Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 6 CITY VIEWS March 6, 2026 Two Indian Americans Among Vote Is Sacred Fellows 2026 T wo Indian Americans are among this years Vote is Sacred Fellows. Ria Chakrabarty of Hindus for Human Rights, and Aasees Kaur of the Sikh Coali- tion are among several selected as Fellows. Each will receive grant funding to implement the Faith in Elections Playbook (FIEP), a nonpartisan resource to inspire everyday people to do their part to ensure free and fair elections, the press release explains. And they will form a supportive network, reaching across divides to work together, and uplifting each other in their sacred work on elections. According to the organization, the Vote is Sacred Fel- lowship brings together civic and faith leaders to devise strategies and projects that will promote constructive engagement with elections in the 2026 midterms, and to discuss difficult questions around the elections. “The 2026 Vote is Sacred Fellows represent a wide diversity of identities, views, and beliefs, enabling them to practice pluralism and model cooperation, ‘ the organization says in its Feb. 25, 2026 press release. The lessons learned in the fellowship will be used to inform elections work and public conversations around the country, it adds. “We believe that democracy is a deeply held Hindu value – it allows each individual to pursue their choices and celebrates the diversity in our shared humanity,” Chakrabarty is quoted saying in the press release. Over the course of the program, fellows will learn pluralism practices and strategies for leveraging faith in elections, organizers say. Fellows will coordinate their elections work at the state and national levels. Chakrabarty is the Senior Policy Director at Hindus for Human Rights, where she advocates in collaboration with government actors. She has focused on understand- ing the effects of US foreign policy on communities worldwide. She has also worked in various positions in the United States Senate and theWorld Health Organiza- tion, according to her bio on Hindus for Human Rights. She graduated from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas with a Masters of Global Policy Studies. PHOTO: INTERFAITHAMERICA.ORG PHOTO:SIKHCOALITION.ORG Ria Chakrabarty Aasees Kaur R esearchers at the State University of NewYork at Stony Brook are collaborating on a new U.S. Army- funded project with the goal to improve how military command- and-control systems share and interpret data across platforms. The project brings together industry and academic partners to address chal- lenges posed by disconnected systems and legacy data formats used in military operations. It will be conducted with funding from the Army which has award- ed a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to HERE, an enterprise browser technology company, “to develop advanced data interoperability solutions for Army Command-and-Control (C2) and mission command systems,” a February 25, news release on the Stonybrook site said. As part of the effort, HERE is partnering with Manoj D. Mahajan, director of special programs at Stony Brook University’s Cen- ter of Excellence inWireless and Infor- mation Technology (CEWIT), and Pawel Polak of the university’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics and its Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS), the news release says. Brook University is working with HERE Enterprise Inc. and the U.S. Army to provide AI agnostic solutions that will prevent vendor lock-in for the U.S. Department ofWar and enable a more cohesive C2 environment,” said Mahajan. “This will enable analysts and warfighters to increase productivity by enabling them to move and access data faster across different tools through an AI-enabled platform.” The Mahajan-led CEWIT’s role builds on Stony Brook’s established strengths in artificial intelligence, data science and applied mathematics. CEWIT collabo- rates “extensively with government and industry partners to translate research into deployable technologies, particularly in areas involving large language models, secure systems and complex data envi- ronments,” the university said, adding that CEWIT continues to serve as a key hub for these collaborations that address real-world challenges through advanced research and innovation. “This award helps expand Stony Brook University’s growing work in the defense and intelli- gence sector.” The university said. “At HERE, we are pleased to be work- ing with Stony Brook University and Dr. Manoj Mahajan’s research teams and fac- ulty at CEWIT to ensure the most cutting- edge technology to deliver to the U.S. Army,” Vice President for public sector at HERE Jeff Mironcow said. “In addition, we are also excited to be working on an upcoming second project with the Stony Brook University team for the U.S. Depart- ment ofWar.” Indian American Researcher Manoj Mahajan At Stony Brook University, SUNY, Leads Collaboration On US Army Project By a StaffWriter By a StaffWriter U K’s InterContinental Hotels Group expects In- dia to become one of its top-five global markets within years, a senior executive said on Friday, as international hospitality brands accelerate expansion across the world’s most populous country. “It (India) is like a game-changer. It’s an infinite market in a sense,” Sudeep Jain, managing director for South West Asia at IHG, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Hospitality Overview Presentation & Exchange confer- ence in Goa. IHG, whose brands include Holiday Inn and Avid Hotels, currently operates around 50 hotels in India with roughly 80 in development. The British group said in January it aimed to grow its combined open and pipeline portfolio within the country to more than 400 properties within five years. Globally, IHG operates over 6,900 hotels, with about two-thirds in the Americas. India’s hospitality sector is forecast to nearly double to $55.7 billion by 2031 from $23.5 billion in 2025, according to consultancy Mordor Intelligence, driven by popula- tion growth, rapid urbanisation and rising travel demand from both affluent and budget consumers. IHG is not alone in its ambitions. Hyatt Hotels Chief Executive Mark Hoplamazian said the chain expects to quintuple its India footprint over five years. HiltonWorldwide has separately announced plans to quadruple its pipeline of hotel rooms in the country. Executives from Accor andWyndham Hotels also flagged India as a priority market at the Goa conference. Jain ruled out an Indian stock market listing for IHG’s local operations, at least in the near term, even as local subsidiaries of South Korea’s LG Electronics and Hyun- dai Motor have recently completed Indian initial public offerings. -Reuters Holiday Inn-Owner IHG Sees India As Top-Five Market As Global Chains Scale Up By Nathan Gomes and Praveen Paramasivam PHOTO:STONYBROOK.EDU Dr. Manoj D. Mahajan, Senior Research Scientist, Associate Professor, College of Business, Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology, CEWIT. INDIA