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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline JANUARY 19, 2024 | The Indian Eye 26

NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

Selected stories about Indian diaspora from our website www.theindianeye.com

MUKESH MODI DR RAJIV SHAH

‘JAI SHREE RAM’ anthem Rockefeller Foundation

from film ‘Political War’ president to join the Board of

creates ripples Feds of New York

he Rockefeller Foundation
president and former head
Tof the United States Agen-
cy for International Development
(USAID) Dr Rajiv Shah has been
appointed to the Board of Directors
of the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York. Shah has been appointed by the
Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System as a ‘Class C’ direc-
tor for a 3-year term ending Decem-
ber 31, 2026. Class C directors on the
New York Fed’s Board of Directors
represent the interests of the public,
according to a statement released.
Dr. Shah has led The Rockefel-
he anthem Jai Shree Ram is a tribute to Shri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya ler Foundation, a philanthropy whose mission is to promote the well-being of
by Hindi feature film Political War. It is produced by Mukesh Modi and people around the world, since 2017.
Tsung by DJ Sheizwood and Vishal Srivastav. The music and lyrics are Prior to joining the foundation, Dr. Shah was founder and managing part-
by Ashish Chandra (DJ Sheizwood), and the video is directed by Kheshwanad ner of Latitude Capital, a private equity firm focused on infrastructure and
Bhatt, Vivek Srivastava and Mukesh Modi of Indie Films Inc. energy projects in Africa and Asia. From 2009 to 2015, Dr Shah served as
head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The song is getting praiseworthy views and generating comments In that role, he served on the National Security Council, led the US responses
to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the 2014 West African Ebola pandemic,
in praise of beautiful lyrics and inspiring music. The song is avail- and secured bipartisan support for the passage of the Global Food Security
able on various platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Jio Saavn, Act and the Electrify Africa Act.
Before joining USAID, Dr Shah served as chief scientist and undersecre-
Tidal, Amazon Music, Deezer 1, and YouTube. In response to the tary for research, education, and economics at the United States Department of
excellent coverage and views of the song Jai Shri Ram Mukesh Agriculture, where he created the National Institute for Food and Agriculture.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Shah was a director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foun-
Modi conveyed his thanks to everyone for the support, love and dation, where he created the International Financing Facility for Immunization.
blessings his movie the “Political War” was getting. DR SHARAD BHASKARAN

Recently, the Censor Board of India has refused to grant certificate to
the movie “Political War.” Mukesh Modi, the Producer of the movie is quite Scientist leads America’s first
upset with the Censor Board of India as he is unable to release “Political War”
in cinemas in India due to the refusal of the certificate. The reason given was moon landing mission in 50 years
that the faces of the film’s actors resembled Indian politicians.
Mukesh Modi emphasized that his film aims to inspire the youth, and ASA launched five payloads to the Moon aboard Astrobotic’s Pere-
the government should pay attention to it. He highlighted the inconsistency grine lander, marking the start of 2024 and the first mission under NA-
in the Censor Board’s decisions, approving violent films while hindering the NSA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. Dr. Sharad
release of a film with a positive message. Despite the challenges, he affirmed Bhaskaran, who is of India origin, is the mission director.
that the content of the film is excellent and conveys a message about corrupt Formerly with Lockheed Martin, he manages the engineering team. This
politicians attempting to destabilize India with the help of external powers. mission follows Israel’s Space IL attempt in 2019 and features significant mile-
As per Mukesh Modi, the film will be released in overseas theaters on stones, including the first U.S. lunar landing in over 50 years and the maiden
February 16 and after that it will be released on OTT platforms. The film, pro- flight of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket.
duced under the banner of Indie Films World, was shot in Mumbai, Varanasi, Bhaskaran is currently the Mission Director at Astrobotic Technology
Lucknow, and the United States. Continued on next page... >>

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