By Manu Shah

Raju Reddy named Vice Chair of the 2^nd World Hindu Congress

Silicon Valley will make its presence felt at the 2^nd World Hindu Congress (WHC) with 200 technocrats registering for the conference. One of their own, Angel Investor Raju Reddy is Vice Chair – an invitation he accepted because he’s come to believe that it takes “scale” to make an impact.

WHC is, after all, scale in its truest sense – a gigantic undertaking that will seek to impact Hindus around the globe. Over 2000 prominent Hindus and 250 thought leaders will gather in Chicago from 7^th– 9^th September, 2018 to spark dialogue and discussion on how Hindus can make a bigger societal impact globally.

Heads of States, media personalities, top tier corporate executives and national community leaders will share the dais to discuss how Hindus can make their presence felt in 7 key areas: education, economy, media, politics, greater visibility of Hindu Women and Youth and Hindu organizations.

Hindus, reflects Raju, are viewed as great doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs, as positive role models but they need to become “change makers.” This requires them to be organized. The release of a Diwali stamp by the US Postal service, corrections about Hinduism in California textbooks, the election of the first Hindu Congressman Ro Khanna are visible examples of the benefits of organization and would have been impossible “if Hindus had not organized themselves.”

America, he continues, is our “Karmabhoomi” and as proud Hindus and Indo Americans, we need to do more philanthropy in our local communities, be more active in public policy and more visible as people making a positive difference. WHC, according to him, is a perfect opportunity to elevate this goal.

Raju is from Nizamabad, Telangana. His father, an active leader in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), enrolled him in the Sainik School in Korukonda. Studying in a school that trained people for the armed forces proved invaluable in teaching him discipline, integrity, team over self and loyalty – values that helped the entrepreneur in him. He is a BITS, Pilani and Virginia Tech graduate, worked at Intel for 10 years, then took his mentor Kanwal Rekhi’s advice and started Sierra Atlantic – an IT solutions company in 1993. It was a substantial company with 2500 people operating in 12 countries before it was bought by Hitachi in 2010.

Raju discovered a second calling with his newfound time – mentoring and philanthropy. He brings 25 startups from India to Stanford each year and invites senior executives from Silicon Valley to meet with them under the StartupBridgeIndia initiative. His second big initiative is Kakatiya Sandbox – a nonprofit that focusses on creating better economic opportunities and positive role models at the grass root levels in rural Telangana, his home state. RSS volunteers in the villages and small towns, he says, were “truly selfless, patriotic people” who helped him in this endeavor.

These initiatives require Raju to travel to India every two months but as he puts it, there’s no substitute for being there in person. He shares his optimism about India’s youth and its future and goes so far as to say that “India will produce global technology brands like Google or Facebook in the coming decade.”

He’s equally positive about the upcoming WHC conference and believes that every attendee will return infused with the confidence that they “can make a difference in their local communities.”

Based on the capacity of the main ball-room at Westin hotel where the plenary, opening and closing sessions will be held, our registration is now full. However, going forward –

1. Registration will remain open only for those who are willing to become Co-Hosts for the event. It is a separate category, for more details – see website.

2. Additionally, registration will remain open for delegates from all countries other than USA and Canada. For those interested from USA & Canada, their registration application will only be considered on case by case basis, to be decided by the registration committee.

For those registering as delegates from now on, please note that for the new registrations, only during the plenary, opening and closing session they will be seated in our over-flow room next to Grand Ball Room where the proceedings will be live streamed. Whereas, during regular conference sessions for which they register, the conference rooms for each of the tracks have enough capacity for all current and new registrants.

Note: All who wish to attend the World Hindu Congress 2018, Must be registered as you will be required to have your conference attendee issued badge all the time for security reasons. We request all to register and save their spot as soon as possible.

The Hindu Organisational Conference (HOTA Forum) brings together a vast array of Hindu organizations, including temples, associations, and institutions to share best practices, experiences, resources, and ideas.

The guiding theme is “Sanghe Shakti Kaliyuge”, which means “Organization is Strength”.

Throughout the world, there are many inspiring stories and case studies of Hindus working to promote Hindu values. We are looking for these stories!

Success Story/Case Study: Exemplary, inspiring success stories of Hindu organizations working to promote Hindu values and/or provide vital services to the community

Goal: Share local initiatives on a global platform and collaborate with others to initiate similar projects in their communities

Submission Guidelines:

1.) Abstract should be up to 500 words and can describe the following items from the evaluation criteria:

• Creativity
• Sustainability
• Diversity
• Impact
• Influence
• Capital investment

2.) One photo of your initiative. Please include a caption for the photo that includes a short description of your initiative that is up to 50 words.

Selection Process: After shortlisting the studies, we be conducting an online poll to vote on the stories. The stories with the most votes will have an opportunity to present at the HOTA forum at the World Hindu Congress.

Email Submissions to sohinis@hindustudentscouncil.org by Monday May 31, 2018

Come and join us for HOTA Forum at the WHC 2018, Sept 7-9 in Chicago, IL, USA (http://whc2018.worldhinducongress.org).

ARTICLES & ADVERTISEMENTS FOR SOUVENIR MAGAZINE – “SAMAARAMBHA”

With the theme: Think Collectively, Act Valiantly, the historic World Hindu Congress 2018 comprises seven parallel conference within it.

We invite you to please submit articles on topics relevant to WHC as a whole or any of the seven parallel conferences. The publication costs and part of the convention costs are supported by the advertisements and generous donations from individuals and businesses.

Please click here for more details.

You can contact Dr. Surendra Pandey, Chief Editor — E-mail: pandeysn@yahoo.com  Tel: 229-883-1687 (USA)

During the WHC 2018, poster presentations will be held to provide qualifying delegates a platform to share their unique case studies, ideas and success stories with others. The purpose of poster presentation is to enable delegates to “connect, inspire and share ideas” leading to positive outcomes for the common good of the Hindu community worldwide.

To qualify one must be a registered or prospective delegate to World Hindu Congress and have a compelling success story (case study or idea) which aligns with the theme of one of the seven conferences within the congress as noted earlier. If you are such an individual, we would like to hear from you.

Details of how to submit your proposal can be found in “How to Become a Poster Presenter at WHC” section. For any questions or clarification, please feel free to contact: Dr. Jai Bansal or Dr. Chandra Reddy at WHC2018.Posters@Gmail.com

Please note that in view of the anticipated overwhelming response to this call, the organizers will make the final selection of the entries to be included in the poster presentations. During the event, all presentations will be judged for quality/clarity/impact and top 3 posters will be recognized with appropriate citations.

For more details, please click here