Voters have picked Dr. Syed Taj to be the Democratic candidate for Michigan's 11th Congressional District in the primary election Tuesday. With all precincts reporting, Taj got 59 percent of the vote over Bill Roberts, who has 41 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results reported by the Michigan Secretary of State. Taj will face the Republican candidate in the Nov. 6 election, and the winner will serve a two-year term beginning in January. Kerry Bentivolio has claimed victory over Nancy Cassis in the Republican race.
A statement on Taj's Facebook page declares his victory. "I am humbled by the support that I received tonight and I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue my campaign in the great 11th Congressional District," he said in the statement. Taj also thanked his supporters and asked for their support in the coming months."We will celebrate tonight as tomorrow we will be back to work on the campaign trail. Thank you and now let's win in November!," he said in the statement.

The race to elect India's 13th president formally began Thursday with both UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee and his rival Purno Sangma filing their nominations for the July 19 contest. The result will be out July 22. While Mukherjee sought the "blessing of god and cooperation of all" to get elected, Sangma termed his candidature "a victory of tribal unity." Both Mukherjee and Sangma said they will start their campaign Saturday, and expressed the hope that the mercurial Mamata Banerjee would rally on their side. While opposed to Mukherjee, Banerjee has still not supported Sangma."I only wish at this time that we have the blessing of god and cooperation of all at this juncture," Mukherjee told reporters. He thanked the Janata Dal-United, Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Shiv Sena for their support.Photograph: Pranab Mukerjee

Singapore, June 10:Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor and actress Vidya Balan walked away with top honours for their films "Rockstar" and "The Dirty Picture" respectively at the 13th International Indian Film Academy awards (IIFA) here Saturday. The IIFA awards were given at a glittering ceremony in Singapore Indoor Stadium. Ranbir, who played the role of an aspiring singer who aims to make it big, beat actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan, to walk away with the trophy of best actor in a leading role. On the other hand, actress Vidya Balan also continued her winning streak by picking up the award for best actress in a leading role for "The Dirty Picture". She emerged victorious among Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Mahie Gill and Kangna Ranaut. Zoya Akhtar's "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" won the best film and the best director award.

Snigdha Nandipati, a 14-year-old from San Diego, spelled "guetapens," a French-derived word that means ambush, snare or trap, to win the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night.

Fourteen-year-old Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, whose Indian first name means "flowing with honey," won the 85th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. She correctly spelled "guetapens," which means ambush, to win in the 13th round.
Nine spellers made the finals for Thursday's prime-time broadcast of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Siddharth Kulkarni, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from San Jose who was sponsored by The Chronicle, was eliminated in an earlier round.

The Indian rupee slumped to 55 against US dollar, the lowest level ever touched. The currency has shed over 10 per cent of the value since March 2012 and over 20 per cent over the past one year and is among the weakest currencies in Asia.
Here are top ten developments:
1. The Indian rupee fell to the lowest level in the history at 55.03. This was its fourth consecutive record low in as many sessions, as the euro retreated from the day's highs and as global risk sentiment remained weak. Traders said corporate dollar demand and oil and defence-related dollar buying also weighed on the currency.

The online ad campaign for Popchipsis being reworked after an outcry from viewers for being racist. One of the characters Ashton Kutcher portrays in online dating themed commercial is a Bollywood movie producer named "Raj." Viewers were offended that Kutcher appeared in a brown makeup and used a heavy Indian accent for the role. While Kutcher has not commented, CEO of Popchips issued a statement that said "Our team worked hard to create a light-hearted parody featuring a variety of characters that was meant to provide a few laughs. I take full responsibility and apologize to anyone we offended." While the company pulled the video featuring just "Raj" from their YouTube and Facebook page and removed picture Kutcher as that character from their Facebook cover photo, the initial video featuring all four of Kutcher's characters, including "Raj",remains on their YouTube channel and Kutcher's personal Facebook page.

MIBIHAR community expresses deepest condolences over the passing of Shri Manesh Shah on Tuesday April 17th. It is a tragic loss to the community. May God Almighty give Shri Manesh Shah's soul eternal peace and his family the strength and courage to overcome this huge loss!

Shri Manesh Shah was an active Michigan Indian Community member. He was the Founder and CEO of General Chemicals. The Michigan Indian community not only lost an enterprising entrepreneur, community leader but a really genuine personality who had a helpful attitude for all. Shri Manesh Shah will be missed immensly.

