NRIs who made India proud in year 2007

*1. Sunita Williams:** *As a woman and an NRI, she made everyone proud with her new record forthe longest uninterrupted space flight by a woman in June. "Planet Earthlooks beautiful from space. There are no borders on the Earth," she said,recounting her space experience of 195-days aboard the space shuttleDiscovery. The Shuttle's re-entry held everyone on edge but its smoothlanding made history. Reminding Indians about the late Kalpana Chawla,Sunita visited India in September and made news wherever she went. *2. Bobby Jindal: *In October, the 36-year-old Jindal became the youngest US governor of astate in the US and the first chief executive of any state who is ofIndian-American descent. He won convincingly against heavy odds by over 50per cent of the primary votes against a field of 12 candidates. Now, can anNRI in the US dream of the White House? *3. Sir Salman Rushdie:** *In June, the Queen knighted him for his services to English literature.Rushdie went into hiding and was in police protection in 1989 under threatof death after an Iranian fatwa as his book *The Satanic Verses* offendedMuslims worldwide and a bounty was placed on his head. He returned to publiclife in 1999 and has remained a secularist. This year, he was separated fromhis wife, the model Padma Lakshmi. *4. Dr Haneef Mohammed:** *The Indian doctor working in Australia made headlines when he was accusedof involvement with terrorist bombers in Britain. His distant cousin, KafeelAhmed, had crashed a burning Jeep Cherokee into the terminal at Glasgow'sinternational airport. He was freed in July and returned to India. Later inDecember, he was allowed to return to Australia. He is currently performingthe annual Haj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, with his wife and mother. *5. Ugandan Indians:** *They came under attack from African protestors in April reminding theworld of the programme by the late dictator Idi Amin. Two Indians werekilled and some others injured in Jinja and Kampala. But peace was restoredsoon and Indians continue to work and live there. *6. Mother India: *Celebrated 60 years of independence in August with great fanfare in everycountry where NRIs live. NRIs across the world held their heads high inpride celebrating her achievements in the six decades. The new status ofIndia as a 'soft' super power on the global scene with its vibrant democracyand economic progress were hailed. *7. <Indian" target=_blank>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/forangelsonly/join>IndianDoctors inBritain**: *Around 15,000 doctors have been fighting an immigration law abolishingpermit-free training for overseas doctors, mainly Indians. They have beenembroiled in a long legal fight for almost two years to force the Britishgovernment to treat non-European Union medics at par with Europeans. Thelegal battle affects 3,000 international medical graduates, mostly Indian,who were able to secure jobs in August. But many thousands did not and somethousands have left for India, which brings the number of affected Indiandoctors down from 15,000. *8. NRI Investor in India: *Reaped high returns when the Sensex touched 20,000 and also made a killingon the Indian stock exchange with the Subprime financial crisis in the West.The Indian economy crossed the $1 trillion mark and continued with its nineper cent growth rate - standing up global downturns. The strong domesticdemand and exports resulted in high dividends for NRI investors. *9. Malaysian Indians:** *Attacked in December when they launched peaceful protests in Kuala Lumpurdemanding compensation from Britain for decades of discrimination. Many wereinjured and also imprisoned but released later. Originally brought byBritish rulers to work on rubber plantations, their Hindu descendantsorganised these marches to highlight their demand for four trillion dollars.After the government's high-handed response to Indians, Indian tourists toMalaysia may rethink over their plans. *10. Vayalar Ravi** *India's minister for overseas Indian affairs has been constantly visitingcountries with significant NRI populations. As a native of Kerala, he hasaccorded high priority to Indians in the Gulf Region, where millions ofKeralites have gone to work. He hammered out measures to ease their workingconditions. His pet projects, an NRI University and an NRI Centre in Delhi,are progressing to cheer NRIs.