[Screen shot Uzra Zeya Twitter Page @UzraZeya.]
Washington: Marking a new era in their glaring history of struggle and success, as many as 20 Indian- Americans have been nominated and named to key positions in Biden-Harris administration set to take oath of the office Wednesday.
Among the 20 Indian-Americans, who will serve on key positions in Biden-Kamala Harris administration, 13 are women including 03 Muslims - Uzra Zeya, Aisha Shah and Sameera Fazili.
Uzra Zeya, who has been appointed Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, had quit the US State Department after serving more than 25 years alleging racial and sexist bias in a Trump administration.
Uzra Zeya, daughter of Indian immigrants from Bihar, joined the Foreign Service in 1990 and served in New Delhi, Muscat, Oman, Damascus, Syria, Cairo, and Kingston, Jamaica.
As Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State from 2011 to 2012, she helped shape the U.S. response to the Arab Spring and deepened U.S. engagement with emerging powers.
A recipient of the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest civilian honor, Uzra is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
On the other hand, Sameera Fazili, who is currently the Economic Agency lead on the Biden-Harris Transition, has been appointed as Deputy Director, National Economic Council at the White House, the Biden-Harris Transition said Friday.
Sameera Fazili is the second Kashmiri-origin Indian-American appointed to a key position in the incoming Biden administration. In December, Aisha Shah was named as Partnerships Manager at the White House Office of Digital Strategy.
Other Indian-Americans who have been given key responsibilities in Joe Biden administrations are Vanita Gupta, nominated as Associate Attorney General Department of Justice, Neera Tanden, nominated as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and Dr Vivek Murthy, who has been nominated as the US Surgeon General.
Then there are Mala Adiga who has been appointed as Policy Director to the future First Lady Dr Jill Biden and Garima Verma who would be the Digital Director of the Office of the First Lady, while Sabrina Singh has been named as her Deputy Press Secretary.
"The dedication that the Indian-American community has shown to public service over the years has been recognised in a big way at the very start of this administration! I am particularly pleased that the overwhelming majority are women. Our community has truly arrived in serving the nation," Indiaspora founder M R Rangaswami told PTI.
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