Vaishnavi Jayakumar, an Indian-American employee at Meta, has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of anti-Asian bias. She claims that despite her years of experience and requesting a promotion, she was excluded from projects and told she was unqualified. Jayakumar’s workload increased while her performance ratings declined. According to a recent analysis in the US, this reflects a larger pattern of discrimination that the Asian American community experiences in the workplace. The report revealed that although Asians outnumber white employees at companies like Meta, their representation in leadership roles is significantly lower. A 2017 study by Ascend Leadership also found that Asians, especially Asian women, are among the least likely to be promoted into leadership positions.

Jayakumar is demanding policy changes at Meta, including tracking promotion rates for Asian Americans and providing training to managers regarding stereotypes and biases. The goal is to end the systemic barriers faced by Asian employees and create equal opportunities for leadership advancement.

US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday swore in Indian-American Geeta Rao Gupta as the Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues in the State Department.

Gupta was confirmed by the US Senate by 51 to 47 votes for the position in May, this year.

According to Gupta, there are many inequities and indignities that women suffer around the world, which hold them back from participating fully in the economy.

“They are subject to threats to their safety and have a fear of violence even on a daily basis, and that determines their mobility. In situations of conflict and emergencies and humanitarian crises they are particularly vulnerable, both in terms of their safety but also in terms of their being able to look after their families and feed their families,” she said during her confirmation hearing last year.

Describing herself as a “first-generation immigrant,” she said, “I belong to a family of professional women, each of whom dedicated their lives to serving their communities and from a family of men who supported them fully.” She told lawmakers that she did her doctoral research in India on understanding the barriers that women face in pursuing a career, which ultimately, propelled her toward a career focused on rectifying the inequities experienced by women. “That became both my passion and my profession,” she said. “From the women entrepreneurs in Kenya and India who sustain small businesses despite limited access to financial services, to the brave women in Liberia who mobilised against great odds to demand peace for their families and communities, I have seen women use the limited resources they have to provide for their families and protect others,” Gupta said.

The brief ceremonial swearing was attended among others by the second Gentleman; her husband Arvind Gupta; daughter Nayna Gupta; Manjuli Maheshwari, sister-in-law and Carolina Rojas, a close family friend.

Till recently she was Executive Director of the 3D Program for Girls and Women and Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation.

Gupta served as Deputy Executive Director at UNICEF and as a senior fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to that, for over a decade, Gupta was the president of the International Centre for Research on Women, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to using research to shape international development policies and programs to empower women and girls.

US under secretary for democracy and human rights Uzra Zeya on Monday met senior Indian officials, including foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra, and discussed cooperation to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific and regional stability.

Zeya, who is also the US special coordinator for Tibetan issues, began a visit to India on Sunday, with the focus on deepening the India-US partnership and finding shared solutions to global challenges.

“A pleasure to meet again with Foreign Secretary @AmbVMKwatra. Grateful for the vital #USIndia partnership & shared efforts to advance a free & open Indo-Pacific, regional stability, and civilian security,” Zeya said in a post on Twitter after her meeting with the foreign secretary.

She also tweeted about a fruitful conversation with Sanjay Verma, secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry. “Thanks for your continued partnership addressing global & regional challenges. U.S.-India cooperation is essential to our most vital priorities & a more peaceful and prosperous world,” she said.

There were no official readouts from both sides on the meetings. Shortly after her arrival in New Delhi, Zeya and senior US officials met a delegation led by the Dalai Lama.

Zeya also tweeted about a meeting with the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility Council of the US embassy aimed at “leading on efforts to build a more inclusive @StateDept that fully represents us”.

Zeya was joined for most of her meetings by Donald Lu, assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs and US ambassador Eric Garcetti.

Ahead of her arrival in New Delhi, Zeya said her visit was aimed at taking forward shared solutions to global challenges, contributing to a more free, open and secure Indo-Pacific, and bolstering humanitarian support for refugees across the region. Besides India, Zeya will travel to Bangladesh during the visit that concludes on July 14.

In Bangladesh, Zeya will meet senior officials to discuss shared humanitarian concerns, including the Rohingya refugee crisis, free and fair elections, labour issues, human rights, and combating human trafficking, the US state department said.

She will also engage with civil society organisations in both countries on freedom of expression and association, and inclusion of women and girls, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable groups, including marginalised religious and ethnic minorities, the department added.

A 14-year-old Indian-American girl taught English, mathematics, and life skills to tribal students of Class V to VIII at a government middle school in Yercaud,Tamil Nadu, India from July 3 to 7, through an internship programme.

For the 28 students of Gundur Panchayat Union Middle School in Yercaud, it was a bit of a surprise to listen to a person almost of their age teaching English to them.

Reyna Kannan, a IX grade student from Miami, got the opportunity as part of an internship programme offered by the Tamil Nadu Foundation, a non-profit foundation in the U.S. that provided opportunities for students of Tamil origin to link with their ancestral roots in Tamil Nadu, India.

The girl’s parents, Kannan and Sangeetha, were natives of Krishngiri (India) district who settled in the U.S. in 2002.

Ms. Reyna said it was an enriching experience for her to understand the cultural differences (between the two countries) and learn some Tamil words such as Kalvi, Aarvam, and Salippu from the children. “At first, the students were a little shy to talk to me, as I knew only English, but was able to understand Tamil. I covered phonics, vocabulary, and grammar in English and decimals, fractions, percentage, and geometry in mathematics. Under life skills, I taught them about personal hygiene, health, yoga, taekwondo, saving money and budgeting, and making goals in life,” she said.

The teachers also assisted her to speak some words in Tamil to the students. “I would come again to the school next year if I get an opportunity,” she said. Her brother Sushant also got a similar opportunity in 2019 and he taught English to tribal students in another school at Yercaud, India.

The Gundur school headmaster, A. Baskaran, said the classes, especially those about personal hygiene, were useful for the students.