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Abu Dhabi: ISC's new president to boost financial situation, support startups

D. Natarajan will be taking office as the president for the fifth time

Boosting financial situation, hosting of family-focused programmes and creating opportunities for startups are the main priorities of the newly elected president of the India Social and Cultural Centre (ISC) Abu Dhabi.

On Friday night, the 53rd annual general body meeting was held and later the election took place with results being announced past midnight.

D. Natarajan is the new president and will be taking office as the president for the fifth time: 1996, 2002, 2014, 2019 and 2022. While he was elected unopposed, there were close contests for other positions.

“We will try to bolster ISC’s financial situation, which is the most important. We will focus on adding more privileged members and general governors. Our cultural programmes will focus on engaging families. There will be literary activities for children. We will concentrate on the ISC Professionals and Entrepreneurs Forum. We will conduct periodic meetings and interactions to help promote startups,” Natarajan told Khaleej Times.

Formed in 1967, the ISC is the oldest and largest socio-cultural organisation of the Indian community in the capital. The centre is the winner of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians and institutions, and bagged the Mahatma Award 2020 for its Covid-19 humanitarian efforts.

“We will continue to assist the expat community in need,” he added.

The last election was held at the ISC in February 2020. The outgoing committee of president Yogish Prabhu K. has been in-charge till date as no election was held last year because of Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

The new committee members are Santosh Moorkoth (vice president), P. Sathyababu (general secretary), Reni Thomas (assistant general secretary), Limson K. Jacob (treasurer), Mahesh C. (assistant treasurer), Joseph George Amicattil (entertainment secretary), Deepak Kumar Dash (literary secretary), Girishkumar Sudhakaran (sports secretary), Nowshad Noor Mohammed (secretary, southern region) and T.N. Krishnan (auditor).

On Sunday, the new members will take over from the outgoing committee and the swearing-in ceremony is planned for June 24, after the 40-day mourning period over the demise of the late President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan ends.