Rajiv Shah takes the helm of USAID

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jan 8 (PTI) Rajiv Shah has been officially
sworn in on Friday as the administrator of US Aid for
International Development (USAID), making him the highest
ranking person of Indian origin in any presidential
administration.
The 39-year-old Indian-American was sowrn in Friday by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the chief of USAID which
oversees disbursal of USD 40 billion US foreign aid programme.
In this position, Shah would be leading the Obama
Administration's effort of non-military aid to foreign
countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"I believe Dr Raj Shah will be the transformational
leader that USAID has been waiting for," Clinton said at the
swearing in ceremony of Shah as chief of the USAID.
"One only needs to ask his wife Shivam the lengths to
which Raj will go to achieve important goals. After all, this
is a man who flew to India for one day to propose to her at
the Taj Mahal when she was traveling there alone," Clinton
said while giving a few insider details about the man.
"This is also a man who summated the 14,400-foot Mount
Rainier, one of the most difficult climbs in the continental
United States. It combines the challenges of an unforgiving
glacier with the unpredictability of an active volcano. That
may be the best preparation Raj has for working in Washington
these days," she said. PTI