Close X
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
ADVT 
International

Indian-American Ajit Pai May Head U.S. Communication Commission

Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Jan, 2017 11:41 AM
    Ajit Pai, a commissioner in the US communications regulatory agency, has met President-elect Donald Trump amid speculation that he could head the body that deals with cellphone spectrum and broadcasting.
     
    Trump's spokesperson Sean Spicer said on Tuesday that the meeting with Pai, who is the Republican nominee on the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), took place on Monday.
     
    Currently the FCC is headed by Tom Wheeler, a nominee of the Democratic Party, and a change in leadership is due with the election of Trump.
     
    The position of FCC chairman has to be approved by the Senate.
     
    The FCC is the federal authority regulating radio, television, phone, cellphone spectrum and services, internet and satellite and cable.
     
    Pai, whose parents are doctors who immigrated from India, is a lawyer and has served with the government, Congress and the private sector.
     
    A free enterprise advocate in the Republican mould, he has been a critic of the functioning of the FCC and has clashed with its leadership. 
     
    Recently, he took issue with an FCC report that questioned the legality of offerings that are used by people to access online music, videos, and other content free of charge.
     
     
    Trump has nominated two Indian-Americans to high-level positions: Nikki Haley as the Cabinet-level Ambassador to the United Nations, and Seema Verma as the head of the agency for government health insurance programmes.
     
    In addition, Trump has appointed Raj Shah as his deputy assistant and research director on the White House staff.
     
    Another Indian American, Balaji Srinivasan, met Trump last week and Spicer said that he was under consideration for a role at the the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
     
    Srinivasan is a technology entrepreneur who has founded a biotech company and has been critical of the links between large pharmaceutical companies and the FDA and the agency's reach that he asserted stifles tech innovations.
     
    He currently heads a start-up that deals with bitcoin, the internet-based currency.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    First Indian American Sentenced To Prison For Helping Islamic State Terror Organisation

    First Indian American Sentenced To Prison For Helping Islamic State Terror Organisation
      Mohammed Hazra Khan, 21, became on Friday the first person of Indian origin to be convicted and sentenced in the US for Islamic State connections.

    First Indian American Sentenced To Prison For Helping Islamic State Terror Organisation

    Saudi Police Hold Indian 'For Insult To Kaaba'

    Saudi Police Hold Indian 'For Insult To Kaaba'
    Saudi police arrested an Indian immigrant who allegedly disrespected Islams holy Kaaba site on Facebook, covering it with an image of Buddha, a local report said Monday.

    Saudi Police Hold Indian 'For Insult To Kaaba'

    Conflict Of Interest? Donald Trump Meeting With Indian Businessmen Raises Questions

    Conflict Of Interest? Donald Trump Meeting With Indian Businessmen Raises Questions
    Sagar Chordia, Atul Chordia, and Kalpesh Mehta are building a Trump-branded luxury apartment in south Mumbai

    Conflict Of Interest? Donald Trump Meeting With Indian Businessmen Raises Questions

    Pakistan Army Says It Shot Down Indian Drone Near LoC

    Pakistan Army Says It Shot Down Indian Drone Near LoC
    Pakistan on Saturday said it has shot down an unmanned Indian drone near the Line of Control.

    Pakistan Army Says It Shot Down Indian Drone Near LoC

    National Security Picks Stoke Muslim Fears Of An Anti-Islamic White House

    National Security Picks Stoke Muslim Fears Of An Anti-Islamic White House
    Some current and former government officials worried that the appointments could reinforce perceptions among the world's Muslims that the United States is at war against Islam itself.

    National Security Picks Stoke Muslim Fears Of An Anti-Islamic White House

    Donald Trump Settles Trump University Lawsuits For $25 Million

    The US president-elect was being sued by former students who paid $35,000 (£28,000) for real estate "secrets" from his "hand-picked" instructors.

    Donald Trump Settles Trump University Lawsuits For $25 Million