March 5th, India has won the first women's Kabaddi World Cup championship, beating Iran 25-19 in a thrilling game played in Patna, in the state of Bihar. India had the upper hand throughout the match and was 19-11 at half-time. Kabaddi is a field sport which originated in India.

Two teams take turns to send a raider to the other's territory, or half, tag members of the opposing team, and return "home" without being blocked by defenders on the other side. While he is "tagging" his opponents, the raider has to hold his breath and chant "kabaddi, kabaddi". The final was played at the Patlipura sports complex on Sunday. Earlier in the day, India beat Japan 60-21 while Iran defeated Thailand 46-26 in the semifinals to reach the final.

Troy Democratic Club is organizing its 2012 11th District Candidate & National Campaigns on Wednesday, February 15th at the Troy Community Center, Room # 305. Troy Community Center is located just north of Big Beaver Road. The address is 3179 Livernois Troy MI 48083.
Phone Number: 248-524-3484

Guest Speaker is Dr. Taj
Celebrating our Diversity

Dinner at 6:30PM followed by the Guest Speaker.

The second Global Summit on Bihar would be held in Patna for three days, beginning February 17. The first Global Summit had dwelt on poverty and its measurement in which the relative poverty of Bihar, then christened as one of the five Bimaru states, also figured. Since the first Global Summit held in early 2006, a lot of water has flown down the Ganga, when the face and profile of Bihar has also changed. In keeping with the available forward-looking scenario and outlook in the state, the theme of the second Global Summit to be held here is ‘Changing Bihar.’
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday reviewed the preparations being made for the second summit. The meeting also decided the themes for three general sessions and 11 parallel sessions to be held during the three-day global meet.

Dr. Taj inaugurated his new campaign office in Novi on January 15th, 2012 with a great fanfare. Supporters from all part of Michigan came out in huge numbers to meet Dr. Taj and to wish him continued success. And,what a success Dr. Taj has experienced so far! With just a few weeks into his campaign Dr. Taj has won the hearts of hundreds of voters of the 11th District.Top on Dr. Taj plans is to create jobs and protect Social Security,Medicare for all. Voters believe in his ideology and his plan to bring change in the way Washington politics works. As a physician Dr.Taj has the perfect prescription to all the ailments rooted in the present political system. Showing faith in Dr.Taj the voters of the 11th District have also opened their wallets to his campaign.In a record time his campaign has accumulated close to $140,000- a feat not achieved by any Democrats before him. www.mibihar.com urges its readers to reach out to Dr.Taj's Campaign and donate generously. Your donations will provide the much needed fuel to keep the momentum of this campaign going!
To donate visit http://www.tajforcongress.com

Written by: By Henry Foy MUMBAI (Reuters) - Foreign direct investment in India is set to swell in coming years as investors stomach a lack of transparency, poor infrastructure and policy paralysis in their search for growth, professional services firm Ernst & Young (E&Y) said in a report. Overseas investment in Asia's third-largest economy rose for the first time in three years in 2011, the report noted, as global investors put their faith in rising salaries, an expanding middle-class and a large and cheap labour force.

"The fundamentals that make India attractive to investors remain intact," Farokh T. Balsara, head of markets at Ernst & Young India, wrote in the report released on Sunday.

Sleaze still plagues India. But one place is fighting back- Bihar

A recent article on Bihar by Sudip Mazumdar in www.foreignpolicy.com provides an interesting insight into the status of corruption in Bihar; comparing it to the corruption rate around the country. Bihar is fighting it back with success. Economists Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari in their book "Corruption in India" have concluded that with the power of "political will" Bihar is now the least corrupt state in India. A very promising outlook for a state once tainted with lawlessness and with a corrupt reputation.

Recognition for Detroit- it's at #9 in the list of top 10 American Downtowns!

It’s no secret that the city of Detroit has fallen on tough times. Its downtown core has fared much better than the surrounding neighborhoods, but still has its share of vacant buildings and a frequent dearth of foot traffic. Nonetheless, Detroit’s downtown is one of the most architecturally impressive in the country, largely because the city began to decline before others began urban renewal efforts. These efforts would ultimately scar the cores of those cities. Detroit’s downtown, then, is a remarkable architectural testament to pre-World War II styles of construction. It also remains a center of employment in the greater metro areas, and it has revitalized in recent years with the addition of restaurants and sports facilities. And you can’t forget the legendary automobile manufacturing meccas of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, the original symbols of 20th century American innovation.
Here is the list: