Another area where GOPIO-Silicon Valley played a leading role was during the passport surrender issue in 2010. Problems relating to issuance of visa to visit India started in the third week of May 2010. Indian Embassies/High Commissions and consulates started charging a fee of $175 for surrender of old Indian passport and additional penalties for various "violations". The visas to India were given only after the passport was surrendered and payment of fees and penalties made. Those who had lost their passports or could not locate old passports long after obtaining US citizenship could not obtain visa no matter what emergency they had in India.

When high-ranking officials of India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) visited San Francisco to get feedback from the community on current issues and hardships relating to the surrender certificate requirements, Mr Zutshi and Mr Inder Singh and other leading GOPIO members were part of the delegation that met the officials from India.

The GOPIO team reminded the MEA team that during the last several years, efforts have been made by India to develop goodwill between India and her diaspora, but the rules of passport surrender were causing undue hardships and delays in obtaining visas for visiting India and consequently alienating NRI/PIO communities all over the world.

After a massive petition initiated by GOPIO, the fee was reduced to $20 for those who had become US naturalised citizens before June 1, 2010 and penalty fees were also waived.

Today, if an increasing number of Americans are aligning themselves with India on Kashmir , it is because of the tireless efforts of the GOPIO-Silicon Valley President. Mr Zutshi and his team have succeeded where officialdom has struggled, by highlighting the plight of Kashmiri Pandits who have become the biggest victims of terrorism in Kashmir.

A graduate civil engineer, practicing realtor and property manager, as well as an expert in commercial real estate and lending, Mr Zutshi has been a member of the Kashmiri Overseas Association (KOA) since its inception. The Fremont resident became the founding President of the California Chapter in 1986, and served as an elected Director for three terms and the National Vice-President from 1989-1991.

When the turmoil began in Kashmir in early 1990, Jeevan formed the Kashmir Task Force which became a very important committee of NFIA to educate the US Congress about the violations of human rights of Kashmiri Pandits and to fight Congressman Burton’s House Resolution 87 which asked for a plebiscite as a solution to the Kashmir crisis. These measures have helped in presenting the Indian viewpoint across to Americans.

Over the years, Mr Zutshi and his Indo-American friends have organised fundraisers for prominent Senators, Congressmen and other politicians such as Stephen Solarz, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Frank Pallone, Anna Eshoo, Ed Royce, Gary Ackerman, Mike Honda, Pete Stark and John Edwards, who was the US Presidential candidate in 2004.

Mr Zutshi has helped organise the Festival of India since 1993 and is a trustee of FIA of Northern California and has served as a delegate of NFIA as its Regional Vice-President.

He received “Hind Rattan award” at the 19th international congress of NRIs in the year 2000 in New Delhi.

© Global Indian Diaspora — GOPIO Making an Impact | Published by: India Empire Publications