The American Progressive Telugu Association (APTA) will felicitate prominent Telugus, who have made a mark in different fields, to mark the completion of 15 years of service by the association, at a convention to be held at Atlanta in the USA from September 1 to 3.
Announcing this at a media conference here on Sunday, convention convener Vijay Gudiseva, APTA past president Gopal Gudapati, and media chair Chandrasekhar Polisetty, said that noted persons from different fields like films, politics, arts, and medical profession would be felicitated at the convention. A decision would also be taken on further diversification of the service activities.
The association, which has a membership of 20,000, has been organising various activities to uphold and promote Telugu language, tradition and culture among the Telugu diaspora in the United States of America. APTA has decided to honour 10 Telugus, who have served the motherland in various positions in the defence services at the convention. Admiral Srinivas from Visakhapatnam has been invited for the convention.
Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, MLAs Ganta Srinivasa Rao (TDP) and Kurasala Kannababu(YSRCP) have confirmed their participation. Megastar Chiranjeevi and Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan were also invited for the convention. The association does not have any political affiliation and has invited leaders from different parties.
They said that the APTA representatives have already toured Hyderabad, Nellore, Tirupati, Chennai, Visakhapatnam and would visit Vijayawada on Monday to personally invite the luminaries from various walks of life, who have made it big in their respective fields.
Scholarships to students
Elaborating on the other activities of the association, Mr. Gopalakrishna said that scholarships were being given during the past five years, to deserving, talented Telugu students from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Pondicherry States, studying from SSC (10th class) to PG in India. The students, who have secured at least 80% marks in the qualifying examination and possess a white ration card, could apply for the scholarship. The scholarships range from ₹10,000 to ₹25,000, depending on the course of study.
This year Telugu students, studying Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were also eligible to apply for the scholarships. The APTA had also conducted a medical camp in Visakhapatnam in 2018.
In the US, 30 different services were being offered by the association to Telugus coming to America for higher education and jobs. The services include immigration services, job assistance and career guidance.
Replying to queries, he said that students and others requiring information on the services of the association can log on to https://ap-ta.org
