Mr. Jayaram Komati (Executive Vice-President of Telugu Association of North America – TANA) hosted an interactive question and answer session with Smt. Daggubati Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, held at Swagat Indian Cuisine, Milpitas, California, on June 19, 2008. Within a short notice from Jayaram, several community leaders and members have gathered to welcome Smt. Purandareshwari. The venue was filled-up in no time in spite of it was being a working day, and there was a great excitement to meet and interact with Smt. Purandeswari. Also, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Dev & Fisheries Sri Buddha Prasad, Ex-Member of Parliament Sri Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad attended the gathering. To kick-off the meeting, Jayaram welcomed Smt. Purandeswari, Sri Buddha Prasad, and Sri Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad onto the stage. Speaking at this occasion, Jayaram thanked the guests for taking time and interest in meeting with the NRI in the Bay Area, and offering an opportunity to interact. Jayaram set the tone for the evening suggesting the attendees that the gathering has an intellectual feel and requested the audience to stay away from general political topics, and rather focus on discussing the progress, issues and future of Andhra Pradesh and India. The attendees took this great opportunity to ask several multi-disciplinarily questions related to education, research, growth, job market, and environment. Smt. Purandeswari as well as other guests Sri Buddha Prasad and Sri Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad were very patient and understanding in answering the eagerly waiting audience. It was a very productive evening for both the guests and the attendees in which a great deal of information was exchanged in an informal atmosphere. With different question poring in from the audience, the evening went past the scheduled time, but both the guests and audience have enthusiastically stayed till the end of the meeting in the late night.

At this occasion, President of Federation of Indian Americans (Northern California) and the prominent cardiologist of Bay Area, Dr. Jopra, welcomed the guests on behalf of Indian-Americans and invited the guests to be part of Festival of India, Fremont on August 16th and 17th. Sri Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad speaking on the occasion in Hindi said that his love for the Indian National Language was inculcated in him from his childhood by his parents and grandparents. He praised NRIs for their efforts in preserving Telugu language and culture here in USA. Sri Buddha Prasad garu said that NRIs efforts to teach their kids Telugu language and culture are commendable. He praised organizations like TANA and American Telugu Association (ATA) for organizing programs in Andhra Pradesh every year to support folk arts and to fight for recognition of Telugu language as an ancient language. He talked about the achievements of government of AP in the agricultural field.

Smt. Purandeswari addressing the gathering of NRIs from across India said that they should be proud of the accomplishments that they have made in various fields. She thanked the members of Indian community of San Francisco Bay Area for their warm welcome. She talked about the efforts by the Indian Government in increasing the educational opportunities by establishing more Central Universities across India and increasing the number of premier institutes like IITs and IIMs. Smt. Purandeswari talked about the work being done by her ministry in increasing the literacy rate across India. Smt. Purandeswari has urged the NRI community to elevate educational standards in India by arranging tie-ups from reputed Universities in USA with the Universities India. She said that India is recognized as the emerging super power and the fastest growing developed country by the world, and it has almost 25% of youth population available for utilization. She also said that the gross enrollment in Higher education is 60% in USA, 40% in Europe, 20% in China, and only 10% in India and the Govt of India along with State Governments is trying hard to increase this 10% to 15% or 20% by 2012. The attendees were very impressed with her grasp on the state of education in India by effortlessly reeling out statistics.

Speaking to the Telugu people at the gathering, Smt Purandeswari thanked the Bay Area Telugu people for the love showered on her today and to her brother and a popular Telugu movie actor, Sri Balakrishna, a few days ago. Smt Purandeswari recalled the greatness of Sri N.T.Rama Rao and said that his achievements have created a permanent place for Sri NTR and his family in the hearts of Telugu people across the world.

Smt. Vijaya Aasuri, Advisor of Bay Area Telugu Association, thanked the guests for their enlightening speeches and providing an opportunity for a question and answer session. Responding to questions on education of women, Smt Purandeswari said that efforts are being made to encourage and provide scholarships to ensure women continue higher education. Responding to a question on the need of Research in India, she said that their Ministry under the leadership of Sri Manmohan Singh has recognized the need of increased research in India to take India to the next step of growth. She requested the Private institutions in India to partner with research facilities and provide incentive for research in India, as the pay packages being offered by the private institutions are motivating college grads to take up jobs rather than research.

TANA President Elect Sri Jayaram Komati, TANA trustee Sri Satish Chilukuri along with TANA foundation members Sri Nalamala Rao, TANA Regional VP (west) Sri Veeru Vuppala felicitated Smt. Purandeswari, Sri Buddha Prasad and Sri Lakshmi Prasad. Bay Area Telugu Association President Mr. Ravi Thiruveedula along with Prasad Mangina, Srilu Veligeti, Srinivas Kolli, Srini Mangipudi, Vijaya Aasuri, Sirisha Battula, Ramesh Konda, Kamesh Malla, Venkat Malladi, Karun Veligeti, Ramesh Mandalapu, and Yugandhar Reddy felicitated the guests by presenting commendation plaques. Dr. Romesh Jopra, Mr. Yogi Chugh and Mr Rajesh Verma felicitated Smt Purandeswari on behalf of the Indian community of San Francisco.