resolve for the next year and mentioned that the FIA 2021 team is prepared to “hit the ground running†and will continue with its traditional and flagship events as expected by the community. Under his leadership and presidency, Bansal vowed to deliver FIA’s 50-year celebrations with the much-anticipated grandeur and zeal that is expected, including the gala celebration spread out over three days. He thanked his executive team, board of trustees, and member organizations for their support and hoped that FIA’s chairman emeritus, late Ramesh Patel, is watching from the heaven and his values will continue to guide the FIA in the right direction.
Membership Committee Chair and past resident Alok Kumar provided an update on all the new organizations that have been added in August under the FIA umbrella.
Election committee chair Jayesh Patel along with Vice Chairman of the Board Bipin Patel and current Board member Srujal Parikh announced the predated selection made (due to the pandemic) in the April 2, 2020 meeting of the 2021 president and the executive committee.
The 2021 executive committee consists of Anil Bansal continuing as the President, Himan Bhatia continuing as Executive Vice President, Saurin Parikh will continue as the Vice President, Haresh Shah is included as the 2nd Vice President, Parveen Bansal continuing as General Secretary, Interim Jt. Secretary Smita Miki Patel was officially nominated as the Jt. Secretary for 2021, Amit Ringasia will continue as the Treasurer and Mahesh Dubal will join the 2021 team as the Jt. Treasurer to serve under the new 2021 Executive Committee.
Chairman Ankur Vaidya applauded Anil Bansal for his corporate driven approach and leadership and the 2020 Executive team to not miss a beat due to the pandemic and continue serving the community and by doing so making FIA proud. He mentioned the requests that board has been receiving from the organizations outside of the tristate area for inclusion in FIA under its umbrella and that board is performing an in-depth review to assess these inclusion and legality of community organizations from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. He also mentioned the ongoing process of updating the over a decade old bylaws to bring them to terms with the current times and adapt them apt to the modern-day challenges and operating procedures. He thanked the board of trustees and the member organizations for their participation and support and said he was looking forward to a successful 2021 for all member organizations and community members.
Current Board Member and advisor to the chairman, Padma Shri Dr, Sudhir Parikh addressed the gathering. He commended the efforts of the president and the executive team while paying his respects to late Mr. Phulwani. He credited the excellent progress of the organization even under such challenging times to the vision of its late chairman Ramesh Patel and to the current Chairman Ankur Vaidya.
President of (newly inducted) SKN Foundation Dr. Naveen Mehrotra addressed the gathering and committed to work with FIA for a productive year ahead.
The FIA-Tristate is one of the oldest and largest non-profit grassroots umbrella organizations comprising diversified Indian Associations in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and soon expanding into few more North East States in the U.S.
