Former US President Donald Trump has praised Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy for doing well in the recent Republican Primary poll, CBS YouGov. Vivek Ramaswamy has announced his 2024 presidential bid.

In a statement, Trump stated he likes Ramaswamy as he has only nice things to say about him and all the work carried out by the Trump administration.

“I am pleased to see that Vivek Ramaswamy is doing so well in the most recent Republican Primary Poll, CBS YouGov,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“He is tied with Mike Pence, and seems to be on his way to catching Ron DeSanctimonious. The thing I like about Vivek is that he only has good things to say about “President Trump,” and all that the Trump Administration has so successfully done – This is the reason he is doing so well. In any event, good luck to all of them, they will need it!,” he added.

Earlier in February, healthcare and tech sector entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced his 2024 US Presidential election bid. “We’ve celebrated our “diversity” so much that we forgot all the ways we’re really the same as Americans, bound by ideals that united a divided, headstrong group of people 250 years ago. I believe deep in my bones those ideals still exist. I’m running for President to revive them,” tweeted Ramaswamy in a video announcing his intention to run for president.

He reiterated that this was not just a political campaign, “but a cultural movement”. “Faith, patriotism and hard work have disappeared. Wokeism, climatism and gender ideology have replaced them. We hunger for purpose yet cannot answer what it means to be an American. We long for that answer,” he added.

In CBS News/YouGov survey of likely Republican primary voters, Ramaswamy was slightly ahead of former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

Thirty-seven-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy is a native of southwest Ohio. His mother was a geriatric psychiatrist and his father worked as an engineer at General Electric. Ramaswamy said, “Diversity” is not our strength. Our strength is the set of ideals that unify us across our differences. Without that, “diversity” is meaningless.”

He added, “We live in a culture that rejects truth & embraces relativism; that rejects equality and embraces “equity”; that rejects excellence and embraces victimhood. I’m all-in for America First, but we must first rediscover what America is.”

Vivek Ramaswamy is the second Indian-American to enter the 2024 Republican presidential primary after Nikki Haley.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has nominated Indian-American Seema Shrivastava-Patel to be the next chair of the Board of Health and Environmental Control.

If confirmed, Shrivastava-Patel — who has served on the Board since 2018 and has been its Vice-Chair since 2021 — will become the first person of colour and the second woman to lead the Board.

“Shrivastava-Patel is a highly respected member of the South Carolina Board of Health and Environmental Control. With this extensive knowledge of the agency and her experience as Vice-Chair, she is the best choice to lead a smooth transition that will propel the agency forward and advance South Carolina’s public health and environmental missions, ” Governor McMaster said in a statement.

As a member of the Board, Shrivastava-Patel has helped navigate the agency through the Covid-19 pandemic, led the search for a new agency director, improved customer service, renewed a focus on recruitment and retention of staff, and emphasised the importance of measurable outcomes for the agency.

She has an extensive business background that includes a 20-year career in the convenience and food service industry, and as president of the Carolina Convenience Corporation.

“I am grateful to Governor McMaster for entrusting me with the opportunity to serve as the next Chair and look forward to working with my colleagues, as well as a team of talented and dedicated employees, to continue to move the agency forward for the people of South Carolina, ” said Shirvastava-Patel.

The Board oversees the operations of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

The at-large seat on the Board was left vacant when former Chair Robert Bolchoz resigned from the position in December.

Shrivastava-Patel is a University of South Carolina graduate and resides in Lexington with her husband and two children. She is a first-generation American of Indian heritage.

As US President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris are gearing up for the US Presidential race in 2024, an Indian-American businessman has emerged as one of the most important players in their fight to secure another term on the top post.

US-based Indian businessman Ajay Jain Bhutoria has emerged as one of the top donors in the Biden-Harris US presidential campaign 2024, and is an important factor in their expected victory in the upcoming elections, according to sources of the White House.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris organized a meeting with the top 150 donors of their campaign at the White House recently, which was also attended by Ajay Jain Bhutoria, with the intention of raising funds for the campaign of the presidential elections.

Who is Ajay Jain Bhutoria?

Ajay Jain Bhutoria is an author and a businessman of Indian origin, who has close relations with the White House and has emerged as one of the top donors of the US presidential campaign 2024 of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Ajay Bhutoria is one of the leading fundraisers for the Democratic Party in the United States and is also acting as the deputy national financial chair of the party, being a long-term supporter of Joe Biden. He is also an entrepreneur based in the Silicon Valley.

Bhutoria is a crucial figure in Joe Biden’s presidential run as he played a major role in his win in 2020, rallying all the South Asian voters in Biden’s favour. He is also has a staunch stand against hate crimes, and bats for education and immigration, all the causes crucial for Asian voters.

He is an extremely important part of Joe Biden’s presidential race, which can secure him a second term as the POTUS, making him the oldest president of the United States. The United States election campaign is set to take place on November 5, 2024, with the results being declared in December 2024.

President Joe Biden appointed a top Indian-American Democratic Party figure, Neera Tanden, as his domestic policy adviser on Friday, making her the first Asian-American to lead any of the top White House advisory councils in history.

In a statement, Biden said, “I am pleased to announce that Neera Tanden will continue to drive the formulation and implementation of my domestic policy, from economic mobility and racial equity to health care, immigration and education.”

Tanden, who has served as Biden’s staff secretary in this term, will replace Susan Rice, a former American national security advisor and ambassador to the United Nations who worked as Biden’s top domestic policy advisor since his presidency began.

