GRAND RECEPTION FOR MODI AWAITS

As Indian community here looks forward to hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the organisers of the upcoming reception event at the Madison Square Garden say that the 30,000-strong crowd in attendance would include age groups ranging from 5 years to 90 years.
However, the majority of the crowd, as per a data analysis of those having registered for the event, would be in the age group of 30-35 years.
The registration for the Community Reception event at Madison Square Garden for the Prime Minister of India, to be held on September 28, has ended.
The data analysis includes approximately 20,000 registrants through "Welcoming Partner" organisations and about 10,000 registrants through the General Admission.
The female participation is expected to be maximum in the age group of 20-25 years.
The data shows that about 12 per cent of the attendees would be in the 30-year age group, followed by about 11 per cent each in the 35-year and 40-year age groups, and over 10 percent registrants in about 25 years age group.
Those in the age group of up to 5 years are estimated over one per cent of the total crowd, while there are also a few in the age group of 85-90 years among those having registered for the event.
Those having registered for the event include representatives of group like Gujarati Samaj of New York, Indo American Seniors Organisation, US India Political Action Committee, Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, Bihar Jharkhand Association of North America, New York Tamil Sangam, Indian Business Association, and Overseas Friends of BJP.
Modi will be in US from September 26-30, during which he will address UN General Assembly, hold talks with US president Barack Obama and other senior U.S. Government officials and business leaders, besides attending this community reception and other events.
MODI'S VISIT TO BOOST INDO US TIES

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit will provide a golden opportunity to both countries to repair the faltering bilateral ties though circumstances are not favourable, according to top American think-tanks. Modi is scheduled to arrive in New York on September 26 to attend the annual session of the UN General Assembly. He will meet US President Barack Obama at the White House on September 29 and September 30. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's forthcoming visit to Washington will provide India and the US with a golden opportunity to repair their faltering partnership. The stakes are high, even if the circumstances today are not particularly propitious," Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said yesterday in an article ahead of Modi's visit. Tellis said if Modi's private remarks to visiting American officials recently are any indication, he seeks to end the current level of stagnation in bilateral ties. "But his approach, which seemingly centres on soliciting huge international investments for important, high-profile projects at home, offers poor prospects for any deep US involvement that would quickly resuscitate joint cooperation between the two countries," he said. Expectations are very high from the Modi-Obama meeting; the first between the two leaders. "Modi has said all things are possible between India and America—even a strategic alliance. But the two countries still have much distance to travel to create one," said Daniel Twining, a senior fellow for Asia at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. "An agenda for the Obama-Modi summit should encompass five critical areas for cooperation: defence, energy, trade and investment, the future of Afghanistan and the crisis in the Middle East," he added. Writing in an article for the Wall Street Journal, he said: "The two leaders should embrace an agenda that strengthens their role as democratic and economic counterweights to growing global disorder." "Washington and New Delhi should develop a joint plan to expand training of Afghan security forces and enhance India's stabilising economic and diplomatic role," he added. Twining applauded Modi for boosting India's stock market up by 30 per cent, and surging growth to nearly six per cent.