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Abhichandani Named Census Official in NY

J M Shenoy in New York

For over five years, Jaishri Abichandani has been steadily rising as a leader in the South Asian community. Among her many activities, her work with South Asian women interested in the arts has received wide acclaim. The South Asian Women's Creative Collective founded by her has over 200 members.

Now Abichandani has a more challenging task. She has just been named a partnership specialist by the Bureau of Census to head its community outreach efforts for next year's census.

"One of my main tasks will be to bring about awareness about the census, and tell our people never mind what our legal status is, it is important to be counted," Abichandani says. According to her, many people are apathetic and need to be made aware of the importance of a properly conducted census.

In the last census, several thousand minorities were not included in the count, partly because they refused to fill in the census forms or meet with the census officials, possibly because they were not legal immigrants. Many people were also not counted because of the negligence of census-takers.

New York community leaders believe that 3.2 per cent of New York's Asian Americans were undercounted. There are reportedly about 800,000 Asian Americans in the city. The New York undercount is much bigger than the 2.3 per cent missing count nationally.

Census data is used to allocate state and federal benefits; the government agencies take the numbers into consideration in allocating money for schools, hospitals, hiring of teachers and social workers.

"If you leave out one person, it means the loss of more than $ 250 in federal benefits," Abichandani says. "I will have to spread the word fast and in the strongest voice that we should make every effort to be counted."

The Census Bureau cannot, under the law, discuss the visa status of foreigners, she says. "Instead of any harm being done, being counted could mean only benefits to the communities," she has said. "We not only get a fair share of resources but also make our political clout known."

The 30-year-old activist, who has a bachelor's degree in psychology from a New York college, is among several Indian Americans who are serving census bureaus across America. The list includes Subash Razdan in Atlanta and Nick Shenoy in Philadelphia.

But none seems to have a challenge quite like Abichandani faces now. "Given what is happening in the subcontinent, and the tension felt here in New York and the neighboring areas, I will have to work extra hard to bring together community leaders representing several nations."

It was not easy to get a South Asian into the Bureau, said Glenn D Magnatay, the director of the Democracy Project at the Asian Legal Defense and Education Fund. The ALDEF had fought hard to have any south Asian in the bureau, Magnatay said.

"In fact, we urged them to appoint two South Asians but they decided on one," he said. "We feel the appointment should have been made about six months ago but even then we expect good results from this appointment -- and we are keeping the pressure on to have another South Asian."

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