Biden said that as his staff secretary — a role in which she processed all the paperwork that landed on the President’s desk — Tanden had overseen decision-making processes across domestic, economic and national security teams.

“She has 25 years of experience in public policy, has served three Presidents, and led one of the largest think tanks in the country for nearly a decade. She was a key architect of the Affordable Care Act and helped drive key domestic policies that became part of my agenda, including clean energy subsidies and sensible gun reform,” Biden said in his statement.

Saying that Tanden, while growing up, had relied on some of the same programmes she will now oversee, Biden said that her insights will serve his administration and the American people well.

Tanden was born in Massachusetts to Indian immigrant parents, and studied at the University of California Los Angeles and Yale University. Her appointment is particularly significant as America heads towards elections in 2024, where domestic policy will be a key area of focus and contestation. The Biden White House also faces a more immediate challenge from a Republican-dominated House on the debt ceiling, with the Republicans asking for drastic spending cuts in return for a compromise on debt ceiling. Tanden, a strong advocate of social security and health care programmes, is expected to strongly argue against cuts, a position that aligns with Biden’s public statements on the issue.

Tanden’s appointment is one more symbol of the rise of Indian-Americans in American politics. The Biden White House, in particular, has been inclusive and diverse of the various ethnicities that make up America. Among other Indian-Americans who serve Biden are the President’s chief speechwriter, Vinay Reddy, and his Covid-19 advisor, Ashish Jha.

Tanden has served as the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress and the Center for American Progress Action Fund. In the Barack Obama administration, she served as senior advisor for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services. This was the time when Obama passed his signature health care legislation.

Tanden also worked as the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign, and, before that, as the policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Tanden has been a close Hillary Clinton aide, also serving as her senior policy advisor when she was the First Lady. She also helped run Clinton’s Senate campaign in 2000 and served as her legislative director in the Senate.

Biden had first tapped Tanden to be his director for the Office of Management and Budget. But when her nomination ran into trouble with the Senate, due to her fierce criticism of Republicans on Twitter, Biden appointed her as his staff secretary, a role that did not require Senate confirmation.

Ajay Banga was on Wednesday appointed the next president of the World Bank, becoming the first-ever Indian-American to head the global financial institution which said it looks forward to working with him at a time when it’s tackling the toughest development challenges facing developing countries.

“The executive directors of the World Bank today selected Ajay Banga as president of the World Bank for a five-year term beginning June 2, 2023,” the bank said in a press statement.

In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga, 63, to lead the World Bank because he is “well equipped” to lead the global institution at “this critical moment in history.”

The Board looks forward to working with Mr. Banga on the World Bank Group Evolution process, as discussed at the April 2023 Spring Meetings, and on all the World Bank Group’s ambitions and efforts aimed at tackling the toughest development challenges facing developing countries,” the bank statement added.

Banga, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016, most recently served as vice chairman at General Atlantic. Previously, he was President and CEO of Mastercard, a global organisation with nearly 24,000 employees.

He is the first-ever Indian-American and Sikh-American to head either of the two top international financial institutions: the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The World Bank executive directors followed the selection process agreed by shareholders in 2011.

The process included an open, merit-based, and transparent nomination where any national of the Bank’s membership could be proposed by any executive director or governor through an executive director, the statement said.

This was then followed by thorough due diligence and a comprehensive interview of Banga by the Executive Directors, it added.

The president of the World Bank Group is also the Chair of the Board of the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The president is also ex officio chair of the Board of Directors of the International Development Association, International Finance Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and of the Administrative Council of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Raised in India, Banga has a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing developing countries and how the World Bank can deliver on its ambitious agenda to reduce poverty and expand prosperity, President Biden had said.

Banga is expected to take over the reins of the anti-poverty lender at a crucial time, with the US and Western nations pitching for reforms to focus on addressing a slew of wide-ranging global issues like climate change.

“Ajay is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history,” President Biden said in a statement at the time of his nomination.

“He has spent more than three decades building and managing successful, global companies that create jobs and bring investment to developing economies, and guiding organisations through periods of fundamental change,” Biden said.

Vice President Harris said Banga will be a transformative World bank President as the institution works to deliver on its core development goals and address pressing global challenges, including climate change.

Banga has worked closely with Vice President Harris as the co-chair of the Partnership for Central America.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had applauded Biden for nominating Banga for this position.

“He (Banga) has the right leadership and management skills, experience living and working in emerging markets, and financial expertise to lead the World Bank at a critical moment in its history, deliver on its core development goals, and evolve the Bank to meet global challenges like climate change,” Yellen said.

Banga is honorary chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, serving as chairman from 2020-2022.

He is also chairman of Exor and independent director at Temasek.

He became an advisor to General Atlantic’s climate-focused fund, BeyondNetZero, at its inception in 2021.

He previously served on the Boards of the American Red Cross, Kraft Foods and Dow Inc.

He is a member of the Trilateral Commission, a founding trustee of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, a former member of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and chairman emeritus of the American India Foundation.

Banga is a co-founder of The Cyber Readiness Institute, Vice Chair of the Economic Club of New York and served as a member of President Barack Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. He is a past member of the US President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

He was awarded the Foreign Policy Association Medal in 2012, the Ellis Island Medal of Honour and the Business Council for International Understanding’s Global Leadership Award in 2019, and the Distinguished Friends of Singapore Public Service Star in 2021.