The stage is all set for Joe Biden’s oath ceremony today, where he will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. While the usual pomp and pageantry will be missing this time, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Capitol breach by a pro-Donald Trump mob, there is much to celebrate. After all, Biden’s administration would be the ‘most diverse in history’.
Biden’s administration diversity will see 20 Indian-Americans in top roles, apart from Kamala Harris, the first Indian-origin African-American, who will be taking charge as the country’s Vice-President. Harris, 56, is also the first woman in US history to occupy the coveted post.
Among the Indian-Americans to occupy top roles, 13 are women. While many other positions are yet to be filled up, this is a record feat for an ethnic community that makes for just 1 percent of the US population.
Of those 20, at least 17 are included in the presidential administration at the White House. The top names on the list are that of Neera Tanden, who has been nominated as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and Dr Vivek Murthy as the US Surgeon General. Vanita Gupta has been chosen as Associate Attorney General Department of Justice.
Last week, the President-elect named former foreign service official Uzra Zeya as Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights. Mala Adiga will be Policy Director to soon-to-be First Lady Dr Jill Biden while Garima Verma has got the appointment as Digital Director of the Office of the First Lady. Sabrina Singh will work as the White House Deputy Press Secretary.
What’s more? Two officials with Kashmiri roots have also been named to assist Biden in administration — Aisha Shah as Partnership Manager at the White House Office of Digital Strategy and Sameera Fazili as Deputy Director at the US National Economic Council in the White House. Bharat Ramamurti will also be part of the White House National Economic Council as its Deputy Director.
Making his return to the White House as Deputy Director in Office of Presidential Personnel will be Gautam Raghavan, who has earlier worked at the White House during Barack Obama’s presidentship. Vinay Reddy, who is considered Biden’s top confidant, will serve as Director of Speechwriting.
Vedant Patil will take charge as Assistant Press Secretary to Biden and is the third Indian-American to get this job.
Part of the all-important National Security Council of White House are three Indian-origin names —Tarun Chhabra as Senior Director for Technology and National Security, Sumona Guha as Senior Director for South Asia and Shanthi Kalathil as Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights.
The Office of the White House Counsel will have Neha Gupta as Associate Counsel and Reema Shah as Deputy Associate Counsel.
In two other key appointments, Sonia Aggarwal has been named Senior Advisor for Climate Policy and Innovation in the Office of the Domestic Climate Policy at the White House while Vidur Sharma will serve as Policy Advisor for Testing for the White House COVID-19 Response Team.
This is also the first time that the US President’s administration will have three more Americans with South Asian roots in prominent roles — Pakistani-origin Ali Zaidi as Deputy National Climate Advisor White House, Sri Lankan-origin American Rohini Kosoglu as Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President and Bangladeshi-origin Zayn Siddique as Senior Advisor to White House Deputy Chief of Staff.
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